Never Alone
Acts 9: 1-20
A couple of weeks ago, I underwent the onboarding process with the team who will be my direct reports at my new appointment at Northside UMC. Part of that process involved allowing them to ask me questions about myself. One of their questions was, “Are you an introvert or an extrovert?” I used to have trouble answering that question and would say, “I’m an extroverted introvert.” However, I was missing the point of those classifications. This time, I answered in a new, more truthful way: I am an introvert. That’s it—no qualifier. What that means is that I need alone time to recharge. After spending time with people or engaging in a taxing activity, I need to recharge by being away from others. That doesn’t mean I dislike people. It doesn’t mean I isolate myself from others. It doesn’t mean my nose is always buried in a book. It simply means that I need solitude to recharge.
I recognize that I need people. I need community. We all do. One of the most beautiful things the church offers is a community of people who are all seeking to follow Jesus more faithfully. It offers a place of belonging, especially for those who constantly feel left out. This community isn’t just good psychology; it’s biblical. We need one another to become better followers of Jesus. The Book of Acts is full of examples of how community helps us understand God more deeply and become better disciples. Yesterday, we read the story of Philip helping the Ethiopian eunuch understand Scripture and recognize Jesus as the Savior. This Spirit-led interaction resulted in the eunuch’s conversion. Today we see another example of someone helping another person become a believer in Christ—someone who would eventually spread the Gospel throughout the world.
The story of Saul’s conversion from a murderous persecutor to a believer and apostle is well known. Obviously, Jesus plays the most important role in this conversion. However, Saul’s transformation is not complete without the help of a fellow believer. Ananias is a believer in the city of Damascus. He experiences a vision in which Jesus tells him to go to a certain house, find Saul, and lay hands on him so that he may regain his sight. Ananias resists. He knows who Saul is. He knows Saul’s reputation as a persecutor. Yet Jesus persists, and Ananias relents. He goes to Saul and says, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17b, CEB). Then the scales fall from Saul’s eyes, and he is able to see—more clearly than ever before. He is then baptized and spends several days recovering and learning from the other disciples.
The Christian walk is not a solitary journey. It is not only that the Holy Spirit goes with us; we also need one another along the way. Sometimes the Holy Spirit shows up through other people. Our challenge is to support and edify one another. Our challenge is also to allow ourselves to be supported and edified by fellow believers.
Our challenge is to allow the Holy Spirit to move through us so that we can be someone else’s Ananias when they are in need, and humble enough to be someone else’s Saul when we are the ones who need help.
Rev. Dana Ezell
