Conversions & Baptisms
Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
Acts 10:47
I want to tell you my conversion story.
When I was in college I was very active in church and in college ministry. Like many college freshmen, I had a very rough year emotionally and academically, and one of the only things that got me through it was the Athlete’s bible study.
We were a small group, maybe 10-15 people at most sessions, and the student leader was a senior named Bert. Bert was a deeply spiritual young man from West Virginia who had the kind of accent that made everything sound just a little bit brighter. Not only did he welcome me into the Bible study, but he also made an effort to reach out when he knew I was struggling.
About midway through my freshman year, I received an email that said something to the effect of — due to some recent revelations — Bert has been removed from leadership in the Williams Christian Fellowship and is barred from leading the Athlete’s bible study.
As a somewhat clueless freshman I immediately reached out to find out what was wrong.
Bert had come out of the closet, revealed himself to be gay, and was kicked out of the group.
That was my Saint Peter moment. My conversion story. I was Peter yelling ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing Bert who has received the Holy Spirit as much (more even!) than I have!’
Did you think conversions only happen once?
Most faithful Christians will have multiple conversion moments throughout their lives. These moments almost always follow this pattern that Peter establishes in Acts.
Those people I don’t understand are bad.
Those people over there are wrong.
I should go talk to those people and tell them.
Wait these people are not so bad.
These people are faithful just like me.
We are the Body of Christ.
You will find similar accounts from preachers talking about working with the enslaved, missionaries overseas, working across barriers of language, culture and even religion.
Trust and relationship matter.
Now don’t misunderstand me. This is not ‘I’m okay, you’re okay’ happy-clappy Christianity.
And its not ‘come as you are and leave like me’ Christianity.
What our faith is, or should be, is that it is not our external reality that matters, it is what is in: Our hearts, our minds, our souls.
Do we believe in God, the Holy Trinity, three in one?
Do we believe that Jesus Christ was born, lived, served, was crucified, and rose from the dead?
Do we believe in the Holy Spirit, the ever present reality of God in our daily life and work?
If we believe these things we are Christians. Part of a common family with many different branches! Many different styles. And flavors and colors. But one family.
As we prepare to welcome a new member into the Memorial family, one with a non-traditional (for some of us) identity — I want to invite each of us to examine our own Petrine (a fancy way to say Peter-like) conversions. Rev. L.A. McRae, our Director for Reparations and Justice Ministries is a non-binary person who uses either he or they pronouns. I cannot wait to begin working with L.A. and seeing how their unique background in faith-based organizing, preaching, and justice work (and coffee-making and beer-brewing) bring life to our work here.
How have you been converted to loving someone you thought weren’t supposed to love? To welcoming someone you thought you were supposed to lock out? And how can you reach out in curiosity, love and charity to someone who is different than you? Someone who may have a different gender-identity than you? A different ethnic background or tradition? And can you do so with an open mind to the possibility that you might be shouting back to anyone who can hear ‘WHAT IS TO PREVENT THIS PERSON FROM BEING BAPTIZED!? THEY ARE A CHILD OF GOD CRAFTED IN GOD’S IMAGE!?!?
You may not be there yet. And that is okay. But I invite you to begin your own introspection around your various conversions, and what that might look like in the weeks and months ahead.
