The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends with the Conversion of Paul. Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest some Christians. On his way he had a vision and heard the voice of Jesus say, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me.” He was struck blind. A Christian named Ananias came to Paul to lay hands on him. He was healed and then baptized.

Seems like a dramatic conversion from Judaism to Christianity, except Paul didn’t think he changed religions. Rather he changed what he did in life. Paul who used to persecute Christians, now proclaims Jesus as the Christ. “God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15-16). Conversion touches the core of who a person is.

None of the Benedictine monks I hang around with have ever suggested I convert from Lutheranism to Roman Catholicism. They do talk about conversion of life, that is growing in holiness by seeking God in all things, every day. It’s much like what Martin wrote in explaining Baptism in the Small Catechism: Baptism indicates “that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

Conversion, then, isn’t a onetime event, but a life-long process stemming from our Baptism. We should grow in God’s grace every day.

Read Acts 9:1-21 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne