Empowered Witness: The Road to Damascus

We will find ourselves next week on the road to Damascus in the Book of Acts. Saul is breathing threats against the early followers of Jesus, convinced he is right. Then a voice that calls him by name. The risen Christ meets him in confrontation: “Why do you persecute me?” 

In this Easter season, as we lean into our theme of Empowered Witness, we remember that resurrection is not only about what God does for us, but also about what God does through us. The risen life interrupts death-dealing paths and redirects them toward love, justice, and courage. Saul’s transformation into Paul is not just personal conversion; it is a commissioning. He is sent. 

The truth in this that we need to hear is that resurrection disrupts. We are living in a time when violence is growing louder. When fear is weaponized, and when systems of harm can feel immovable. It would be easy to retreat, to stay silent, to convince ourselves that faith is a private matter. But the Easter story refuses that. The risen Christ calls us by name into courageous witness. 

Look around our neighborhoods. Spring is breaking open the ground. One of my favorite places in town to go for a walk is Veteran Acres Park, a park dedicated as a memorial space for military veterans. The space honors service through a kind of living memorial. At the park I’ll see children play, trees grow, and life continues. It reminds me that our stories live beyond us and that what looks dormant is often stirring with life. Buds press against branches. The earth itself testifies: new life does not ask permission from the powers of death, it rises anyway. 

We may feel afraid to go where God sends us. We may need to be stopped in our tracks and shown a new way. But the Spirit is empowering ordinary people to speak life, to embody mercy, and to resist what diminishes human dignity. 

This is our call as Easter People: not to admire resurrection from a distance, but to participate in it. Because resurrection is not contained to a moment, it is a movement. And by the grace of God, we are part of it. 

Check out my song of the week to go along with the text! I Go To The Rock by Whitney Houston  

Peace, 

Pastor Katie