Rev Darren’s sermon on the feast of the conversion of St Paul 2026.
Darren begins with the dramatic story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus: a blinding light, a fall to the ground, and the voice of Jesus calling Paul into a new way of life. He acknowledges that some Christians can point to similarly decisive moments of conversion, but suggests that for many people faith is more gradual – a “drip drip” of insights, experiences, wonderings and growing convictions. Conversion, for many of us, is not one single event but an ongoing journey sustained by glimpses of God’s goodness and a daily desire to grow in faith, hope and love.
Darren then shares something of his own faith journey: growing up in a conventional Irish Catholic household, drifting from church as a teenager, and later discovering Anglicanism through St Nicholas Church in Galway. There he found a warm, welcoming and generous community, and a spacious form of Christianity that engaged both head and heart. Over time, his understanding of God, the Bible, prayer and faith was “blown wide open”: God as loving presence within, beneath and beyond all things; the Bible as an inspired record of human engagement with the divine; prayer as words and acts of love rather than magic spells; and faith as trust in the self-giving love revealed in Jesus.
The sermon closes by stressing that conversion stories are rarely solo stories. Darren notes that this was true for him, and also true for Paul, who needed the help of others after his Damascus Road experience: those who cared for him while he could not see, Ananias who reached out to heal him despite misgivings, and the community who received, baptised and fed him. Faith is something we live together, supported by God’s grace and by one another’s prayers and love, as we continue growing into all God calls us to be.