Famous Conversions

This third Sunday of Easter continues our Year C lectionary journey through Acts, Revelation and the Gospel of John. Like many Sundays, the entire lectionary (with the exception of the psalm, perhaps) can be sung in our hymns. The stories are meant to be shared through the oral tradition—that is, told and retold—and music, by its very nature enhances that tradition.  This Sunday’s stories include all kinds of conversions: the conversion of Saul to Paul (Acts 9:1-20), the conversion of Peter the Apostle to Peter the founder of the Church (John 21:1-19), the conversion of Jesus the man and teacher to Jesus the King of Heaven (Revelation 5:11-14), the conversion of our own sorrow to joy (Psalm 30).

Carravaggio's Conversion of Saul

In the Acts of the Apostles, Saul is preaching murder and mayhem upon the Christians when God decides to point-and-laugh at him. God blinds the mean-spirited Saul until he decides that what God wants is what he himself wants. Saul eventually “sees the light” and becomes Paul, the “if-I-can-change-so-can-you” apostle. One of the more widely used hymns telling of Paul’s conversion is one by John Ellerton set to the tune of Munich. In Hymnal 1982, the hymn  (#255) uses the harmonies adapted by Felix Mendelssohn. The last stanza of the hymn reminds us as we sing that we too are God’s disciples and like Paul are ready to be converted to God’s service. Another popular hymn telling Paul’s conversion story is one by Gracia Grindal, a contemporary hymnist whose words are set to the tune Cornish, also by a contemporary composer name Mervyn Lee Suitor. Ralph Vaughn Williams was well-known for his compiling and adapting English folk tunes into hymns. His setting called King’s Lynn (hymn #231) is another hymn that includes a stanza about Paul. 

Hymn #231 is a hymn adapted to various Saint’s days, and includes not only Paul’s conversion, but also a stanza about Peter's confession.  

Charge to Peter by Raphael

In that stanza is a line about Jesus’ charge to him to “feed his flock”. The Gospel story for this Sunday is from John and tells of Peter and several of the other disciples encountering Jesus as they come in from a fruitless fishing trip. After Jesus compels them to cast their nets one last time and they come ashore with a great haul (would have been an even more impressive miracle if they’d hauled in actual fruit, eh?), Jesus petitions Peter three times about his love. Three times he charges Peter to “feed his sheep.” One must presume that Peter did as he was told and converted from being a fisherman to being the “fisher of men” and “rock on which I will build my church” as Jesus promised he would. One may further presume that it took the promise of Peter’s love for the Father (“Simon, do you love me more than these?” query number one), and for the Son (“Simon, do you love me?” number two) and for the Holy Spirit (“Simon, do you love me?” for the third time) for the conversion to finally stick.  Richard Dirkson composed a canon hymn tune called Wyngate Canon that is more about Peter’s great confession (You are the Christ, hymn #254), yet alludes to his becoming the foundation of the Church.  There are two settings of a hymn called “Two stalwart trees” about Peter and Paul.  One is a plainsong chant called Ave caeli jauna  (hymn #273) and the other is hymn #274,  a Dutch tune called De eersten zijn de laatsten  (translated to "the first shall be last").

Revelation 5 by Pat Marvenko Smith, 1992

The second reading for this Sunday’s liturgy is taken from the book of Revelation. Perhaps it is a stretch to think of it in the theme of conversion, for it is a selection that speaks of Jesus’ reception as he takes his rightful seat on the throne of Heaven. Those of us familiar with the less famous second half of Handel’s Messiah, will easily identify with this text: “Worthy is the lamb that was slain…” The passage alludes to the expected change in Jesus’ persona from man to his divine being, “’To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.” In our liturgy, the sanctus reminds us of this sacred conversion each Sunday.  But when the story comes up on a given Sunday, there are also well-known hymns to reiterate the message.  Hymn #417, Festival Canticle by Richard Hillock, is one such hymn with the hymn text taken directly from this Sunday’s selection from Revelation. Another hymn that paraphrases the text with the eloquence of the incomparable Isaac Watts is hymn #374 set to Johann Crüger’s very familiar and oft-used tune, Nun Danket All und Bringet Ehr.

Joy Comes in the Morning by Jennifer Edwards

Even the psalm this week speaks to the change or conversion that we find in our own lives. Psalm 30 speaks of turning sorrow into joy, mourning into dancing and implies the conversion of one’s soul from ‘Sheol’ to God.  As with all psalms, there is an abundance of various forms of chant, anthem settings, and popular music. But for Psalm 30 (at least in our hymnal) there are no hymns! Still, there are some lively and upbeat anthems paraphrasing and/or directly quoting Psalm 30:  Joy’s Gonna Come in the Morning and Weeping May Endure for a Night, Joy Cometh in the Morning are two examples. Yet, what is most interesting is when concepts, themes and actual texts themselves find their way into the secular music world. Remember the old Gerry and the Pacemakers song, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”?  To be sure, the content of the song has nothing to do with Psalm 30, but the initial verse does call to mind verse 5 of the psalm:

“Don't let the sun catch you cryin'

The night's the time for all your tears

Your heart may be broken tonight

But tomorrow in the morning light

Don't let the sun catch you cryin'”

And if we're going to talk about songs that remind us of conversion and changes...well, you can't ignore David Bowie's Changes  which is all about changing (surprise!).

So Paul sees the light, Peter feeds the flock, the Lamb is worthy of honor, glory and all, and joy really does come in the morning.  Christ is risen, alleluia, alleluia!