Metamorphosis // Rev. Matt Kennedy // April 12 2026

An old proverb says, "a leopard can't change its spots." We assume that people are largely predictable and personalities are largely fixed. We make certain judgments about a person who drives a large pickup truck and shops at Fleet Farm, and make another set of judgement about someone who drives an EV and shops at the organic co-op. Our culture has excelled at believing that certain things about us will never change and it's better to look for existing allies than win over a new convert. We are skeptical of change.The gospel tells us something different. When the Apostle Paul begins his "magna carta" on Christian freedom and the power of grace, he begins by telling the story of his own radical conversion: transforming from an anti-Christian terrorist to a devoted Christian apostle (Galatians 1:13-23). As we begin our Eastertide sermon series in the book of Galatians, we'll start with a very important question: what is the gospel and how does it work? In the biography of the Apostle Paul we'll see profoundly that grace is the power more transformative than judgement, and the foundation of life for the people of God.