Prayers to an Unknown God
Scriptures: Acts 17:22-31, John 14:15-21
Friends, it is good to be here today. It was such an enjoyable experience last week to visit with other UCC folks from across the city last week. If you missed it, the food was great, and it was so enjoyable to talk about the challenges our churches face. But more than that, I found it really encouraging to find out that there are exciting things happening in – believe it or not – small UCC churches here in Baltimore. Am I remembering right that it was Rev. Desiree who said, “Small but mighty?” I agree and I think it’s good to remember Phillipians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. May Christ strengthen us indeed as we seek to follow him in our lives, as individuals and as churches. So, before I begin, I’d like to pray a sung prayer. If you know it, feel free to sing along. Let us pray.
“Open our eyes, Lord”
In our story from Acts today, the apostle Paul is in the Greek city of Athens, preaching to the Greeks about Jesus’ death and resurrection. It might surprise you to know that in terms of religious practice, the Roman Empire was a time of a great deal of upheaval, fermenting, and general mixing up of people. In fact, at its largest expanse the Roman Empire connected under one political power people all the way from India to Spain and from North Africa to the British Isles.
So it became easier – not easy, but easier – to travel between nations that formerly would have known nothing about each other, and to trade ideas, philosophies, and religions with each other. In other words, there were more ways to run into a religion you’d never heard of before. And for the Athenians, their approach was to 1. be interested in all kinds of new stuff, and 2. if it was a god somewhere, build a shrine to it. Might as well, just to be on the safe side.
So Paul comes to this hotbed of religious activity and starts preaching in the middle of the town square. In a way, it’s funny that Paul would be the one preaching to non-Jew Gentiles, since not so very long ago he was a rigid, zealous, strictly observant Jew. He still is a Jew, but one who also sees himself as a follower of Jesus. And where before he used to watch people’s coats at the stoning of a martyr, now he preaches in public to Gentiles to tell them about the work God has done for them through Jesus.
And when Paul speaks to the Athenians about that work – that gift of forgiveness, resurrection, new life, that kingdom of God – he doesn’t start out by explaining the whole history of Jewish law. He starts where the people are. He starts out by pointing out what the people are already doing. “I’ve been through your city,” he says, “and I see that you’re very religious. You even have an altar to an unknown God. Well. I’m here to tell you that I know who this unknown God is. This unknown God is the God of everything. The God who made heavens and earth, who defies and lives beyond shrines, and who is all around us, surrounding us at every moment. This God is the God revealed through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. So, turn from your ways and believe in the goodness of God and the assurance that your mistakes will be forgiven.”
I was out walking in the neighborhood around our church a few weeks ago. And it was a more intentional walk than usual. I was praying, as I walked, for the people I saw. It was a very interesting spiritual exercise. I recommend it, if you’re the type of person who likes to walk. I saw people of different races and ages – young kids, young mothers, kids playing in the park down the street, older folks relaxing on their porches, young people moving some things into a house around the corner. People of Morrell Park, I wanted to say, like Paul does, God loves you. And God welcomes you.
It seems to me that we are living in a time much like Paul’s. There are a wide variety of beliefs, philosophies, religions, and practices that people can choose from. And, like the people of Athens, modern Americans can set up a shrine to any god. And we might think of those other gods as other religions, but I think the shrines that get the most attention these days are the ones built to the gods of power, security and American invincibility, gods of money, consumption and waste, gods of entertainment and addiction. Many of these things, in and of themselves, are not bad things. But ultimately, they are not God. Our God of peace and justice, our still-speaking God, our God of grace and forgiveness, that God Jesus reveals in human form, our God is still an unknown God to many people.
I don’t want to give the impression that all the answers about God are here in this room, and that no-one outside this room has any idea about who this God is that we name. But I think we miss the point if we try to tell our stories as if we have the corner on truth, or that another person must be compelled to think the way that we do because we have somehow wrestled them into it. Perhaps you’ve met someone with this approach before. Paul, for one, strikes me as a particularly bold character, at least at first. But really, he is just starting where the Athenians are, and telling his story about God with their worries, their interests, their perspectives and their culture in mind.
Do you have a story that you’ve been meaning to tell? A time when God was present to you, in the midst of crisis, or at the height of joy? Do you have a story about healing, about forgiveness, about persistent, faithful love? Is it possible that you know God a little better than you might ordinarily admit in public? And if you don’t have your own story to tell, what about our gospel lesson from today? Jesus tells his disciples – tells us! – that “I will not leave you orphaned, I will be with you. I give you my peace, not as the world gives, but freely, generously. My Spirit of love will be with you to guide you, to strengthen you, to comfort you.” This Jesus reveals a God worth knowing. And his stories are ours to hear and to know, and they are also ours to share.
There are people outside these four walls who are afraid to come to church, whether because they believe God will judge them harshly, or because they believe we will judge them harshly. Or maybe both. The God who embodies love, forgiveness, joy, and peace in Jesus, is an unknown God. And yet, there are those outside our walls who call out in prayer to an unknown God. Healing, love, and peace are in short supply in this world, but God is generous. May the Spirit of Jesus use us to answer those prayers to an unknown God. Amen.
Friends, it is good to be here today. It was such an enjoyable experience last week to visit with other UCC folks from across the city last week. If you missed it, the food was great, and it was so enjoyable to talk about the challenges our churches face. But more than that, I found it really encouraging to find out that there are exciting things happening in – believe it or not – small UCC churches here in Baltimore. Am I remembering right that it was Rev. Desiree who said, “Small but mighty?” I agree and I think it’s good to remember Phillipians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. May Christ strengthen us indeed as we seek to follow him in our lives, as individuals and as churches. So, before I begin, I’d like to pray a sung prayer. If you know it, feel free to sing along. Let us pray.
“Open our eyes, Lord”
In our story from Acts today, the apostle Paul is in the Greek city of Athens, preaching to the Greeks about Jesus’ death and resurrection. It might surprise you to know that in terms of religious practice, the Roman Empire was a time of a great deal of upheaval, fermenting, and general mixing up of people. In fact, at its largest expanse the Roman Empire connected under one political power people all the way from India to Spain and from North Africa to the British Isles.
So it became easier – not easy, but easier – to travel between nations that formerly would have known nothing about each other, and to trade ideas, philosophies, and religions with each other. In other words, there were more ways to run into a religion you’d never heard of before. And for the Athenians, their approach was to 1. be interested in all kinds of new stuff, and 2. if it was a god somewhere, build a shrine to it. Might as well, just to be on the safe side.
So Paul comes to this hotbed of religious activity and starts preaching in the middle of the town square. In a way, it’s funny that Paul would be the one preaching to non-Jew Gentiles, since not so very long ago he was a rigid, zealous, strictly observant Jew. He still is a Jew, but one who also sees himself as a follower of Jesus. And where before he used to watch people’s coats at the stoning of a martyr, now he preaches in public to Gentiles to tell them about the work God has done for them through Jesus.
And when Paul speaks to the Athenians about that work – that gift of forgiveness, resurrection, new life, that kingdom of God – he doesn’t start out by explaining the whole history of Jewish law. He starts where the people are. He starts out by pointing out what the people are already doing. “I’ve been through your city,” he says, “and I see that you’re very religious. You even have an altar to an unknown God. Well. I’m here to tell you that I know who this unknown God is. This unknown God is the God of everything. The God who made heavens and earth, who defies and lives beyond shrines, and who is all around us, surrounding us at every moment. This God is the God revealed through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. So, turn from your ways and believe in the goodness of God and the assurance that your mistakes will be forgiven.”
I was out walking in the neighborhood around our church a few weeks ago. And it was a more intentional walk than usual. I was praying, as I walked, for the people I saw. It was a very interesting spiritual exercise. I recommend it, if you’re the type of person who likes to walk. I saw people of different races and ages – young kids, young mothers, kids playing in the park down the street, older folks relaxing on their porches, young people moving some things into a house around the corner. People of Morrell Park, I wanted to say, like Paul does, God loves you. And God welcomes you.
It seems to me that we are living in a time much like Paul’s. There are a wide variety of beliefs, philosophies, religions, and practices that people can choose from. And, like the people of Athens, modern Americans can set up a shrine to any god. And we might think of those other gods as other religions, but I think the shrines that get the most attention these days are the ones built to the gods of power, security and American invincibility, gods of money, consumption and waste, gods of entertainment and addiction. Many of these things, in and of themselves, are not bad things. But ultimately, they are not God. Our God of peace and justice, our still-speaking God, our God of grace and forgiveness, that God Jesus reveals in human form, our God is still an unknown God to many people.
I don’t want to give the impression that all the answers about God are here in this room, and that no-one outside this room has any idea about who this God is that we name. But I think we miss the point if we try to tell our stories as if we have the corner on truth, or that another person must be compelled to think the way that we do because we have somehow wrestled them into it. Perhaps you’ve met someone with this approach before. Paul, for one, strikes me as a particularly bold character, at least at first. But really, he is just starting where the Athenians are, and telling his story about God with their worries, their interests, their perspectives and their culture in mind.
Do you have a story that you’ve been meaning to tell? A time when God was present to you, in the midst of crisis, or at the height of joy? Do you have a story about healing, about forgiveness, about persistent, faithful love? Is it possible that you know God a little better than you might ordinarily admit in public? And if you don’t have your own story to tell, what about our gospel lesson from today? Jesus tells his disciples – tells us! – that “I will not leave you orphaned, I will be with you. I give you my peace, not as the world gives, but freely, generously. My Spirit of love will be with you to guide you, to strengthen you, to comfort you.” This Jesus reveals a God worth knowing. And his stories are ours to hear and to know, and they are also ours to share.
There are people outside these four walls who are afraid to come to church, whether because they believe God will judge them harshly, or because they believe we will judge them harshly. Or maybe both. The God who embodies love, forgiveness, joy, and peace in Jesus, is an unknown God. And yet, there are those outside our walls who call out in prayer to an unknown God. Healing, love, and peace are in short supply in this world, but God is generous. May the Spirit of Jesus use us to answer those prayers to an unknown God. Amen.
posted by Amy Sens at 8:39 PM
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