Word to the Wise
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 6th Week of Easter - Wed
[Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 and John 16:12-15]Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: "You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an unknown God.' What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you."
The first scripture for today is one of the most masterful pieces of preaching I have ever encountered. I urge my Beloved Congregation to read the whole passage (too long to reproduce here) and reflect on it. Paul is not preaching to fellow Jews/Christians, he is preaching to a polytheistic audience. And he builds on what is already there, a religious sensibility of some kind. We are told that he attracted some followers, and others "scoffed" at his preaching of resurrection from the dead. Still others were interested in hearing him again. He may as well have been preaching to our own modern, secular, science-oriented, faith-skeptical world.
The challenge of meeting that modern world is to discover what it DOES worship, if not God. What is of ultimate value? Is anything? What our faith proclaims is that there are values that are "ultimate." The dignity of human life from womb to tomb is one of them. The care of our "common home," our environment, is another. It is because God is the ultimate source of all human life, that we give thanks for that life and try to make it possible for all other humans. The violence and greed around us are formidable foes, but our faith in God's ultimate love challenges us to stand against that violence and greed. St. Paul offers us a great example today. We can follow suit! AMEN