Creekside Church Sermon of May 9, 1999 "Opening the World's Mind" Acts 17:22-31	Rev. David Bibbee
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Whether or not you've played "I doubt it," chances are you have experienced something like it by virtue of being a Christian in a world which doesn't understand Christianity, and finds nothing convincing about its claims. It was a response the apostle Paul had grown accustomed to. As he put it, his message was a stumbling block to the Jews and absolute foolishness to the Gentiles. And in our text today, Paul is preaching in a place to a people which would require every ounce of rhetoric and reason he possessed.

During this century another theologian named Paul faced a similar challenge. Paul Tillich sought to present Christianity to those he called Christianity's "cultured despisers"; people who enthroned intellect and reason and considered religion in general and Christ in particular pointless at worst and insignificant at best.

Paul went to Athens, the center of Greco-Roman culture-the cradle of the world's great philosophers and philosophies. The citizens of Athens were constantly curious and open to entertaining different ideas. Demosthenese, a great thinker of that day, criticized the Athenians for constantly wanting to hear the latest news and failing to guard their liberties. Athens was a university town. Everywhere you went there was a debate, a lecture or seminar on whatever idea was hot at the time. It would have been fitting to erect a sign at the city limits with the words, "Idols R Us." Idols and altars were everywhere erected to every known deity, and just in case they missed any, there was even one for an unknown god.

In Acts 17 we find Paul in the city of Athens surrounded by the intelligencia, ready to deliver a masterfully crafted message. Paul was schooled in rhetoric and he began by employing a hook that every student of rhetoric knows. If you want the audience eating out of your hand, you must flatter them first. Bond with them. "Distinguished and enlightened people of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious." Heads nodded. "Among all your beautiful statuary I saw an altar with the inscription to an unknown god. Ladies and gentlemen, I know you are seekers, and I have what you seek. I know the name of the unknown god. They began taking notes.

He spoke their language and referred to the God whose handiwork was manifest in the beauties and intricacies of creation. When he said God couldn't be contained in any way shape or form, he earned points with the Epicureans who believed God was totally self-sufficient. He roused the interest of the Stoics by emphasizing the unity of humanity. "In him we live and move and have our being," Paul said, then he linked this with a quote from a Stoic poet named Aratus who wrote, "We are indeed his offspring."

So far so good. Having established points in common, he then narrowed his message. What previously had been unknown, is now known. The culmination of God's revelation was from a Jew named Jesus who was crucified, resurrected, and whose life has become the standard by which the world will be judged. There was a momentary silence, then the learned, scholarly crowd broke out laughing. He had them, then he lost them."

Some laughed all the way back to their cubicles in the university library. Some said, "We'll sleep on it. Maybe we'll hear you again sometime." Just a little handful of folks responded, including a man and woman named Dionysius and Dmaris. That's it. Mighty slim pickings for such a super sermon. It's hard for the Christian faith to take root where people pride themselves in their intellectual dexterity. It would be a long, long time until a church appeared in Athens.

There is not much difference between first century Athenians and our twentieth century culture. Contemporary Athenians take pride in their knowledge and open-mindedness. Some of you might remember what you were like early in your college years. You found new ideas. You tested the validity of old ones. You adopted a new language and gained just enough knowledge to be dangerous. I remember going back to my home church half way through my freshmen year, eager to share the profound insights I had acquired. In an adult Sunday school class I would tantalize folk's minds with little profundities like, "We say that God is love, but can't we also say that love is God?" One of the wise members told me not to worry. I would get over my affliction in about 6 years.

The world we live in leaves almost no room for the Lord we believe in. Who needs the Lord in a world that runs on facts and figures and flow charts. This is the information age, you know. There is no problem that science and technology can't eventually solve. Who needs mystery when we have answers for everything? But what about a standard higher than our own? What about a spiritual reality? What about God? What about Jesus? What about Easter and a life that conquers death? We have the right to ask, "Is there a reality that can't be dissected in anatomy class, detected by a microscope or telescope, or found in the periodic table of elements?

Is there anything beyond ourselves that's worthy of worship? "I worship nature," I've heard some people say. "You do? I think nature is wonderful, too, but I have yet to speak with a bass who told me the purpose of my life." "I have faith in the human spirit." I've heard people say. But the human spirit doesn't exactly have a great record, and given the recent events in Littleton, Colorado and Kosovo, I'm not inclined to get very excited about the human spirit. "I believe in the power of reason," I've heard people say. They believe in science. They believe in Wall Street and the almighty dollar. They believe in plastics and a chicken in every pot and that when you're dead you're dead, and nothing exists until it's proven to exist, we're told. There's nothing beyond the material reality.

It's interesting that Christians are portrayed in the media as shortsighted, narrow-minded, ignorant, pious, puritanical, prejudiced, and judgmental, not to mention self-righteous. But who's calling who closed-minded. The grandfather of one of the surgeons with whom Twig works had a Honda motor scooter business out east. Back in the sixties he was approached by Honda executives who said they were going to manufacture automobiles. They wanted to know if he would like to have the first franchise in the Unites States. He declined and chose to continue selling scooters. "No one will buy a car with the name Honda on it," he said.

It's the wise person who leaves room in life for what can't be seen. When he said the unknown god was a Jew, crucified and resurrected, and that whether they believed it or not the journey of life is toward Jesus who would judge the world with righteousness, they put their pencils in their pockets and had a good laugh. Only a tiny fraction believed. It's always been this way. That's why Jesus said we are in the world like salt and light and a little leaven in the loaf.

Joseph Campbell said, "There is always something beyond the obvious." Our world is too smart for it's own good. It revolves around the facts as it sees them. Christianity isn't founded on facts. We have been formed by a person who has shown us something beyond the obvious. Walter Cronkite used to end each evening CBS newscast with these words, "And that's the way it is." But appearances are deceiving. The way it really is, is this. One solitary life has changed everything. Therefore we live in a different way. We are schooled by a Master who has given us a new language, a new set of values, and a new way of living not based upon fact but faith that the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ.

We are placed in a world that is a prisoner to doubt. We've been planted to do what we can to open the minds of the citizens of Athens.

In her book, Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris talks about belief. She says that when people ask, "What do you believe?" They are really asking, "What do you think?" Into the realm of thought, doubt comes. If belief is only a matter of what we think, we will have doubts and intellectual frustration because there are claims in Christianity which don't make intellectual sense. But Norris points out that the Greek root of belief simply means, "to give one's heart to." If you want to know what a person believes, ask where the heart is. Where the treasure is, there your heart is also.

Our job is not to coerce those who doubt and dismiss what we believe. That's the Holy Spirit's task, not ours. Our calling is to give over our hearts to what the intellect can never grasp, and trust the outcomes to God. It's the wise person who always leaves room for what can't be seen. With this in mind, let me leave you with something from Madeleine L'Engle:

She turns toward me and reaches for me. "I'm scared, I'm scared," she says. I put my arms around her and hold her. I hold her as I held my children when they were small and afraid in the night. I hold her as she, once upon a time and long ago, held me. And I say the same words, the classic, maternal, instinctive words of reassurance, "Don't be afraid, I'm here, it's all right." My mother says to me again, "Something's wrong. I'm scared. I'm scared." I cradle her and repeat, "It's all right.

"What's all right? What am I promising her? I'm scared too. I don't know what will happen when my husband goes to the neurologist. I don't know what's going to happen to my mother. I don't know what the message may be the next time the phone rings. What's all right? How can I say it? But I do. I hold her close and kiss her and murmer, "It's all right mother. It's all right."

"I mean these words. I don't understand them, but I mean them. Perhaps one day I will find out what I mean. They are implicit in the way I live-they stand behind everything I do. I may never find with my intellectual self what I mean, but if I am given enough glimpses perhaps these will add up to enough so that my heart will understand. It does not; not yet, but I know it's all right."

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