Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.

Oh, what a risk Paul takes!

In our first lesson today, Paul launches into an impassioned speech to an audience which is not pre-disposed to hear him well.

To get the full flavor of the situation, we need to back up 6 verses and hear what leads up to the speech.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 

So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him.  Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.”  (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)

So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 

Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.  Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus [and spoke as we heard a few minutes ago.]

So, you see that Paul is not engaged in casual remarks, but in vigorous debate with those who are highly skilled in the arts of debate.

There is risk that he could himself become befuddled.

This is risk that he could not say clearly what he wanted to say and thus confuse his listeners.

There is risk that his harers would drop the politeness and turn into a mob.

There is risk that he might be arrested for introducing new gods, the punishment for which was death. (remember Socrates)

There is risk that he might be made to disappear as have so many other witnesses since then.

With all of this risk, why does he bother?

Why not wait for an easier time and place?

because the message he has is so overwhelmingly important, it is intended for everyone, including the philosophers who think they don't need it, and it needs to be conveyed in conversation.

He accepts the risk and goes ahead, with mixed success:

--some hear gladly and come to faith.

--some are merely curious,

--some reject outright what they hear.

Sounds like the reaction to most any sermon, doesn't it?

Why take the risk?

because some will join the conversation,

--the conversation with God,

--about God,

--with each other,

--and about the really big questions;

the conversation which wrestles with

--Who am I? Why am I here?

--With whom am I connected?

--Do I belong to someone?

--or am I here all on my own?  etc.

That ongoing conversation!

--and it is precisely that, a conversation!

It is the way in which we have been wondrously made, to join in the give and take of conversation with God and with each other

in order to explore the big questions and get ready to receive the big answers

which in God's good time will be revealed to us.

God made us for this conversation with himself.

James Weldon Johnson begins his imaginative retelling of the Genesis origin story this way:

And God stepped out on space

and he looked around and said

“I'm lonely – I'll make me a world.”

Later on, Johnson continues:

And God looked around on all that he had made and said,

           “I'm lonely still.”

God thought and thought

Till he thought:

I'll make me a man.

Toiling over a lump of clay

Till he shaped it in his own image

Then into it he blew the breath of life

And man became a living soul.

Now God Father, Son and Holy Spirit could be utterly complete within the Trinity, needing for nothing.

But this mighty Lord God has chosen from the very beginning to involve us in the divine conversation.

This mighty Lord of all desires our response to his gifts and invitation and does everything to make it possible.

So of course Paul will take the risk to alert anyone who will listen about the truth of the situation.

It is that important and wonderful!

How does he proceed?

(1) He looks for things which he has in common with the philosophers.

(2)He quotes Greek poets.

(3) He takes note of the altar to the unknown god, assuring them that what they despaired of knowing is indeed now known in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(4) But also, Paul does not hold back when the conversation gets to the unfamiliar topics and and most important subject of all –Jesus' resurrection.

His side of the conversation is gracious, but firm and challenging.

Not surprisingly, the reaction is mixed.

--Some dismiss this crazy resurrection stuff and walk away from the conversation.

--Some are intrigued enough to want to hear more at another time, so the conversation can continue.

--Some hear it with joy and come to faith, so that the conversation about God turns into conversation with God.

The church continues to grow in faith and numbers.

Some folks have gotten the idea that to be “inclusive” means to say nothing distinctive, nothing that might point out a difference in another's faith or lack of faith.

What a wishy-washy thing that is!

To be inclusive is much more than smiling engagingly and enjoying idle chit-chat.

It is to join in the big conversation,

to listen carefully to others,

to respond clearly

to “bear witness to the hope that is in us,” as Paul says elsewhere.

Paul is calling us to that kind of inclusiveness and demonstrating one way of doing it.

To understand our part of the conversation in this way may challenge others to think, to explore, and just maybe to change,...but that is not a nasty or destructive thing.

I read that the Canadian government has forbidden military chaplains and other government officials from uttering the name Father Son and Holy Spirit in any public setting.

In a supposed democracy, the Canadians are forbidding the conversation to even take place

so that no one will be offended

...except any Christian who wants to follow Paul's example.

So, for example, they could have public rallys after 9/11, but there could not be any public prayer at such rally; no one could say anything distinctively Christian in that place.

These days we are realizing that we need to know more about Islam. Fine.

But let's not paper things over in a false niceness.

Let's use Paul's model of vigorous engagement, not apologizing for the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as do many, even including a retired bishop of the church.

We need to name clearly the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as the source of our hope.

In the give and take of that conversation,

some will say –not for me.

Some will say – I need to think more.

Some just may come to new and renewed faith.

It is a risk worth taking.

The Spirit of the risen Christ will guide us as we try to figure out how to effectively approach our neighbors.

The voices of scripture correct us when our ideas wander astray.

The voices of the saints propose models for what we who want to be faithful can do or say.

The conversation ebbs and flows,

it moves back and forth between talking about God to talking with God,

That is to say, it is both evangelism and worship.

It is ever inviting new participants and never giving up on old ones.

This is the conversation that really matters,

in which we are granted a vision and promise of the outcome of all of life,

This is a conversation where we practice the reason for hope, and where we invite others into the conversation too.

Paul challenges us.

It is worth the risk to follow his example,

because Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Amen.

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St. Mark's Lutheran Church

142 Market Street

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

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