Meet Them Where They Live

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Readings:
Acts 17:22-31
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

Pastor Johnson pointed us to Paul’s encounter with the Athenians. He illustrated some of the history of the times. This was a Post-resurrection Greece with no real Church yet; so far, just a cult religion, not born of the urban center, but rather by a carpenter from the countryside. Remember how they claimed ‘Nothing good can come from Nazareth’?

Paul ginds himself in the center of all things intellectual, the center of mathematics and Euclidian geometry, architecture, the burgeoning libraries. Greece of these times was a great center of learning respected for that. Paul then proceeds to engage the people in intellectual discussions, on their own turf. So let’s see, he wants to engage the Athenians in an argument on behalf of Christianity. How does he go about this. How do you engage an intellectual people in a discussion of theology? With ‘shoulda’s’? … ‘you betta’s’? … by wagging your finger? Well, this never works, and Paul knows it. Paul addresses them:

“Athenians … I see how extremely religious you are.”

He engages them on their real estate, in an area in which they are already passionate. In Paul’s time a hallmark of the intellectuals was how pious they were. He succeeds in telling them that God is a God who takes care of us. He sees to it that the lion and lamb lie down together, that brings Greeks and Romans … and Jews to sit down together, forgiven of their sins.

If want to tell the story of this God, Paul knows you don’t hit them over the head with it; you engage them by joining them in their life. Pastor Johnson shared with us the story of how his pastor and mentors of 81 years gave him a Confirmation Bible with the verse from 1st Peter written inside. Underlined was the reference to respect for their ethnicity, their religion, their habitat, their ‘stories’.

If you want to deliver the message, start by asking:

“Tell me about yourself”.

Everyone has some heart, some wonderment within them.
You will most likely not tap into that with ‘shoulda’s’, ‘coulda’s’, fire and brimstone, and preaching fear. Pastors who are out of touch with gays, with single Mom’s working for minimum wage, with mmebrs fo their congregation with their own stories risk missing a chance to deliver God’s message. Paul knew the Athenians were apt to listen when they first heard they were a religious people. Jesus knew the woman at the well had her own life in which she was entrenched when he said, ‘I know you’re having a tough day. Can I have a drink of water?’. In the tree top, Zacchaeus answered the call of first ‘Hey, come on down. I’m having dinner with you.’. At the washing machine, in the doctor’s office where a diagnosis is handed over, people need to know God knows what they are feeling. We need dreams, hope, and affirmation.

So ask about their stories – what brought you here? What are your doubts, your fears, your apprehensions? After we trade our stories, there is time and space enough for the Story that can not be contained. In that Story there is a voice that says, “I know a God who can help allay your fears”. This …THIS IS the Good News.