The Citizen, 2008-05-01, Page 11By Rev. Cathrine CampbellMelville, BrusselsKnox, BelgravePresbyterian Churches
By the time Paul arrived in Athens
he has had some successes and some
failures but he still living on the
edge. His message of a Christ
crucified for sins and resurrected for
the salvation of all was not
unanimously received with joy by
the authorities in Philippi,
Thessalonica, Birea and other
places.
Thus, Paul, guided by that Spirit
Jesus promised keeps moving about
to spread the Gospel.
In Acts 17 we hear he is in Athens
waiting for Silas and Timothy.
Athens was quite a place – it was the
capital city of the district of Attica in
ancient times and is the capital of
modern Greece.
In the New Testament Athens
could still boast of being one of the
most famous centres of wisdom
architecture and art. Though it had
been surpassed economically by
Corinth and intellectually by
Alexandria the city nevertheless
maintained a great reputation. (Bible
Dictionary).
West-northwest of the Acropolis
was the Areopagus, which for many
years was the seat of Athens higher
court of justice. Still farther
northwest was the Agora or the
marketplace, a large open space
enclosed by colonnades, temples,
bazaars and government buildings.
It was here that the Athenians spent
their time discussing political issues
and exchanging goods and services.
(Bible Dictionary)
It was a bustling, busy place and
one where the writer of Acts feels
quite superior “all the Athenians and
the foreigners who lived there spent
their time doing nothing but talking
about and listening to the latest idea”
(Acts 17:21) you can still hear the
sniff 2000 years later.
One thing the Greeks did have and
there was no dispute about this; they
had gods – many, many of them.
They had no sacred book of wisdom
like the Torah but they had many
gods and many stories.
According to Greek myths about
creation, the god Chaos (Greek for
“Gaping Void”) was the foundation
of all things. From Chaos came Gaea
(“Earth”): the bottomless depth of
the underworld, known as Tartarus;
and Eros (“Love”), Eros, the god of
love, was needed to draw divinities
together so they might produce
offspring.
Chaos produced Night, while
Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of
the heavens, and after him produced
the mountains, sea. and gods known
as Titans. The Titans were strong and
large, and they committed arrogant
deeds.
The youngest and most important
Titan was Cronus. Uranus and Gaea,who came to personify Heaven andEarth, also gave birth to the Cyclops,one-eyed giants who made
thunderbolts.(Encarta Greek
Mythology)
After this came Aphrodite –
goddess of love and after some gory
times Zeus the king of the Gods.
Zeus ruled the sky, Poseidon his
brother ruled the sea and the other
brother Hades ruled the underworld.
Hester was the goddess of the
hearth, Demeter the god of the
harvest, Hera was the queen of the
heavens and guardian of marriage
and childbirth and Ares was the god
of War.
This is just the beginning – not the
end – of the lists. There was a god or
goddess for anything you could
imagine from music to law and to
wine – it is quite dizzying the
numbers and the names so Paul is
not being ironic when he says “men
of Athens I see that in every way you
are very religious”.
But, for all the gods and goddesses
they had in Athens the Athenians
seemed to realize that something
wasn’t quite right – something was
missing and so, perhaps to hedge
their bets, they had an altar
inscribed “to an unknown God”.
The Athenians were not alone in
this – today there are many who
pursue the gods of success, money,
beauty or war and yet, even in the
midst of great achievement, are often
painfully aware that this is really notwhat they should be devoting theirenergy and attention to in such forcethey too have a feeling it is the
wrong god they are worshiping.
Even though you can see
successes and all that goes with it
there still seems to be something
missing. In the ancient times you
could see the statutes and, by and
large, they were lovely to look at
they were crafted by very skilled
craftsmen and even the god of War
looked good.
The Unknown God had no face, no
form, and was of another world and
so easy to dismiss.
And they could not have been
more wrong in that dismissal as Paul
tells them. For the God of Israel, the
God of Moses and the God of us all
is here and is now and there is a
word that describes this panenthesim
– this is a way of thinking about God
that affirms both the transcendence
of God and the immanence of God.
For panentheists God is not a
being out there; the Greek roots of
the word point out its meaning : pan
means everything en means in and
theos means God – Panenthesim
thus means everything is in God.
(Marcus Borg “The God we never
Knew chapter 3).
God is not a lump of marble or on
a piece of money or a Mercedes.
God is everywhere and God is Love
and in the world – the Words of Paul
bear repeating:
The God who made the world andeverything in it is the Lord of heavenand earth and does not live intemples built by hands. And he is not
served by human hands, as if he
needed anything, because he himself
gives all men life and breath and
everything else.
From one man he made every
nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole earth; and he
determined the times set for them
and the exact places where they
should live. God did this so that men
would seek him and perhaps reach
out for him and find him, though he
is not far from each one of us. “For
in him we live and move and have
our being.” As some of your own
poets have said, “We are his
offspring.”
“Therefore since we are God’s
offspring, we should not think that
the divine being is like gold or silver
or stone—an image made by man’s
design and skill. (Acts 17:24-29).
This is the immanent God who is
with us daily, but how do you know?
Not by endless discussion, not by
what you are told and not by pretty
pictures. You know because of whatyou experience, for in God we liveand move and have our being, ourtotal being not just parts but all the
good times, the bad times and the in-
between times. Those in-between
times are actually the most testing
because it is at these times that God
sometimes slips off our radar
screens.
We have a knowledge of God as
the centre of our lives because we
have the spirit of understanding
given so that we would and should
know that we have a resurrected
Christ in our lives, God’s only son
came to the world for us, there are
not portraits for which Christ posed
or statues of the true Christ because
Christ came not just once but stills
comes for each and every one of us –
he is not a plaster saint but a real,
vital part of our lives who walks with
us in all times.
We have a purpose in our lives, to
do what is needful and right in the
care of God’s creation and we have
the energy to do this because of the
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2008. PAGE 11. From the Minister’s StudyMinister speaks of the purpose in life
308 Blyth Rd. E. ~ Pastor Les Cook 519-523-4590
B l y t h C o m m u n i ty Church of God
C H U R C H O F G O D ,ANDERS
O
N
,
I
N
D
I
A
N
A
“The Church
is not a building,
it is people
touching people
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
- Christian Education
for all ages
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
Mid-week Bible Studies
See you
Sunday!
119 John St., Auburn
Pastor Dave Wood
519-526-1131
This Sunday 9:30 a.m. - Sunday School &
Small Groups
10:30 a.m. - Morning Worship
7:30 p.m. - Evening Worship
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
SUNDAY, MAY 4
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 519-887-9831
11:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 am - Sunday Belgrave Service
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, May 4
Ethel United Church
Worship Service - 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
Worship Service - 11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, May 4th
Brussels Public School
10:30 am and 6:30 pm
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age (mornings only)
Childcare provided for infants and toddlers
Coffee & cookies after the morning service
For additional details please contact:
Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Welcomes you to come
and worship with us
The Parish of New Beginnings
will celebrate the arrival of
Rev. Perry Chuipka
with a joint service
Sunday, May 4 at 10:30 am
at Trinity Church, Blyth
Please join us for worship
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00am
Evening Service 7:30pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Blyth United Church
Office: 519-523-4224
Sunday, May 4
All Welcome
Worship Service and Sunday School - 11 a.m.
Guest speaker: Emily Phillips
getlivingwater.org
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
1st & 3rd Wednesdays - Women at the Well
Youth: Mondays - Senior 6:30 pm
- Fridays - Junior 7:30 pm
Sun., May 4: Matthew 5:13ff
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
at Blyth Public School,
corner of King & Mill
“Watered-down
Witness”
Christ-centred, Bible-believing,
Fellowship-friendly, Growth-geared
Continued on page 19