Where is God?
Acts 17:22-31
Sunday May 14th, 2023
Rev. Rhonda Blevins, pastor
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we, too, are his offspring.’
“Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
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Several years ago, I spent a week in Thailand. I was there for a training prior to a “undercover” mission trip to another Eastern country. My team and I stayed mostly in our hotel: it’s where we slept, ate, and met. But on a couple of occasions, we had free time to explore the beautiful city of Chiang Mai. On one of those days, we strolled the city blocks.
Here’s something that caught my attention as we walked down the residential streets—at nearly every house, there was a small shrine set up in the yard. More than a simple statue of Buddha, these shrines were like little Eastern doll houses containing multiple, doll-like statues. These shrines were well-kept, some had incense burning, or fresh flowers, or a bit of food placed in it. My team and I found these shrines curious—not something you see every day in your typical American neighborhood.
I would later discover that these ubiquitous shrines are called “Spirit Houses.” Even though about 95% of Thailand is Buddhist, many Thais also believe in the “Spirit House” ritual, thought to be derived from ancient animistic beliefs combined with Brahmanism, an ancient form of Hinduism. These “Spirit Houses” are believed to hold spirits with a claim to the land on which the houses and businesses sit. Those who believe try to appease the spirits with gifts of incense and flowers, food and drink, in the hopes of good fortune in return—joy, peace, prosperity, etc.
This trip was in my younger, more self-righteous, less inclusive days; I remember being quite judgmental, and talking with my similarly minded teammates about how sad we were to think of people trying to appease the spirits.
I imagine that the Apostle Paul was having a similar experience one day as he walked the streets of Athens, Greece. He seems fascinated by the Athenian’s “objects of worship”—shrines, altars, idols made of gold and silver and stone. Paul was obviously out of his comfort zone—Athens, Greece was apparently quite different from his hometown of Tarsus in what we know today as Turkey.
Combining what you know of ancient Greek mythology and this story from the book of Acts, what do you imagine some of the gods these idols and altars and shrines represented and served? Likely Greek gods like Zeus (the king of the gods), Poseidon (the king of the sea), Aphrodite (the goddess of love), Apollo (the sun god), and Athena (the goddess of war and protector of Athens), to name a few. The ancient Greeks were polytheistic, worshipping many gods. And just to be on the safe side, just to make sure they didn’t offend some unknown god, someone in ancient Athens erected an altar “to an unknown god.”
They just weren’t sure they could know all the gods out there.
Imagine the Apostle Paul happening upon this altar to an unknown god. This was the perfect setup he needed to wax eloquent about the one, true God:
“The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said.”
Now, I admit, the Apostle Paul and I have had our tussles. But I love his teaching here.
· God “is not far from each one of us.” I love that Paul doesn’t limit God’s availability to only Jews or only Christians. Paul is talking with people who are neither Jewish nor Christian, and he assures them that God is near to them. I love this teaching!
· Then Paul quotes one of their well-known poets when he reminds them that in God “we live and move and have our being.” This is a phrase I return to over and over again. Sometimes you hear me include it in my pastoral prayer. It’s a beautiful, poetic way to point to the reality of God’s presence all around us.
Admittedly, it’s easy to forget this truth as we go about our daily lives.
You’ve probably heard a little story told by David Foster Wallace in a commencement speech:
There are two young fish swimming along who happen to meet an older fish.
The older fish nods at them and says: “Morning boys, how’s the water?”
The two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually
one of them looks over at the other and asks: “What the *heck* is water?”
You see, because we have lived and moved and had our being in God from first breath until this very moment, it can be hard to recognize God’s presence in and through and all around. We are like the fish, not knowing what water is. We are like that Athenian who built an altar “to an unknown god.”
God’s presence is so ubiquitous, it can be difficult to see. We can find ourselves asking, “Where is God?”
People have been asking this question for centuries. It’s a question that resonates with us still today.
“Where is God?”
· Where is God in the midst of our suffering, our pain, and our struggles?
· Where is God when we feel lost, confused, and alone?
· Where is God in tragedy, in senseless human violence, in natural disasters?
I remember in a church where I previously served, there was a parishioner who was very active in the congregation, and then one day he just quit coming to church. When I went to visit him to extend love (and find out what was going on), he told me he couldn’t do church anymore. He was emotionally devastated by the tsunami in Indonesia that killed an estimated 228,000 people. He wondered where God had been during that tragedy of epic proportions. He wondered if God was real, and if God was real, why hadn’t God intervened. Either way, he wanted nothing to do with God anymore. He wanted nothing to do with God’s church.
Where is God?
God is the air we breathe. God is the reality in whom we live and move and have our being. God is always present, even when we can’t see or feel or recognize God’s presence.
· God is with us in good times and in bad times.
· God is with us when we are happy and when we are sad.
· God is with us in sickness and in health.
· God is with us when we are surrounded by friends and when we find ourselves all alone.
God is always with us.
The Psalmist knew this truth. Listen to what he writes in Psalm 139:7-10:
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
God. Is. Always. There.
But sometimes, if I’m honest, I have a hard time recognizing God’s presence. And maybe, if you’re honest, you’d say the same thing. Sometimes, life can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it’s difficult to remember that we “live and move and have our being” in God.
That’s why we need each other. That’s part of why we “do” church. We “do” church to help each other, to carry each other’s faith during times of doubt.
My friend, David, planted a church a few years ago. As a new church start, they implemented some new traditions early on in their life together. One of the traditions they practice is that every Sunday when they come together, they take time to share “God sightings.” They create space each week to share ways in which they saw God’s presence in real and powerful ways. They share how they experienced the reality of God in the week prior. David reminds them that some Sundays, some individuals might be hard-pressed to name anything—some weeks it might be difficult to detect God’s presence in the world. Those are the weeks when the God sightings offered by others can carry their faith until the time comes when they can begin to see God once again.
God sightings.
I want to take a few moments this morning and share this “God sightings” practice together. So let me ask you, where have you seen God’s presence recently? Where have you noticed God’s handiwork in the world over the past few days or weeks?
[Allow congregants to share.]
Thank you for sharing your testimonies! Thank you for this beautiful witness of God’s work in and through and all around.
Where is God?
God is with us. Always. Even to the end of the age. This, my friends, is good news worth sharing.