Each week we'd like to bring you a snippet of Bible Study conversation, something we've pondered in the last week. With four Bible Studies ongoing--Sunday morning at 9:00, Wednesday morning at 10:00 for the women, Thursday night at 7:00, and the first Saturday of each month at 7:00--there's sure to be plenty of material.
Today's reflection comes from our Wednesday morning women's Bible Study. The women of the church are discovering the wonders of the Book of Acts. This week we concentrated on Acts 17, wherein Paul explained Jesus to a group of Greek philosophers who had never heard the story.
You can click through to see the passage and hear our reflection. (For those new to online sites, "clicking through" means clicking on the "read more" line you'll see right below these words.)
Acts 17: 16-31
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “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 human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Teaching these philosophers the difference between their gold and silver idols Paul makes a critical distinction, highlighted in verses 24-28: idols take but God gives. He does not live in temples built by human hands but in all his offspring. In him we live and move and have our being. He sustains us, pours himself out for us and into us, that we might live well and live eternally.22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “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 human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
This statement should make us reflect on how we view--and more importantly how we portray--our church. Sometimes well-meaning, enthusiastic people of faith can get caught in the trap of replacing idols of gold and silver with their own church idol. We know this is happening when we view and portray our church as an entity which takes instead of giving.
The easiest way to make this mistake is by fixating on money and membership as the core values by which we judge our effectiveness. How often have we felt the urge to go out and get more members for the sake of being bigger? How often have we spoken of money as something you have to give so the church can function? The message we send to anyone listening sounds an awful lot like taking. "We need to convince people to come in and pay attention to us, spend money on us. Hey neighbor, why don't you come so we can get bigger and feel better about ourselves? Hey neighbor, why aren't you emptying your pocketbook into our coffers?" We're not using those exact words, of course, but that's what people hear. The church being a corporate entity instead of an individual doesn't ease the impression of selfishness. This being done in God's name doesn't make it better, but worse! In their eyes the church has become an idol to us. It's not an inaccurate impression.
Another common method of church idolization is to value the physical property above all things...defining church by its building. Gold and silver statues give way to wood and plaster walls. The cheaper materials don't bespeak any richer of a faith than the Greeks had. Keeping up the church is part of the appropriate ministry, but only part. Speaking of church as a building, a place, is a terrible conceit, one that misleads people daily. We don't go to church, we are the church. As offspring of God we carry the Spirit everywhere we go. We gather at a physical location to pray, worship, engage in fellowship and study, receive peace and forgiveness. The things we share define that experience, not the location in which we share them. That doesn't mean church itself is unimportant. We need that gathering!!! But the where of that gathering--which building, what color the walls are, which wood the pews are made of--is incidental. We're not supposed to center around the building, serving it like an ancient statue. The building serves God, particularly his eyes, hands, and voice in this community...us.
The corrective to both of these idolatrous threats is to focus the church outward instead of inward. We are neither here to recruit nor to preserve, but to serve. Our human hands don't make this church for God. God's divine hands have provided this opportunity for us to show his love to all of our neighbors far and near. When those neighbors think of our church they should think of a people first, not a place. They should also know us as givers, not takers. If we could accomplish even this much, if our words and actions could change even this small perception, more people than we'd ever imagine would understand and appreciate God's work in this age.
No idol, in church or out, can compare with the living love God has shown us. The world is waiting for us to hear Paul's speech to the Greek philosophers and follow it, sharing the graceful Good News that is our gift from Jesus Christ.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
