SERMON: Acts 17:
22-31 What worship reveals about "being right"
Then Paul stood in front
of the Greek Council and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious
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 nations
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 grope 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 person
whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him
from the dead."
Friends, I could not have selected a more
perfect scripture for an outdoor worship service. Thanks to divine providence,
the lectionary text today speaks of God’s vast presence. Of a church without
walls. Of worship with no idols. What is the church? God’s people. Not a
building, not any fancy objects inside the building. Not even one of our
beloved rituals.
Paul, the author of our story today, knows
something about worshipping idols; not long before giving this eloquent speech
about God’s majesty to the Greek council, he had been in the business of
killing people who followed Jesus.
“God gives to all mortals life and breath and
all things.” I love that line from Paul, because he says it with the conviction
of someone who’s heart has been changed by true worship. In fact, even his name
changed from Saul to Paul- in order that his inward transformation might be recognized
in his life story.
And now here he is, taking stock of all the
idols he once believed to be important: power, greed, money, and maybe the
worst of all, needing to be right. After
Paul’s transformation, he understands the freedom in walking the way of Jesus
is that we don’t have to be right. Why? Because Jesus is our righteousness…not us.
We mortals, you and I, can never get God right
all the time. In fact, we can’t get anything right, all the time. Oh but we try, don’t we?? If I’m honest with myself, I think my
biggest struggle is that I LOVE BEING RIGHT. (I’m sure my husband would say,
“Oh no, that’s not true, darling. You never want to be right! That doesn’t
happen every single day; nope, not in our house!) Just yesterday, a bird with a
black head and orange body landed in our maple tree, I’d never seen one like
that, and when AJ quickly suggested it could be an Oriol, I thought, “nah, that
can’t be right- I’ll look it up and I’ll be the one that’s right!” After a bit
of googling, I concluded that AJ…might just have been right after all. It was
probably an oriol. Dang it, why does needing to be “right” tempt us so often! Maybe
it has something to do with proving our sense of worth in the world.
You know who also struggles with needing to be
right? Anyone who engages in fiery comments on social media. Especially now, this
historical moment, a pandemic of epic proportion, is the perfect storm in which
all our self-righteousness comes to fruition. You’ve seen it too, I imagine? You’re dumb if you wear a
mask! You’re dumb if you
don’t! Self-agency
is the right approach to controlling the spread! No, community standards are more
effective. Boost the economy, quick! Wait, don’t you care about our elders? I can’t believe so and so went
to a restaurant! It’s crazy that so and
so doesn’t leave the house!
Get it? Yeah, we all want to be right about
how this pandemic is addressed. The problem is, of course, that in all this
controversy, we’re forgetting that Jesus doesn’t ask us to be right. Jesus asks
us to love God and love our neighbors. Jesus wants relationships tended,
maybe even mended, more than anything.
So here’s what I need to ask myself, maybe you
do too. Does the
need to be right ever get in the way of your relationships? Does it ever become an idol that you worship
with your time and energy and attention? If so, Paul offers us a remedy in one
word: worship. How will worship help? Worship takes us out from the
center of the story- and replaces our need to be right with the truth that God alone
is our righteousness.
Paul ends his thoughts to the Greeks with an
interesting explanation of ignorance and repentance. He says, “While God has
overlooked the times of human ignorance, now God commands all people everywhere
to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in
righteousness by a person whom he has appointed, and of this he has given
assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Huh, so what Paul says frees us from needing
to be right- is admitting that we make mistakes. That’s repentance, and it’s
powerful because it changes us from within. Only when we turn away from our own
self-righteousness do we begin to see that we really don’t need it after all.
Our worth has never come from what we do- it’s always been a gift based in who
we are: God’s offspring.
That’s the change of heart Paul knows well.
And he knows we don’t need idols (like power or being right), because true
worship always has and always will lead us back to the ONE who can make all
things right again: Jesus.
Do I know that we’re making all the right
calls in tending to our community’s many needs during a difficult time? Of
course I don’t. But I rest in the assurance that I don’t need to be right, I
just need to love God and love my neighbor, and trust that in doing so, the one who
is right: Jesus, will show up and show us the way. Amen!
