ARDROSSAN UNITED CHURCH
MAY 1, 2005 – SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
DELIVERED BY REV. DARREN C. WOOFF
“Making Known the Unknown God”
“Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus 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.’”
Acts 17:22-23 (New Revised Standard Version)
In North America, God is unknown, but not unfelt. We must convince our neighbours to turn from idols towards God.
I’ve titled this sermon, “Making Known the Unknown God.” But in what way is God really unknown to us? I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that all of us here today believe in God. Also the majority of Canadians—even if they don’t worship regularly—believe in God. The number who proclaims their belief in God has never fallen below 80% in all of the surveys I’ve seen. So why are church experts such as Jeff Woods, Leonard Sweet and Bill Easum saying that God is unknown to the majority of North America? The reason that people are saying that God is unknown is because many people believe that God exists, but very few have bothered to develop a relationship with God. Many people know of God, but few know God.
Our situation in North America is not very different from the situation that Paul encountered when he visited Athens. The Athenians knew of God. They had built hundreds of temples to recognize the various aspects of God. Their city was named after the goddess of wisdom, Athena. The place where Paul was speaking was built on a hill named after Ares, the god of War (also known as Mars Hill). The Athenians had even built a worship place for the unknown god—just in case they had missed one! Like the bible says in verse 21 of Acts 17, “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.” The Athenians know of God.
But Paul comes to the Athenians to give them something new, something they haven’t had before. Paul comes to tell them how to know God. Paul says to them, “Your instincts are right. You know a lot about God. You want to know about God and you spend a lot of energy seeking knowledge about God. But God doesn’t really live in the temples you have built. God is not far away. We don’t need to burn sacrifices to get God’s attention. God is very close to us and in fact we are God’s children. We can have a relationship with God that doesn’t involve collecting information or building temples. Building a relationship with God involves prayer and entering into a relationship with Jesus.”
Some of the Athenians scoffed at what Paul had to say. After all, they knew better—they had been collecting information for thousands of years about God. But some believed. And they joined Paul and became believers and lived the Jesus life. And they began the journey of knowing the unknowable God.
We’re not so different in North America. You only have to look at television programs, the bookstore shelves and the DVD and videotape bins to see that there are a lot of people out there who know about spirituality. There are a lot of people out there very busy sharing information about God. We have biographies of God and Jesus being written and filmed. There are techniques discussed about how to get in touch with God or how to do what God wants us to do or even how to find out what God wants us to do. And everyone agrees that they are a spiritual people. We know about God. We have the archaeological techniques, the text analysis, and the study of comparative religions to tell us about God. We know about God.
But do we know God? I had read many of the books of John Shelby Spong. I had read his most intimate theological beliefs. But I didn’t know John Shelby Spong. When I went to hear a lecture of his I was wandering through the crowd before the lecture and I saw him. I must admit I was star struck, but he held out his hand to me and asked me how I was doing. I still don’t know if he mistook me for someone else or if he was just being friendly, but in that moment, I knew John Shelby Spong or Jack Spong as he calls himself. And hearing his lecture that night I got to know him better. But there is a difference between knowing of someone and even reading what someone has written and knowing a person. God is no different. We seek God continually, but with all our knowledge we don’t really know God.
But we can know God. Like Paul said, “From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth…so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for God and find God—though indeed God is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” God is all around us. We can know God. How? We can begin by listening. How do we make friends with people we don’t know? We ask them about themselves and then we listen. If we really want to be friends, we listen carefully. Listening to God is a little tricky for God can be quite subtle. But then again God can be quite obvious, too. God is heard in the actions of our lives, in the things that happen to us. God is also heard in times of quiet and stillness, in times of prayer and meditation. If we begin to believe that God is speaking to us and listen, then we will increasingly be able to hear what God is saying to us.
Another thing that will help our relationship with God is being honest with God. God knows our hearts, minds and souls but there is still an impulse to hide from God. We sometimes pretend we’re not mad at God because we think we shouldn’t be mad at God. We sometimes don’t share with God our pettiness and our daily frustrations because we believe we shouldn’t be that way. But God knows who we are and has forgiven us all of our mistakes and flaws. In fact God wishes to act through our flaws to show the glory of God’s love. So we should share everything with God. If we’re mad at God, we should be mad. If we’re petty, we should admit to God what we really want to happen. Without honesty in a relationship any relationship is doomed to failure.
We may have all the knowledge in the world about God, but until we know God we are still groping in the dark. When we get to know God that is when we can experience God’s greatest gifts of forgiveness, joy, peace and acceptance. For what we seek in so many relationships is having others accept us for what we are. In our relationship with God we are fully accepted. After all, God created us to be as we are. We are beautiful in God’s eyes. God will fully accept us as we are, if only we will listen to God’s words of love and honestly accept them. Thanks be to God for being able to know God. Amen.
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