Psalm 66:8-20

Acts 17:22-31

I watched the movie Bridget Jones Baby on the flight home from Florida.  This is the third installment of this franchise where an awkward and at one time over weight woman struggles in her relationships.  Ironically, Bridget is faced with a new romantic conundrum: which of two eligible men is the father of her baby? Patrick Dempsey or Colin Firth.  Tough choice. Bridget asks her gynecologist, played by Emma Thomson, if she could show the ultra sound to both potential fathers, separately of course, making for some humorous dialogue.  Yet in the midst of all this drama, what steals the show is the moment when Bridget sees for the first time her baby, tiny, helpless, and growing inside of her. When she hears the heartbeat of her child, when she grasps that she is responsible for this new life.  In that moment, she falls in love with her baby.  A mother loving her offspring.

In Acts, Paul tells of God giving life to offspring.  The beautiful idea that God himself gives to us mortals life and breath and all things (25).  That we are offspring of God so that God is not an idol of gold and silver shaped by art and imagination, but rather the one we search for, the one we grope for to be in direct connection with our beloved Father.  Augustine says it best, “My heart is restless until it rests in you (Feasting on the Word, A2, 474).  We long for God. As you can see from the sermon title the line that grabbed my attention, the passage that got my mind curious, are words from Paul, “In him we live and move and have our being.”  The fullness of this is epitomized by the baby in the womb.  The helpless child that is completely dependent upon the creator, upon its mother, for life and breath and being.

We get this total dependence, we understand that it is necessary for life to come into being.  But when we think about being that utterly dependent upon God I think we get scared. We don’t want to give up control.  We would rather be the captain of our own ship. So, we pause, come up with an excuse, or busy ourselves with the demands of life.  If we are honest, we admit we create our own idols that have nothing to do with God.  Chief among them is our desire for stuff, for material objects that we believe will make our life better, easier, more beautiful or comfortable.  Of course, our idols are many and varied, it can be pursuit of money, the obsession with golf, endless shopping thinking that retail therapy will bring us happiness.  Yet none of those compare to God, replace God.  Augustine the great church father wrote, “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshiped.”  I’ll say that again, “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshiped.”  So I ask you what are your idols, what are the things you love and elevate?  To help you answer that hear these words from Martin Luther, “Whatever your heart clings to and relies on, that is properly your god” (http://www.vitalchristianity.org/docs/Idolatry2.pdf).

Paul went to Athens for one purpose to share Christ with the Athenian people. He realized this was a Greek culture, very different from his own.  So instead of using a bullhorn and powerful declarations, he tried to understand the culture, he watched how they worship, who they glorified and why.  He discovered an alter with the inscription “To an unknown god.”  We have unknown gods all around us, our idols that usurp God, objects or pursuits that preempt God’s sovereignty. Naming them is the first step in restoring God to being Lord of your life.  For you to live, move and have your being in God first we must dethrone the idols in God’s place.

In Christ, I live and move and have my being. That is how I always heard that passage- I inserted Jesus into a profound and demanding testimony.   And yet I was surprised to learn that Paul was actually referencing the thought of Seneca and the Greek poet Epimenides who had written a poem about the worship of Zeus using that phrase (Feasting on the Word, A2, 474).  Paul took the searching of this new community and transformed it into a witness for Christ. He quoted Greek thought to help them understand Christ. He answered all the unknown gods of their lives with the reality of Christ our risen Lord.  He then shared his personal knowledge of Jesus and the “God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth” (24).   Paul knows we grope for God, he honors our search for the divine, then answers that with a rich testimony of the nature of God. One commentator wrote, “Paul declared, I know this God, and this God created and sustains heaven and earth.  Guardian over space and time of our earthly pilgrimage, this God set your life in motion to assure that your sojourn would be a journey home.  Groping and searching, you will remain restless until you find your rest in him (F. on the W. A2, p. 474).

In Christ, I live and move and have my being.

Paul took the words from a Greek context and gave them new meaning in another.  I want to share how a similar thing happened this week. Last year I wrote an Advent sermon noting my discovery of my birth mother, Mary Virginia Wiley.  Unfortunately, she had already passed away and I could find no living relatives.  Yet that discovery gave me peace about my relationship with my mother.  Yet because our sermons are posted online, when my aunt did a Google search of her sister she was able to find me.  She googled Mary Virginia Wiley and my sermon popped up. She had a friend reach out through email first and then we connected directly.  On Wednesday, I had a two-hour conversation with my mother’s half-sister.  I wrote the words to convey a Christian message, but putting those words in a sermon changed my life, because now I am connected to my birth mother.  I am connected to the woman who carried me in her womb and gave me life.

In Christ, I live and move and have my being.

When those words are a reality of your life, then you can listen with care to those around you who are still worshipping unknown gods, lost in this world without hope or direction.  You can hear their thoughts, you can understand their beliefs and meet those with your own personal witness to Christ.  Because like Paul you know that Christ is the answer to all their longing, all of their searching.  But you might be saying, Anne I don’t want to be one of those people who come on too strong, turning people off.  I hear you.  But if you would like to speak to someone in a meaningful way about faith and you are not sure what to say I would reaffirm your own dependence upon God almighty and how in Christ you live, move and have being.   When you are coming from that place, your witness will be one of hope and praise; welcome and understanding.  All while you affirm the reality of your faith and the joy that it brings to you. Amen.