One of the popular texts that has inspired several missionary endeavours in the history has been Acts 17:22-33, where Paul speaks to the people of Athens, apologetically about the God in Jesus, whom he professed and proclaimed. On the other side, this text has been one of the many texts in the colonial enterprise that was (mis)used to condemn indigenous and non-Christian faith traditions as ‘heathen,’ and criticised other faith traditions as ungodly. This was also a text in the mission history that was utterly (mis)used to justify apartheid and racial segregation as God ordained institution (26v in particular). So, as we read this text today, we are called to read it with much more caution and grace in recognising the voice of God in this Word of God, seeking God’s forgiveness for misreading texts to justify discrimination and oppression of any and every form against the ‘other.’
God is not absent in the unknown:
Finding his teachings strange (19-20v), Paul was brought up to Areopagus (a ‘Mars’ hill, which was an open space for discussions and debates) to explain further about it. Paul had a walk around the city of Athens, recognised how extremely religious they have been (22v), debated with the Jews in the synagogues, with people in the market places, with Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, and now in the open public sphere speaks out his faith in God, not for a publicity but with a public sensitivity. Paul picks a public altar from his observation in the city with an inscription, “To an unknown god,” and took the opportunity to explain his ‘strange’ faith to them. There were many Greek gods and goddesses around the city of Athens which were predominant then. If Paul had to preach God in Jesus as a replacement to their gods, he would have picked one of their well-known gods and would have explained the superiority of Jesus in comparison to them. If Paul had to preach God in Jesus as a fulfilment to their known gods, he would have again picked a well-known god, out of their many gods and would have done that. On the contrary, Paul picked an altar of an ‘unknown god’ and explained his perceptions of God, which he knew in Jesus, which explains his public sensitivity in sharing about the God he knows. Paul begins to share his faith at an unknown place, using an unknown public image, with an ‘unknown god.’ God might be ‘unknown’ to the people of Athens and elsewhere today, but to God there is nothing unknown, for God is not absent from any place and situation. God is ever present and everywhere present for “in God we live and move and have our being” (28v).
As we read it today in our cities and towns, our call is to locate these altars of ‘unknown gods’ or ‘unspoken gods’ in our public sphere to talk about God in Jesus. Speaking about God in Jesus sometimes mean to contest what is unjust, for that is who God in Jesus is. William Cavanaugh in his book, Theo-political Imaginations, explains how state, civil society and globalisation serve today as false-gods offering false salvations, trying to save people from the ‘wars of religions.’ Perhaps there are altars around us as skyscrapers, malls, walls, stadiums, etc. which we might not know as gods, for they have been symbols of creating gaps in the society nurtured by the rules of consumerism and nationalism. Into such altars of ‘unknown gods’ that we are called to speak about our faith in the God in Jesus, who has come to be among the poor, building a just world by preaching good news to the poor, which I always hear as bad news to the rich and greedy.
God does not live in the shrines made by human hands:
In to that altar of the ‘unknown God’ Paul speaks about his know-ledge of God the creator as the Lord of the heaven and earth, for such a God does not live in shrines made by human hands (24v). Paul offers his perspective that God cannot be contained into a particular space, in a way was speaking to those people there who still believed that God is only present in the historical temples, and on some pilgrim sites, for they kept moving from one altar to another seeking to find the presence of God only in a named religious place. As I read it today when our church buildings are locked down due to the pandemic, I hear it again and again that “God does not live in shrines made by human hands.” There have been many who are sad because of the closure of the church buildings, for they miss the worship, fellowship with one another, and also the Lord’s supper. I do understand that, because for many years, that has been their practice and to cope with the closure of the building will be quite distressing to many that came to the church building all their life time. But the situation of lock down is a reminder to all of us that God’s presence is everywhere, and cannot be contained into a building alone, for God is present in our neighbourhood, in our street, in our daily walks, in the nature around us, in our gardens, in our homes, in our study rooms, and in our kitchens. In this situation of ours, God might be helping us to discover that God’s presence exists in places which we did not know and did want to know, and locate God in the unknown spaces, places and people around us. There are some who are trying to open their churches to go in to record their online services and for some private prayers. John whom I mentioned in my introduction said about this, “either we are all in or we are all out,” where he is emphasising there is no privilege for one person to go in and perform on behalf of all people, excluding the rest outside.
My superintendent minister Rev. Cathy Bird in one of our recent circuit leadership meetings and in her circuit pastoral letter this week, challenged us with a very pertinent question, “how is the church being missed today by the community around us?” Answering this question may bring out the need and relevance of our church today, including the relevance of buildings. Cathy further emphasises how has the community, the wider public sphere missed the church during this lock down? Paul is reminding us again, “God does not live in shrines made by human hands.” In a recent survey by Tear Fund, it was said that a quarter of UK adults (24%) say they have watched or listened to a religious service online since the lock down. Why has there been a sudden increase in faith during this lock down? Of the many reasons analysed, I for one think, is this survey not saying to us that people preferred to be part of a religious ‘service’ from home/kitchen rather than coming to a church building? Paul is reminding us again, “God does not live in shrines made by human hands,” for God is ever present in the unknown and in the unthought of.
God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything:
In to that altar of the ‘unknown god’ Paul speaks, “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (25v). This verse goes in line with the previous one, for God does not live in the buildings, and he is not served by human hands in such buildings, as though he needed anything. In that context, they believed that God is served by human hands in their designing the image, in their sacrifices by human hands and in their performances of prayers by their human hands. Those days human hands meant ‘able bodied’ human hands, and any offering by disabled human hands were considered sacrilege. So, Paul was offering his perception of God in Jesus, who has come to serve and not be served at all and in all situations. In a way, since God is not needing anything, God is not served by human hands, by which I think we are called to serve people and creation those who are needing anything. Our call during this lock down situation is to serve the vulnerable people, who are in need of help, to serve those hungry who are in need of help, to serve people whose mental being is affected due to this situation by offering pastoral care and to serve those on the margins who are in need of care and help at a moment like this. The message for us is to keep serving those who are needing anything, for in that serving we serve God.
I recognise and appreciate all the contributions and efforts of the people at our churches who keep toiling for the upkeep of the church buildings, and any amount of saying thanks will be insufficient to them. Without their voluntary work, the church buildings wouldn’t have sustained thus far. On the other hand, I also think how many of us thought by going to church in its buildings, and helping with seating, playing music, making coffee, setting up flowers, reading Bible, leading worship, making an offering, preaching, breaking bread etc. that we are actually serving God? What does Sunday ‘service’ mean? Who is serving whom at the worship? This text calls us to introspect our actions, for we are called to serve the least, the lost and the last in the communities around and by serving them we are serving God in Jesus (Matthew 25: 31-40). When many people around us are in need of help, in need of friendships, in need of a person to talk to, in need of a job who has been furloughed, in need of a help with shopping, our call is to serve those needy. For in the first two weeks of the pandemic there has been an 81% increase in demand for food aid, with many going hungry, when calls to helplines for domestic abuse has increased by 120% in a month’s time seeking refuge place, when people from Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic communities are two or three times more likely to die from coronavirus than the general population in the UK, when this pandemic is not a great equalizer, exposing the bare inequalities in the society for the marginalized communities are disproportionately affected, the calling for Christian ‘church’ is to be in ‘service’ of one another, particularly those on the margins, for by serving the ‘other’ we are serving God.
We can be and become a church only by serving one another in nurturing friendships, relationships and building bonds of trust as an act of our being a church today. To be a church during this lock down is to be in service of one another. Paul goes on to speak, “since God himself gives all mortals life and breath and all things,” (25v), we as a church are called to be givers, giving service to the needy, giving our spaces for those in need, and giving our time and resources for the well-being of our communities.
As Paul in his speech implore the words of a poet (28v), allow me to end with a prophetic poem by Ruth Wells titled, “God snuck home,” which speaks to us and calls to celebrate God who is present in the so far unknown places, at our home and surely at our kitchens. I did hear cynics commenting that by experiencing God in our kitchens are we domesticating Christian faith and privatising it to individualistic self, rather than offering public theology. Habermas would argue that home or oikos was the primary public where rational critical discussions happened, and at a lock down situation like this, experiencing God at our kitchen is a shift of the public, for conversations with children at family prayers at home still yield a needed public theology for our times today. Theology today happens as theo-poetry and as theo-art, for they are the forms of public theology for our times, as they reach out to many people in the public sphere.
God snuck home.
No longer bound by the expectations of a ‘consecrated’ building
She’s concentrated her efforts on breaking out.
Now in the comfort of a well-worn dining table
she shares some bread, with some friends.
And she laughs.
And she weeps.
In the sacred space of home.
Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,
15th May 2020
Pic credit: http://www.northrock.tv/nurses-rock/
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