In him we live and move and have our being

Wednesday, May 12, 2021                 (today’s lectionary)

In him we live and move and have our being­­­

Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Your majesty is above earth and heaven. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The sapphire sky blossoms above our heads as the sun rises higher in the sky, a blue tulip burst wide open. Yesterday our boat settled into harbor, off the clear blue water at last, and today Paul is speaking with the philosophers. I hope there is reason behind his madness. He doesn’t seem to care who he preaches to.

You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. People might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

He hasn’t spoken this way before. Paul is holding his own with the intellectuals, at least I think he is. He knows their literature, he knows their elevated language, and he also knows he has truth they have yet to hear. Nothing about them intimidates him.

God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will judge the world.

The Parthenon’s white pillars gleam in the sun. I run my hand up and down a ridge of cool marble. Paul is going to tell them about Jesus rising.

God has provided confirmation for all by raising Jesus, his appointed, from the dead.

The philosophers are restless, but no one stands up to shout “Blasphemy!” No one picks up a stone. God says he would rather have his people either cold or hot, but I for one am glad these Greeks are neither. Usually Paul is crouching behind his podium at this point, avoiding the rocks and the tomatoes. And his bodyguards (that would be me) aren’t much help either.

Some began to scoff, others wanted to hear more, and some joined Paul and became believers.

We’ll be going to Corinth soon. So often Jesus seems closer than my own thoughts on these trips through Greece. The blue sky and bluer water christen us every day. Paul continues to amaze some of his listeners, and every day I learn something new. Sometimes I get tired of his Certainties, but usually I hear Jesus speaking in his words. And I hear Jesus listening too, sending us toward truth and truth and truth. My mind has never been more open. Surely these times of meeting new people and telling them about Jesus are the best I’ve ever had.

I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when the Holy Spirit comes he will guide you to all truth.

My friend Clarence wrote to us the other day, about our experiences with God.

I understand that you long for the experience of insights or consoling feeling, dreams or visions.

I know you long for a spiritual message, inner peace, acceptance and assurance regarding your choices.

But I must say, dear one, and please hear me,

If you wish to encounter God,

Touch another person.

My favorite, most blessed medium for revelation is the human being.

And know also that you are called to claim your place

Among those chosen to enflesh transcendence.­

(Acts 17, Psalm 148, John 14, John 16)

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