Acts 17: 16-31 (links validated 5/1/23)

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  • No Harangue

    Video with Eric Anderson
  • The Unknown God (Acts 17)

    Poem by Anna Laetitia Barbauld
  • Exegesis (Acts 17:22-31)

    by Richard Niell Donovan
  • Paul's TED Talk

    by Owen Griffiths
  • Sermon Starters (Easter 6A)(2023)

    by Scott Hoezee
    Martin Gardner’s novel, The Flight of Peter Fromm, tells a story that, although it is itself fictional, has altogether too many real-life parallels. In the story we meet Peter Fromm, a young, Midwesterner who feels called to the ministry and so enrolls in the University of Chicago’s Divinity School in the late-1930s. But soon after his arrival at seminary, Peter detects from his professors a systematic dismantling of the very Christian faith Peter had come to seminary to learn more about. The novel’s narrator is one of Peter’s seminary professors, a liberal theologian who took annual delight in pricking the naïve balloon of faith that each of his fresh-faced students brought to the divinity school every September. In describing Peter Fromm’s own faith, this professor claimed that when he arrived, Peter held to a “primitive Christianity indistinguishable from the childlike, apostolic faith described in the Book of Acts.” It fell to this professor, then, to make Peter grow up. And so he began to expound the teachings of Enlightenment modernism, battering students like Peter with new terminology about redaction and form criticism, demythologization, the hermeneutics of suspicion, and a welter of other scholarly tools that had long been wielded to chop up the Bible into so many disparate chunks and pieces. When one day the professor casually noted that of course Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was not a physical event in history, Peter objected loudly and wondered how anyone who believed that could be the pastor of a congregation where folks did believe in the raising of Jesus’ body. “Isn’t that dishonest?” Peter asked. The professor assured him that it was a harmless form of dishonesty, something pastors needed to live with even as they slowly on try to help the congregation to see Easter’s “real” meaning...
  • Paul’s Sermon at Athens

    Podcast with Rolf Jacobson, Craig Koester and Kathryn Schifferdecker
  • My Love is Like...

    by Beth Johnston
  • Easter 6A

    by Bill Loader
  • Paul in Athens

    Podcast with Robb McCoy and Eric Fistler
  • Meeting People Where They Are

    by Jim McCrea
    In the 1850's, Anna Reeves Jarvis became concerned about about the poor sanitation conditions and recurring typhoid epidemics among children in her area each summer, so she organized “Mothers’ Work Day” crews to clean up those conditions. After the clubs became established, they also provided medicines for the poor, inspected milk for children, offered nursing care for the sick and ran shelters for children with tuberculosis. Then, when the Civil War broke out, she asked her clubs to pledge that their current friendship and good will would not be a casualty of the war. That point was particularly important in her area since she lived in a part of Virginia where the sentiments for remaining in the union were so strong, that the entire northwestern region of the state broke away from Virginia to form a new and loyalist state they called West Virginia. When the Battle of Philippi was fought near her home, no one in that area had the courage to pray over the grave of a deceased enemy soldier. So she did. After the battle, typhoid struck the army camps on both sides. In response, military leaders called on her to use her club “Work Days” to help. She replied, “You shall have it. We are both the blue and the gray.” Emotions continued to rage between supporters of the two sides even after the war had ended. So Jarvis enlisted a group of mothers to gather in the county seat without telling their husbands. There she, a Yankee, dressed in gray, was led to the center of the bandstand by a little girl in blue. From the other side a Confederate mother dressed in blue, was led by a little girl in grey. There the two women pledged on behalf of all the gathered women, “Let us be friends and neighbors again.” Bands played both “Dixie” and the “Star Spangled Banner” and the event ended with everyone singing “Auld Lang Syne” together. As one historian put it, “This effective and emotional event reduced many to tears. It showed the community that old animosities were destructive and must end.”...
  • Easter 6A (2023)

    by Lisa Michaels
  • Easter 6A (2023)

    by Teri McDowell Ott
  • Paul's Sermon at Athens

    by Katherine A. Shaner
  • Easter 6A (2023)

    by Jeremy Williams

Illustrated Resources from the Archives

  • Family Like Jesus: No One Way To Do It!

    by John Auer
    The night of September 11, 2001, a girl asked for a special hymn to take away her fears of the day. Her mother leafed through a hymnal and offered “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” The little girl said not that one. Her mother looked further, then offered “The Lord of the Dance.” Yes, that one, her daughter said. By the end of the second verse, without opening her eyes, the 7 year-old added, “Now I won’t have any bad dreams.” And she slept that night with her small hand clutched tightly around the hymnal. May is “Family Month.” We hear about family Bibles, not so much about family hymnals.
  • Easter 6A (2017)

    by Doug Bratt
    When my wife and lived in Utah I had a good friend and mentor named Marv. By God’s grace and the work of the Spirit, he could eventually turn nearly any ordinary conversation into a discussion of faith. He always told me a key to that was understanding that most men read three sections of the newspaper first: the comics, the business section and the sports section. By reading those sections first, my friend could talk to nearly any man about something that interested him. That then provided a good bridge to eventually talking with him about the Christian faith.
  • Common Ground and Realism

    by Christopher Burkett
    ("Olive had a great capacity for friendship. A whole group of us came to rely on her generous spirit, her openheartedness, her humour, and her direct and obvious faith. She drew us out of ourselves, increased our confidence, and empowered our faith. One day she complained of a violent headache – and within a few weeks an aggressive brain tumour killed her. We, her friends and her family grieved over her loss...")
  • The Politics of Nations and Boundaries

    by Richard Davis
    I recently saw the film Loving (dir. Jeff Nichols, 2016), which narrates the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, and their protracted battle for legal recognition of their inter-racial marriage. In telling their story, the film touches lightly on the theological justifications for banning interracial marriage in the segregated states. When the Lovings appealed their 1959 conviction for violating Virginia’s miscegenation laws, Leon M. Bazile, judge of the Caroline County Circuit Court, infamously elaborated his view of their “unnatural alliance” in his judgment.
  • Easter 6A (2011)

    by Scott Hoezee
    ("Martin Gardner's novel, The Flight of Peter Fromm, tells a story that, although it is itself fictional, has altogether too many real-life parallels. In the story we meet Peter Fromm, a young, Midwesterner who feels called to the ministry and so enrolls in the University of Chicago's Divinity School in the late 1930s...")
  • Experiencing the 'Unknown God'

    by Daniel London
    One theologian who is particularly indebted to Pseudo-Denys is an anonymous English author who wrote a text called The Cloud of Unknowing in 14th century Nottingham, the old stomping grounds of Robin Hood. Although the apophatic tradition does not conflate images with the divine, the Cloud author uses images to describe the human relationship with God. He explains that between ourselves and God, there is “a cloud of unknowing,” which we cannot penetrate with our thoughts, but which we can penetrate through humble love. The Cloud author invites us to “shoot humble impulses of love” like arrows through this cloud. He offers a practical way to do this which has come to be known as “Centering Prayer.” This prayer practice involves using a sacred word like “God” or “love” or “Christ” to help quiet the mind and to detach ourselves from our thoughts. This sacred word is meant to be repeated as a kind of mantra, an anchor in the stream of consciousness. Whenever we find ourselves getting carried away by our thoughts, we return to the sacred word. By returning to the sacred word, we return to our love for God, through which we can pierce through the cloud...
  • Sermon Starters (Easter 6A)(2020)

    by Stan Mast
    Several years ago, three Christians were arrested for handing out selections of the Gospel of John outside a Muslim festival in Dearborn, MI. A US District Court had banned all groups from distributing such literature because it was deemed disrespectful of Muslims. Witnessing was tantamount to a crime, so these Christians were arrested. Thankfully, the 6th US Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. I mention this old court case because of the commentary on the case by David Harsanyi in the Denver Post. Harsanyi is an atheist, but he thinks that all of us ought to be able to do what Paul does here. “Everyone has the right to proselytize, after all, to try and convince others that their moral, religious, economic, political or ideological notions are best. Isn’t it impolite to claim that your beliefs are superior to or more practical than someone else’s? No. We claim as much every day in our elections, in books, in conversations, in blogs, in columns. Why should anyone be immune?” Respect for other religions doesn’t mean you can’t respectfully witness to them.
  • The God in the Back Pocket

    by Jim McCrea
    •Fred Craddock was one of the most famous preachers in our lifetime and was also a respected professor of preaching at Emory University. One Sunday, he visited a small storefront church. He says that the congregation was warm and welcoming, even if their meeting place was a little shabby and worn. It wasn’t located in a wealthy area, nor one where people had an easy time in life. When the service was about to begin, a rather bedraggled choir processed in, followed by a huge lumbering man who was the preacher. He had obviously been disabled at birth, and walked in an awkward, difficult manner down the aisle to the front of the church. He struggled to maneuver his large body, and there was little that could be described as dignified in his appearance and demeanor. However, once he arrived in the front of the congregation he began to conduct worship with a strong, slow voice that cast a spell over the congregation. As Professor Craddock listened and observed, he found himself caught up in a spirit of worship that he had not experienced very often. Here, despite the limitations of the preacher, his lack of physical attractiveness, and his limited education and experience, was someone who spoke to these people of the mystery of God. In and through the worship, through the prayers and the preaching, the spirit of God was at work in that preacher and in his congregation. After the service ended, Dr. Craddock decided to stick around and ask the preacher about his background. While he was waiting, he overheard an elderly woman say to the preacher, “I wish I knew your mother. What is her name?” The preacher replied slowly and deliberately, “Her name was Grace.” Later, while Craddock was speaking with the preacher, he mentioned having seen that incident. The preacher looked at him, smiled, and said, “When I was born, my natural parents rejected me. They found this baby too horrific and difficult to cope with. “So I was put in a home and fostered for most of my childhood years. Then in adolescence I was placed with a foster family where I was encouraged to go to church. In that church I received such nurture, such love, such affirmation, and appreciation for myself, rather than condemnation for my looks, my disability, and my limitations, I discovered God, a mysterious and yet real person, [who] was my mother. In real terms I discovered my mother in the church through the spirit of God, revealing to me the love of God for me in Jesus Christ and inviting me to relate to God the Father.”...
  • An Altar Like That (Acts 17)

    Art and Faith by Lynn Miller
    In the Palatine Museum in Rome is an altar bearing an inscription to that cited by Paul in Athens. The inscription begins "whether god or goddess" (si deus si dea), a phrase indicating that the deity is unknown. Often there would be a request that followed ("Whether you are a god or goddess that rules over Rome, grant us...").
  • Come and Look

    by Ragan Sutterfield
    Do you have a dog and do you walk her? Or a child? A walk with a child or a dog can be an exercise in frustration. Dogs and children don’t walk in straight paths, they meander, zig zag, go up and down, stop and start. This can be a problem if you have a destination in mind, if you want to get somewhere, but if you want to see? A walk with a dog or a child can open up whole new modes of perception. This is the truth that Alexandra Horowitz writes about in her book On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to Observation. Horowitz, a cognitive scientist by trade, takes walks with eleven experts, each one helping her to see the journey in a different way.
  • What Color Is God?

    by Carlos Wilton
    ("I learned recently that when H.J. Heinz set out to market his brand of ketchup, he encountered an obstacle. Ketchup had a terrible reputation. Descended from an ancient Chinese recipe, this concoction of vegetables, vinegar and a whole lot of other things was notorious for going bad quickly. The first Heinz ketchup bottles were brown. But consumers didn’t like it. The American public wanted to see the ketchup they were buying..." and other illustrations)

Resources from 2018 to 2021

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