Reading: Acts 17:22-31

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. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Reflection

In this passage, Paul is standing in Greece, where they believe in many gods, at a place where historically criminal matters and punishment were considered. Yet Paul stands up and tells them that there is only one God who created everything, and it is in this God that we live, move, and have our being. He stands up and tells the Athenians that everything they have believed for centuries is wrong. But some still believed and began to follow him. Believing in the one whom he proclaimed as the Risen Son of God. Have you ever so boldly proclaimed your faith as Paul did? How can we step up when the opportunity arises and tell the story of God and Christ Jesus? God uses us all in unique ways. We may not stand before great crowds at the Areopagus like Paul, but we can talk with a friend, a co-worker, or even a stranger that they might come to know the one true God and what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.

–Karla Leiby

Prayer

Glorious Creator, in you we live and move and have our being. For this we give you thanks! Grant us the courage to share our faith as Paul did so that others may come to know you and your great love. That they might also receive forgiveness through Christ Jesus, and find life in the Holy Spirit.

Amen.