I Want to be an Open Place

sermon and communion by Carrie Eikler
Acts 17:22-31

So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. "It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you're dealing with.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don't make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?

"God overlooks it as long as you don't know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he's calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead."

                                                                         (Acts 17:22-32; The Message)

I like how Eugene Peterson’s reframing of this story starts out with “Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus…”

I want to be an open space.  I want to be in the place of Paul, in an open space standing within and among people.  

I want to be an open space, surrounded by culture and infused with the questions.  Not taking for granted that it is what it is… challenging the notion that how it has been is what it will forever be.  I want to be an open space surrounded by beauty and questions.

I want to be an open space ... a space that makes room for Athenians and Jews, Romans and Christians, Gay and straight, Muslims and Hindus, Republican and Democrat, Scientists and Creationists, those who love McDonalds and those who love sushi.  I want to be the open space where they all can come, and dwell and feel loved.  And see God.

I want to be an open space.  I want the unknown God to come into this open space.  Not so we can finally see Or ultimately understand.  Not so the unknown is finally codified in our understanding, but so the unknown can dwell richly in the midst of our not fully knowing it in the bliss of what it means to have something we can’t control in the presence of One that loves us no matter what we do to it that has been present throughout time And what…does that even mean?

I want to be in an open space where I am exposed to this God and we can join together in, as Peterson says, a radical life-change.

I want to be an open space. Do you?

What does it mean for you to be an open space?

What does that even look like?

 

Well for Paul, standing in the midst of the cultural and intellectual capital of Greece, we see him being surprisingly…open.  He addresses them in the context of their culture.  He even refers to God in ways that their poets have spoken: “for In him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your own poets have said.”

He begins with a common area of interest and speaks to them with respect.  He speaks of the “unknown God,” with whom they are familiar.  He uses vocabulary they understand.  Not dumbing down or demeaning.  And yet he delivers the gospel in its entirety and without watering it down.

Now maybe this was all tinged with sarcasm.  Maybe he said it with gritted teeth.  Whether or not Paul intended it to be a moment of openness, does not diminish the fact that this is a snapshot of what we encounter every day. 

Every day we wake up in a world with people like us and people different from us.  With different beliefs in God and values and politics.  Which is why I’m not saying I want to be like Paul.

Nope, I sure don’t.

I am saying, I want to be like the space Paul is in.  An open space.  

And there is the tricky part, I think.  To be an open space, we think we have to acquiesce to every cultural whim every expression of truth, every claim every belief and say, “OK, I guess I will believe that.”  But I don’t think that is what it means.

But to be an open space, We need to entertain those who believe differently.  To show hospitality within our beings, in our conversation, and our interaction.   

To be an open space, we must know who we are and what we believe, so we can live our lives grounded while at the same time reaching out to those who are different.  I like to use the image of a tall tree, with roots going deep, deep into the ground and branches that reach out to provide shelter and shade and a resting place for all manner of creatures.

It’s not necessarily to claim their beliefs as our own, but to claim that we are connected.  To claim the two greatest commandments: to love God, the God who created these wildly different people—and to love those people.  We are indeed siblings, of one God.  Children of the Creator in whom we live and move and have our being.  

And friends, it seems like open spaces are fewer and fewer these days.  When conversations are cut down to tired tag lines or sarcastic memes on social media.  Where who’s in and who’s out in our hearts is based on what people believe about global warming or gay marriage or taxes, Open spaces are rare.

So, no friends, I don’t seek to be just like Paul: eloquent, pointed, passionate with the ability to slide in a zinger to the elite.  I want to be that open space where he stands, and you stand and whoever you don’t really agree with stands.

And in that open space, where we see each other face –to-face brother to sister, sister to brother, open before God in whom we live and move and have our being, in that open space we will see one  another....  And maybe reach out, and claim one another, as beloved.

Just like Jesus did, stretching out his arms to embrace the world.  And as he stretched out to embrace us he stretched his arms in welcome around the table, instituting a ritual that for two thousand years has reminded us that we are one with him, with God, with the Spirit, and yes, dear friends, one another.

So you are invited to participate in embodying that reminder that in Christ we are all called beloved children of God.  In preparing our hearts to come to this table, I invite you to turn in your green sing the journey songbook to #170.   We are going to speak this invitation in unison.  Hear it as an invitation for yourself,  but also hear the words of your sisters and brothers inviting you to join them at the table....

This is the Welcome Table of our Redeemer  and you are invited.

Make no excuses, saying you cannot attend; simply come, for around this table you will find your family.  Come not because you have to, but because you need to.

Come not to prove you are saved, but to seek the courage to follow wherever Christ leads.

Come not to speak but to listen, not to hear what’s expected, but to be open to the ways the Spirit moves among you.

So be joyful, not somber, for this is the feast of the reign of God,where the broken are molded into a Beloved Community, and where the celebration over evil’s defeat has already begun.

Let us pray…
Hospitable God,
Who has created an open space before us through bread and cup
may we see the place set for us so that, in turn, we may welcome others
to your table.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

[communion taken]
 
As the bread and cup, settles in you, becomes one with you, as you are one with God, may you be blessed by being part of this.  May God bless your journey this week as you move into the world of those very much like you and those very different.  And by coming to this table, may you be transformed into an open space where all can experience the Grace of God, the Peace of Christ.