Unknown Yet Known

In Acts 17, Paul encounters an altar to an unknown god in Athens. He then goes on to talk about the God he knows. The God Paul speaks of cannot be confined to temples or altars, his God is bigger and more mysterious and unknown, yet at the same time, God is closer than our breath. 

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Welcome to season four of Faith in the Cracks. I'm Pastor Karen Wright. Life has cracks, moments between activities, places where we feel fractured. This is the space where we listen for God in the ordinary moments of life, where we are reminded that just as cracks let things in, it's a space for light and love to shine through. So just like plants grow in the cracks of a sidewalk, let faith grow in the cracks of our lives, trusting that God is at work within us. Episode 15, Unknown Yet Known. In the 17th chapter of Acts, we find Paul in Athens. Athens, the seat of philosophy with Socrates and Plato, an intellectual people, and a religious people. And down the mountain from the Acropolis is what is known as the Areopagus, sometimes called Mars Hill. And it was an area where they would have debates or court cases. And so this was a place of learned people who were coming to discuss ideas. And Paul speaks to them and talks at the beginning about I see what a religious people you are. When I walked around, I saw an altar to an unknown God. And then he proceeds to tell them about the God they do not know as a God that he knows. And Paul is proclaiming the good news, but he's doing it in a way that he's making use of Greek literature. There's a phrase in this text that talks about the God in whom we live and move and have our being, and that's actually from a Greek poem that was believed to be written to Zeus. And so he's using bits of classical Greek literature to make his points, hoping that people can hear him. And part of what I love about this text is it keeps going back, talking about this unknown God, this altar to the unknown God. But Paul talks about that God cannot be contained or confined in anything made by human hands, not in gold, not in silver, not in stone, not in a temple, not in a church, not in an altar, that God is bigger. And so it's that unknown that God is bigger than what we can think or imagine. Yet at the same time, God is closer than our breath. So think about that for a moment. Every time you inhale and exhale, God is closer than the very breath we breathe. And yet God is bigger than we can imagine and is a mystery because there is so much that we still cannot comprehend. A pastor in the Church of Scotland, Eleanor Hamilton, has a Facebook site called Whispers of Grace, and she writes beautiful poetry based on scriptures, and she wrote one on this Acts 17 text and talked about God is in the ordinary moments, and that the God that we are searching for, a God that is bigger than our knowing, is also the one who is already with us. And I love that piece of God is bigger than anything we will encounter. And close always. God is with us. So I invite you to go check out Whispers of Grace by Eleanor Hamilton and think about the God who is a great mystery, an unknown, yet God is known and close every breath we take. Till next time. Thanks for listening. New podcasts are released every Monday. If you like the show, share it with a friend, or scroll to the bottom of the episode description and support the show for the cost of a cup of coffee once a month. You can also check out my webpage at faithinthecracks.com. As you go through your week, remember you are a child of God and you are love. May God seep into the cracks and bring forth new life.