Preaching On the Unknown God

Yesterday I preached for the 4th time at the local UU congregation. It was going to be very wild with the addition of a Sanskrit Rock Group but they encountered a previous engagement so it was a normal UU service. Actually - a sanskirt rock band can be part of a normal UU service, they are kind fun that way.

At any rate, I noticed that the lectionary for yesterday included Acts 17 where Paul preaches to the Athenians about the Unknown God. Of course I included it because it was useful for helping make the point.

I was preaching on Christian Theology and the Environment. (Christian theology tends to limit itself to a God-human dualism but there is much in our text to remember that we need to think in terms of community with all of creation)

It was a lot of work. Because I knew I could not take any previous knowledge on the subject for granted, I took my time explaining Paul, Athens, and the Creation Story (both versions). In the end, it seemed to be worth the effort because it was fun to be talking about this stuff to folks who haven't already heard it for 30 years already. Many of them - some who are refugees from Christianity and some who have never made it in the door of a Christian church and some who are somewhere inbetween - many of them seemed genuinely pleased with a new way of thinking about Christianity - and also about the Environment.

I wonder what Paul first thought when he was invited to stand before the Areopagus - and I wonder what the novelty-seeking Athenians thought when he left.