Year
A, Easter 6
Last year my husband and I decided
to try something a little different for
our vacation. We found a yoga ashram
(which is kind of like a retreat center) and decided to give it a shot. I called before making the reservation
because I was a little worried about the twice daily chanting and
meditation. I have practiced yoga for
over 10 years, but I have never gotten into the chanting. I was also concerned that we would be forced
to bow to Hindu gods and that would not have gone over well with my husband. He was already upset about the fact that
there were only 2 meals a day. They
assured me that it was in interfaith center and no one faith was emphasized
over the others.
We arrived and discovered a beautiful
center with breathtaking scenery. Our first yoga class was on a platform right
next to the ocean. We had dinner, which
was pretty good. Even my husband was happy.
Then we walked into the temple and both of us freaked out a little. There were huge pictures of Hindu gods as
well as statues of their guru. In the
corner there was a tiny picture of Jesus with a rosary hanging over the edge. Then we proceeded to chant Sanskrit. I looked at the translation and it was pretty
clearly directed to Hindu gods. There
was also bowing involved. My husband started looking for an escape route.
The Book of Acts is essentially a
sequel to the Gospel of Luke because it was written by the same person. While the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and
his followers, Acts tells the story of the beginning of the church. The church began in a place where faith and
religion was already established. In the Gospels we hear about the Jews and the
Gentiles. Often the term Gentile and
pagan are used interchangeably, which is not correct. Pagans are people who believe in multiple
gods. A Gentile is someone who is not
Jewish. Not all Gentiles were pagans,
but pagans were all Gentiles. Jesus
spent most of his time with Jews. He had
a couple interactions with Gentiles, but it was very rare. Things changed after Jesus’ resurrection and
ascension. In Acts the disciples began
to preach to the Gentiles, who were often pagans.
In the reading from Acts today, the
Apostle Paul addresses the people of Athens.
Athens was the home of the great thinkers and philosophers. They were idol worshippers and had prolific
idols to prove it. This is the first time that Paul addressed a group like
this. He was only in Athens because he
was driven out of the previous two cities that he preached and he was really
just waiting for his companions to catch up with him. He had not intended on preaching to the
Athenians.
However, while he was waiting, he
walked around the city and grew exasperated at the sight of idols throughout
the city. He spent some time in the
synagogue speaking to Jews but then engaged in conversation with some
philosophers who passed by. The
philosophers were curious about this new idea that Paul was discussing and
encouraged him to go to the Agora, which was basically the city center, and
address the Aregopagus which was the prestigious court of the Athenians. He was speaking to the philosophical leaders,
which was a pretty big deal and the first time that Paul had addressed a crowd
like this.
Paul took a slightly different
tactic than normal. Typically he was
blunt and not too worried about who he would offend. This situation was different. It required some finesse. So he preached the Gospel in a completely
different way. He started by flattering
them remarking on how very religious they were with all their objects of
worship. It’s hard to believe he was
sincere given that those objects of worship (idols) were the very same thing
that exasperated him upon his arrival.
But perhaps in his conversations with the people, he started seeing
these objects from a different perspective.
Maybe he realized that any community that would go to the trouble of
creating these idols was clearly searching for something that was beyond their
understanding.
He then appealed to their common ground
which was creation and nature. The
philosophers had a respect for creation and God’s part in creation. They recognized that there was something
bigger going on. Then he pointed out
that if God created all these things they worship, how could God possibly live
in shrines created by human hands? Paul did
not rely on scripture to prove his point, as was his tendency. Instead, he quoted two well-known
philosophers. He quote, “In him we live,
and move and have our being.” We can
agree with that right? It sounds like something that would come out of the
Bible. The second quote was, “For we too
are his offspring.” If we were to use
Christian terminology, we would say that we are all children of God. What Paul was doing was brilliant because he
was taking things from their culture and then putting it in the context of the
Christian faith. He wasn’t tearing them
down; he was lifting them up. He was not
smashing their idols, he was changing the way they looked at their idols.
What is fascinating is that he never
even mentioned the name Jesus. He referred
to a man who had been raised from the dead.
And that is when things departed from typical philosophical ideals.
After talking about us all being offspring, he said, “While God has overlooked
the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to
repent…because he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he
has appointed, and he has given reassurance to all by raising him from the
dead.” In other words, God proved
himself when he raised Jesus from the dead.
Therefore, this man who has been raised from the dead is worthy to judge
the whole world. In my opinion that was
a pretty big leap, but we probably don’t have the whole speech.
It was at that point (when he made that
leap) that he lost a couple of people. They ridiculed him. But there were some who wanted to hear more
and some immediately became believers. This
might not be the overwhelming response that was experienced in the beginning of
Acts, but it’s not bad considering who he was talking to. At least three people became followers and
who knows whose lives they touched.
My husband and I spent three days at the
yoga ashram. We went to the chanting
sessions because it was required; but I resented it. I talked to almost no one
the whole time I was there. In the last
hour we were there, we were killing time until our taxi came and one of the
yoga teachers offered to give us a tour.
It was fascinating. We had a
wonderful conversation about their philosophy and why they did what they
did. I really regretted that I had been
so closed minded that whole time, so unwilling to engage with others because I
was uncomfortable. I just did not know
how to relate, even though we all had something in common, and that was
yoga. I’m not saying I should have
evangelized to them, but I think we could have learned from one another. They might have had some questions had they
known there were two Episcopal clergy in their midst.
I think a lot of times we try to take
things in our culture and change them to make them Christian. We think that is how we might reach out to
non-Christians. But that is not really
authentic. Instead what we should do is
what Paul did. Find the common ground
and put that in the context of the Christian faith. That sounds harder than it is. Because if we believe that God created
heaven and earth, as well as humans….well then everything is God’s. Everything belongs in God’s context. It’s our job to make that real for people, to
make it relevant. We should never miss
an opportunity to do that especially when you are not in church.
No comments:
Post a Comment