John 14: 15-21                                                                                                               Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell II

Acts 17: 22-31                                                                                                                                          May 10, 2026

“For “in God we live and move and have our being.” As even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.”

Prayer: Even though you live in us and we live in you, help us to know you, O God, to see where you are present and at work in our lives. Amen.

Back in 2018, Barb and I went on vacation with some friends to Italy. Oh my!  We were in Rome, and then we set up our home base in Tuscany.  And we went to Florence, and stopped at small communities, and ate ourselves silly with Italian food and wine and spritzers. Was that one of our best 10-day vacations ever! We loved it! I think we would go back in a heartbeat! There’s so much more to see.

And ever since then, when I read this text from Acts, I can’t help but think of our trip to Italy. Because everywhere we turned, especially in Rome and Florence, there were churches. Lots of churches. On every block. Around every corner. And there were shrines, and statues, and altars, too. And after a while, you go in one, and it looks like the last one you were in. But you can just perceive how extremely religious these people are in every way!

When Paul showed up in Athens, he was amazed at all the shrines, temples, idols and altars there were. The culture was extremely religious. They had gods for everything. And they were very philosophical, too. Orators stood on pedestals on street corners espousing the latest thinking using poetry and prose. They had the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates as part of their history. But they knew they didn’t have all the bases covered.  So, just in case, an altar was built “to an unknown god.”

And Paul doesn’t miss the chance. He understood that what was missing, what they longed for, was the God of the universe who exists beyond all their gods. The God who doesn’t live in their idols  and shrines. “What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you,” he shouted.

And further, I think Paul also knew that they were blinded by all the misguided forms of worship. Thinking that the gods lived in shrines and temples, worshipping statutes made of gold and silver and stone, even forms of art, and calling them deities, all that created a spiritual vacancy. A space that caused people to search and grope for something more, trying to fill the void they felt.

And it occurred to me that we in our culture and society, are not that much different than the ancient Athenians. Because it’s clear to me that there are gods in our day which are worshipped… the gods of white supremacy, imperialism, economic control, vicious bullying, domination of others. The gods of obeisance, flattery, and doing things just because one can, making one feel tough. Last week MAGA people prayed over and blessed a 22-foot gold-leafed bronze MAGA statue in south Florida calling it “Don colossus.”

With all that worship of these gods, and others like them, it creates a spiritual vacancy. It is difficult I think to perceive God showing up in our lives and in our world with that going on. We may miss so many ways that God does show up because the focus is on all that other stuff!

But, as Christians, I encourage us to be open to the Spirit’s presence in ways we can’t predict. Because God will simply break through the barriers in order to be heard.

On Monday a few weeks ago, Barb and I went to a coffeeshop in Lititz. And we met a young couple there, and soon the conversation turned to religious matters. Longish story short, the man who attended Lancaster Bible College, believes that we are living in the end of times. That the rapture is coming. That Christ is coming again after that. And all things going on in our world right now are right there in the book of Revelation, and yada, yada, yada.

Well, I respectfully disagreed with him. I said that I think the book of Revelation wasn’t written for us in our century, but for the people of the first century… and it was up to us to apply critical thinking to those words of scripture to discern meaning for us in our day, and yada, yada, yada. And he just looked at me. And I said, “But! We’re talking about it! We’re having a nice conversation, with differing opinions, listening to each another. This is what is missing in our day,” I said. “People do not communicate with each other, especially when there are differences. People shut down. And think that you’re my enemy now. We really need to stop that.” And on that we both agreed. Our wives, did, too. And it was a good feeling. It was a good place. God showed up! In the openness and warmth of that conversation. God showed up. In the beauty of people learning from each other God showed up.

 Sometimes I think our desire for order and continuity, for our beliefs to be confirmed, for our natural tendency to want to be right, these can shut down our ability to perceive the moment when God shows up. The moment when the Spirit can help us break free from the constraint we place upon it and upon each other.

Because Paul’s ‘unknown God’ keeps coming to us.  God keeps trying to help us see that each of us lives and moves and has our being in God. Each of us is in God’s presence. We live in God and God lives in us. Like fish in the ocean, surrounded by water that is also within it, we are surrounded by God and are also within God. Meaning that God never leaves us. Our identity as to who we are is built upon God’s Spirit living in each of us.  God is as close to us as the very breath we breathe, and in God we live, and move and have our being.

I love that concept. I love that theology. I take great hope in the thought that God lives in the man attending Lancaster Bible College just as easily as God lives in me who attended Lancaster Theological Seminary and Pacific School of Religion. I take great hope that God’s wisdom can touch us all, in our disagreements and  Well, I respectfully disagreed with him. I said that I think the book of Revelation wasn’t written for us in our century, but for the people of the first century… and it was up to us to apply critical thinking to those words of scripture to discern meaning for us in our day, and yada, yada, yada. And he just looked at me. And I said, “But! We’re talking about it! We’re having a nice conversation, with differing opinions, listening to each another. This is what is missing in our day,” I said. “People do not communicate with each other, especially when there are differences. People shut down. And think that you’re my enemy now. We really need to stop that.” And on that we both agreed. Our wives, did, too. And it was a good feeling. It was a good place. God showed up! In the openness and warmth of that conversation. God showed up. In the beauty of people learning from each other God showed up.

 Sometimes I think our desire for order and continuity, for our beliefs to be confirmed, for our natural tendency to want to be right, these can shut down our ability to perceive the moment when God shows up. The moment when the Spirit can help us break free from the constraint we place upon it and upon each other.

Because Paul’s ‘unknown God’ keeps coming to us.  God keeps trying to help us see that each of us lives and moves and has our being in God. Each of us is in God’s presence. We live in God and God lives in us. Like fish in the ocean, surrounded by water that is also within it, we are surrounded by God and are also within God. Meaning that God never leaves us. Our identity as to who we are is built upon God’s Spirit living in each of us.  God is as close to us as the very breath we breathe, and in God we live, and move and have our being.

I love that concept. I love that theology. I take great hope in the thought that God lives in the man attending Lancaster Bible College just as easily as God lives in me who attended Lancaster Theological Seminary and Pacific School of Religion. I take great hope that God’s wisdom can touch us all, in our disagreements and  in our commonalities. That God might show up if we were to no longer look down upon those who disagree with us but instead were to look at them with encouragement and love and respect to find that common ground.

At the recent Clergy Convocation I attended, I heard this comment: “That we are encouraged to choose common ground over compromise.” When trying to make things work. Because when making compromises, each side is giving up something to make things work. But, if you start with common ground, instead of giving up things, you actually are adding things from a common starting point. Finding new places to grow into the new things the Spirit may be calling us to grow into.

I think the unknown God shows up when we’re growing into the new things the Spirit leads us into. With enough love for all. The unknown God is proclaimed to us as the true God, the one who fills in what we’re missing. The one who gives us life even in death. The one who abides with us, and lives in us. The One who loves us. The One in whom we live and more and have our being.

For our unknown God now becoming known, I give thanks. Amen.