We have just heard one of the earliest Christian sermons. On that day so long ago, as the Christian church was just forming, the Apostle Paul was on one of his many missionary journeys, eager to convince the world that God in Christ was the source of life and salvation. We find him this morning in Athens, standing in front of the Aeropagus to preach.

This was a setting that might, in many ways, remind us of our own. Athens was a crossroads of the world's religions, a large city of five thousand, a university town, a multi-ethnic, multicultural world capital, a home of philosophers and careful thinkers and of followers of many gods and goddesses. Its culture and festivals made it a popular tourist destination. Here, on the Aeropagus, a hill just west of the Acropolis dedicated to Ares, the god of war, the Apostle Paul endeavors to proclaim his faith in the God of all creation, the Lord over death and life, a God who will judge the peoples and the nations, a God as close as the very air we breathe.

Paul is preaching to a sophisticated, at times, hostile crowd of people, who don't have much use for his message. After all, Christ crucified and resurrected was-and still is-a hard sell to people who are self-confident, self-made, self-satisfied. But Paul is sophisticated and learned, too, a skilled orator. So, how does he seek to engage his listeners, to establish a bond with them, to draw them in and then convince them of a new truth?

In this sermon, Paul quotes their own Greek poets, using their words to try and establish some common ground with his skeptical listeners. It was a Greek poet, Epimenides perhaps, who had written, "In him we live and move and have our being," and Paul takes those very words to say "that's how we Christians experience our life in Christ," and now, so many generations later, those words are still precious to us who believe. And then he quotes another, Aratus of Silicia, to say that we are all God's offspring: "From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for God and perhaps find God . . . ." Paul draws his listeners in by using phrases and images that would be familiar to them, and then goes on to be clear about God's actions on behalf of humanity in and through Jesus Christ.

We now live in a marketplace of ideas and beliefs that would have left even Paul dizzy with its vast diversity. We live in a part of the country where faith involvement and belief in God are far below the national average. A variety of what we might call "other gods" compete for our allegiance: fitness, prosperity, getting ahead, self-indulgence. And yet, there is considerable evidence, too, of a deep spiritual hunger that seeks wisdom in everything from feng shui to aromatherapy, from yoga to ancient forms of Christian spirituality, such as the labyrinth.

One of the biggest challenges to the church in our time is to find ways of connecting authentically with people who are spiritually hungry, searching, groping for God, as Paul puts it, but who do not necessarily speak in the language of the church or historical Christianity.

At least Paul had the advantage of the people of Athens gathering around to hear him. We have an even harder task of first convincing people that we have something they would want to hear.

If people aren't flocking to hear our words, it seems to me more important than ever that faithful Christians, in this time and place, be so earnestly searching for God, for a vital and living relationship with God, that we preach and evangelize, not so much through our words alone as through our lives-who we are, how we live, the values we exhibit, the priorities we set, the way we treat one another. In these times, our lives must preach. People must first encounter our faith through knowing us and finding in us something compelling, winsome, intriguing, life-giving.

For that to happen, we have to start with ourselves. Our faith must be authentic within us, or it's sure not going to appear so to anybody else. We must know in our heart of hearts that we are children of God. We must experience the truth that everyone is a child of God. We must have confidence that God is acting in this world still to free us and give life abundant. We must know that God is holding us accountable for our choices and our actions and live accordingly. We must witness to the power of the Risen Lord not just through words, but by how we approach every situation of despair and death.

It's a little overwhelming to realize that the future of the Christian faith and the church depends on each one of us becoming an evangelist, that is, a communicator of the Good News. Something that our guest preacher, Judith Tiersma-Watson, shared with us last Sunday, is very helpful to us here. It was her quote from Mother Theresa. Because so many people the world over, Christians and non-Christians alike, have made Mother Theresa something of the standard of true Christian living, it's important that we know what Mother Theresa said of herself. "I am an ordinary person," Mother Theresa said, "who serves an extraordinary God."

That might have been Paul's basic assertion of faith in Athens. Paul certainly had no overly- inflated sense of his own importance or holiness. But he knew that his God was extraordinary and that's what made all the difference. He knew his God made the world and everything in it. He knew his God was sovereign over heaven and earth. He knew that all life came from God. He knew that humans were created in the image of that God and wired to search for God. He knew that God cared enough to hold us accountable for our lives. And he knew that God had raised Christ Jesus from the dead. It was an extraordinary God that made Paul, an oh-so-ordinary sinner and man, an evangelist and theologian and preacher.

Paul's own spiritual journey to that level of confidence and faith was not easy or straightforward. Don't we, too, know the many ways we can go astray, the temptations and challenges of this life? Don't we know the periods of self-doubt and hesitation? Yet, as Paul reminds us, we are made to search for God and find God, and I invite you this morning to strive earnestly to do so. For the sake of your soul, and for the sake of all who might come to believe through you.

We can learn from Paul today how it is to live out of the power of the resurrected Christ, and to be clear about this revelation of who God is-a God of love, of reconciliation, of justice, of forgiveness, of compassion, and Jesus Christ as the embodiment of all this and of who God is and of what humanity is to be.

Christ himself gave us this sacrament as a way of knowing and remembering the truth of his life and its power for us. He gave us himself in this bread and cup so that we could actually share with him in overcoming death and soaring to life beyond the grave.

The bread we break this morning was baked by our 2002 Confirmation Class. They will serve it to us today, partnered with a member of the Companions in Christ group that has been praying for them through the confirmation preparation time. As you come forward to receive, may you hold them in prayer-Garett, Vanessa, Kaitlyn, Caroline, Jamie and Christina-that they may continue to grow in their love and knowledge of God, that through their lives, as well as their words, others may experience the saving love of Christ.

And will you open your hearts this morning to hear God calling your name, calling you to greater faithfulness, to righteousness and peace.

© Patricia E. Farris, 2002. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.