Rev. George Miller
May 3, 2026
Acts 17:16-29
Since called to
serve St. Lucas, one thing that’s apparent is how many people have deep
established roots here at the church and county.
It’s beyond “where
did you go to high school” and beyond “our road used to be an apple orchard,” it’s
“my family has been part of this soil for multi-generations.”
It’s walking
through the graveyard and driving across the city, seeing tombstones and street
signs with the name of St. Lucas families.
Such knowledge
requires great respect and understanding, an appreciation for legacy and roots.
Which means that it
can be difficult for anyone to move here if they are from somewhere else. It can take time to find your niche, your
tribe, your spot. But when you do, you sense
yourself becoming part of the earth around you.
Everyone wants to
feel like they belong. Throughout the
St. Louis landscape are people who can say they have lived on this land since
Martin Van Buren was President and before Texas became a state.
In the Book of Acts
we are following how Paul and others are building their own tribe and finding
their own niche founded on Jesus Christ.
Paul’s tribe began
with Ananias, who called him “Brother,” expanded as he bonded with Barnabas, grew
when he joined the disciples in Jerusalem, settled when he set sail with Silas
and expanded when sat down with Lydia.
Paul became part of
a community that included enterprising women in Thessalonica and burly bros in
Bereo.
And then…it came to
a screeching halt. Due to a religious upraor,
Paul’s life became endangered. He’s
separated from his traveling friends and sent to Athens, all alone.
There is no more
tribe. No clique. No niche. No cohorts,
friends, or streets named after family.
No Silas, no Lydia’s House. Just
Paul, in a strange land, with strange customs and shrines everywhere devoted to
deities who don’t even have names.
I wonder how many
people have an idea of what Paul was feeling, alone in a place with folk you
don’t really know? No class reunion, no
church, no one who recalls where the original Freddie’s Market was.
Paul is the lone
follower of Christ in a city of folk who believe in Zeus or have no belief at
all. Not only is Paul alone, abandoned
in Athens, he has not a single person to sing “Jesus Loves Me” with. He has no one to recite “The Lord’s Prayer” or
“Apostles’ Creed” with.
He has no one to
break the bread and share the cup with.
Or eat donuts cut in half during Coffee Hour. Paul is a single, solitary sparrow in a world
of strange shrines and curious customs.
On the surface,
today’s scripture sounds triumphant, but read between the lines to realize that
it’s about a very real person going through aspects of what it means to be all
alone.
That Paul did not
lose his faith in God or lose sight of the Good News is amazing. With nary a friendly, familiar face in sight,
Paul just keeps on keepin’ on.
That’s what faith in
Christ can do.
With no one by his
side, Paul sets out to do what he can. He
speaks up. He reaches out. He finds his voice.
He talks so much
that the locals label him “The Babbler” and eventually the people begin to
listen; they become curious; they ask to hear more about the resurrection.
All those lonely
days and long walks has paid off; Paul uses what he sees to share what he knows
to be true.
With only Christ to
confide in, he conjures up a conversation no one was prepared for-
“You see that
shrine over there,” he says, “That shrine devoted to an unknown god? Well let me tell you who that god is; and let
me tell you what God has done!”
While standing
amidst a throng of unfamiliar-faces, in a place where people put philosophy
over faith, Paul tells them all about God-
God the creator,
God unlimited, God who can take one ancestor and make a nation and secure a
legacy.
We may wonder- is Paul
actually preaching to himself? At this
time in which he has been abandoned by peers, shipped off, left on his own, in
which he’s spent countless days by himself, could it be Paul’s preaching is to
remind himself of who he is and what God is about?
Maybe today is a
story in which Paul is reminding Paul who God is-
God is not
restricted to to one spot, not stuck to one building, not limited by
circumstances or geography or people who look or act as you.
God can take a
single sparrow and create an abundance, a flock, a nation.
Paul tells them and
tells himself that no matter what- GOD. IS. THERE. Even if we are that one lost sheep.
Even if we have to make
it through dark valleys and death’s shadows; God is there.
Even if we have to
wait, wrestle, and walk it alone; God is there.
So when we discover
that no matter what, God is there, we can live, and we can find belonging.
Guess what – after
this experience Paul finds some friends
in Dionysus and Damris, and with this new group of folks, a brand-new chapter
begins.
Today’s scripture reminds
us that the Christian story is about moving forward, co-creating and celebrating
new communities. Reaching out and
finding out that there are others reaching back.
God is not limited
to or found only in buildings, people and places that are familiar, God is found
in the strange places, the new places, and the lonely places. God can even be found within ourselves and the
stories that we share.
God is found in the
communities we create and circles that we form, in which Christ is the center
and the Holy Spirit moves through all.
Amen and
amen.
