Living in a Modern Day Athens…

"The Starbucks is my parish..."

There is a really cool scene in Scripture, where a maverick by the name of Paul is walking the city streets of Athens.  The scene is abuzz with people going about their daily routines.  Nothing is really out of the ordinary, except for one thing: the street is lined with altars.  And each altar is devoted to a different god – Baal, Zeus, Aphrodite.  You name it, that god was present and accounted for.

Actually, the scene looked a bit like a farmer’s market, but instead of produce and local artisans, this market was full of idols.  Now, here’s the cool thing.  Paul sees all of this and he starts engaging the people there in a conversation.  “You all must be pretty spiritual,” he says, “considering that you have so many different gods here.”  He doesn’t shy away from addressing the obvious, but then his genius shows up and he’s got their complete attention.  Paul points to one of the last altars on that street – an altar that was devoid of any statues or physical idols – an altar that simply had an inscription on it that read, “To an Unknown God.”  As the story goes, Paul boldly explains to the people of Athens – the supposed religious people of Athens – that this unknown god is none other than the God of Israel and the Creator of all things.  That one awesome moment where Paul engaged the people is recorded in Acts 17:23.

I think we need to be more like Paul.  We need to walk the city streets and engage the world.  We need more moments of boldness in the spirit of Acts 17:23.  We need to fearlessly and shamelessly (with great love for the people for whom Jesus died) name for others “the unknown god” and articulate a true sense of spirituality that goes way beyond religiosity and embraces an ethos of relevance.

I am reminded of my hero, John Wesley, who preached, “The world is my parish…”  He was not content in “doing church” inside the church.  And so, he took the Gospel out into the world and brought it to where the people were at.  What would our ministries be like if we claimed that same innovative and daring spirit?  Perhaps, the starbucks down the street could be our parish.  Perhaps, we can truly live in the engage 17:23 spirit.  Perhaps. ~ posted by Samuel Yun

====================

Author’s Note:  This blog has been created for the purpose of catalyzing dialogue among those who hunger to see the world engaged for the sake of the Gospel message.  The voices heard here, hopefully, will include both those inside and outside of “conventional church”.  Feel free to leave us your thoughts, comments and feedback.