Transforming Acts. Bruce G. Epperly
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with some of Paul’s dialogue partners scoffing, but others wanting to continue the conversation. “We will hear you again about this,” they promise. Our witness as Christians is both a scandal and an invitation. It is offensive to those who worship the gods of power and prejudice. It scandalizes those who can’t imagine a faith without fences and boundaries, welcoming male and female, Jew and Greek, friend and enemy, stranger and neighbor, gay and straight.
Our witness is beginning, not the end of the journey; perhaps, Paul learns something important from his Greek companions. In quoting their philosophers, he may have discovered that the Christ he proclaimed was cosmic as well as personal and global as well as local. He may have found that the wisdom of Christ transcended any particular tongue or ethnicity, including his own form of Christianity.
Practical Wisdom from Acts of the Apostles
The Areopagus is the postmodern, pluralistic age in which we live. We cannot evade it, deny its significance, or denounce its spiritual impact; rather we must be transformed in relationship with our world. We must seek spiritual, theological, and technological renewal to respond to the innovations in our environment. Here Paul provides practical wisdom for congregations and spiritual leaders.
First, Paul is a keen observer. He doesn’t bury his head in the sand, delivering his message to people in the abstract. In the words of psychiatrist-spiritual guide Gerald May, he pauses, notices, opens, stretches and yields, and responds.6 Revelation is always personal and historical, and so is the sharing of the good news of God’s love and transformation. Paul’s mindfulness, which includes not only his observation of the many Athenian shrines, but also his distress at certain practices, enables him to deliver an authentic and personal message.
When churches open their senses to the varieties of spirituality, culture, and ethnicities in their context, they can truly dialogue with their neighbors. “Christ is the answer” only when we know the nagging questions and deep hungers of those around us. Spiritual maturity emerges from common ground in our current setting, not the abstractions of a timeless message. In fact, the timeless message is always historical, the uncompromised gospel is always contextual, and the eternal truth is always relational and timely.
Second, Paul affirms a point of contact with his listeners. He is not preaching to a godless world, but a god-filled world. Isaiah proclaims that “the whole earth is filled with God’s glory” (Isaiah 6:3). If we live and move and have our being in God, then there are no godless places or people untouched by divine revelation. We may worship things less alive than ourselves, forgetting our fullness as God’s beloved children – consumption, nationalism, success, sensuality, scripture, church, and creed – but even in turning toward lesser objects, God is still touching us and luring us toward wholeness. The point of contact shapes our message: Paul uses Greek concepts in the Areopagus and throughout his writings, and his understanding of the extent of God’s grace and love is transformed in the process. Sharing good news involves receiving as well as giving. Paul learned something important about God and humankind that illuminated his message to the cultural elites of Athens.
Third, dialogue may include challenge. There is much to affirm in the marketplace of ideas. We can appreciate and employ spiritual practices of other faith traditions as well as various practices from other Christian traditions. But, our dialogue needs to be mindful and critical. For example, I have appreciated the insights of the popular new age text, The Secret, especially as these relate to the power of the mind to shape reality.7 I believe that our thoughts and practices can transform our attitudes and interpretations of life events. However, The Secret’s assertion that we “create” the events of our lives in their entirety and are somehow responsible for success as failure, health as well as illness, substitutes an omnipotent mind for an omnipotent god. Although our spiritual practices may shape our well-being, cancer, abuse, and natural disaster come upon the spiritual as well as the unenlightened. Today’s Christians may appreciate the ardor of fellow Christians, for example, those who affirm the “prosperity gospel,” the belief that God wants us to be successful and that our success mirrors the quality of our faith, while critiquing the implicit – and explicit – materialism and consumerism in this “gospel” and its temptation to blame the victim for her or his failures. In the case of The Secret and the “prosperity gospel,” we can affirm the importance of spiritual growth, faith, and positive attitude without assuming an exact cause and effect relationship between our spiritual maturity and our prosperity and health.
Hospitality does not require acceptance, but it does require respect, care, and listening. Paul observed and listened before he spoke to the Athenian intellectuals, shaping his message in such a way that what he learned in Athens enabled him to share the good news in life-changing ways.
Transforming Acts
Acts of the Apostles is an adventure in theospirituality, the joining of theological reflection (our vision of God and the world) and spiritual practices that make God come alive for us. Grace abounds and God is constantly calling to us, often in “sighs too deep for words.” Our spiritual practices are ways we can pause and open, and then respond to God’s call in our lives. The biblical tradition, and most especially the gospels, affirms the role of human decision-making in opening a door for greater intensity and clarity of God’s presence in our lives. When we ask, seek, and knock, we gain inspiration and insight and enable God to be more active in our lives and the world.
Acts is an invitation to spiritual practices. While Acts is not a “how-to” book, the words of Acts point to life-changing spiritual disciplines. Accordingly, each chapter will conclude with a spiritual exercise, illuminating the scripture and enabling us to experience the realities Luke is describing in the early Christian community.
Opening to the Spirit. Gerald May sees the practice of pausing, noticing, opening, stretching and yielding, and responding at the heart of our spiritual practices. In this exercise, take some time to reflect on your environment – the context of your work, home life, play, and spirituality. You can do this sitting in a comfortable chair or walking in your neighborhood or near your church or place of employment.
Prayerfully take a few deep breaths, awakening to the presence of God’s Spirit in your life. Breathe the Spirit deeply in and exhale into the ambient environment. Slowly notice what’s around you – trees, shrubs, flowers, buildings, and people. Take time to consider the people in your environment. What do you know of them in terms of religion, occupation, family life, values? What do you intuit to be their challenges, joys, and sorrows? Take time to notice their expressions, pace, companions, etc. Open to their lives, not assuming that you know what is good for them. Prayerfully ask God how best to respond to the persons in your immediate environment.
At the very least, you can bless the people that you meet, noticing the “ordinary” people in your life (store clerks, toll booth operators, receptionists, co-workers), and blessing them, and placing them in God’s care.
When we are connected to God, we are connected to others. When we are connected to others, we are connected to God. In the spirit of Paul’s affirmation: “in God we live and move and have our being,” experience God in every breath and in everything you see. Experience the events and encounters of your life as windows into God’s presence. Experience your connection with God in everything and everyone.
Transforming Affirmations.
Spiritual affirmations are ways that we connect to the deeper realities of life. In repeating spiritual affirmations, we reframe our lives and renew our minds. We are no longer conformed to false limitations, but are “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” Spiritual affirmations heal both the conscious and unconscious minds, and open us to divine insight, energy, and inspiration.
In this chapter, we will focus on three affirmations emerging from Acts 17. Repeat them several times each day, especially when you feel yourself being trapped by unhealthy behaviors or limitations.
God is the reality in whom I live and move and have my being.
God is near me at all times.
I am God’s child. I am God’s offspring.
I treat everyone as God’s beloved child.
Manifesting