May 21, 2017               An Unknown God
                                                                                             

           Her name was Cauliflower. That wasn’t her real name, it was her camp name. Cauliflower had grown up in the church, was baptized, went to all the Sunday School classes and Youth activities, was confirmed, and still showed up for worship, Senior High Youth, and even worked at some of the church fundraisers.  Now, she was in college, and worked at a UCC church camp as a counselor during the summer. Life had always been good to Cauliflower, and she attributed part of that to her faith, and to God watching over her. And she believe this in a simple and matter of fact way, but all that was about to change.

         It was a Tuesday evening at camp, when Cauliflower was called to the office to speak on the phone with her mother. It seemed that her uncle and one of her cousins had been killed in a farm accident. Cauliflower had been very close to her uncle, and had often worked on the farm with him and her cousin as she grew up. Having never lost anyone in her life, this news was devastating. They were such good people, they went to church on Sundays, why would God allow this to happen to them, why would God take them away from their families, their friends, from her. Cauliflower was having a crises of faith.

         Pastor Bob, was the camp chaplain that week, and he was there with Cauliflower when she got the news, he sat with her and listened to her, and tried to tell her that God loved her, and would see her through this difficult time, and that this was not the act of God. But she seemed unable to hear his words, and kept asking “Why”, over and over again. This of course, made Pastor Bob feel kind of weak, and useless.

         The Bible Study passage for camp the next day, was a reading on the Unknown God, from the book of Acts. As Pastor Bob tried to focus on the text, he found himself thinking about Cauliflower, and what he could say that would help her. And then, something occurred to him. Cauliflower’s faith, was very much like the faith of the people of Athens. In the marketplace of Athens, Paul saw many shrines devoted to many different gods, gods that promised that if you worshipped them, you would be given safety and security, that life would be good for you, that you would be successful, and free from trials and troubles. Like Paul, Pastor Bob realized that this was a popular/secular faith, one that does not deal with the difficult and broken moments in our lives.

         And so, in his teaching the next day, Pastor Bob spoke about the difference between the faith of the people of Athens in the Greek gods, and faith in Jesus Christ.  He spoke about the presence of sin in the world that led to bad things happening, not a lack of devotion, or the purchase of idols. And he spoke about how much God loved us, that he came down to earth, and experienced this sin in Jesus Christ, who though he was without sin, was put to death on a cross – and how God raised him from the dead.

God did this, Pastor Bob said, not so that we would believe that by following Jesus nothing bad would ever happen to us.  God did this so that we would know, that when bad things did happen in our lives, that Jesus who would be there for us, and that through our faith in the resurrection, when we face these difficult moments in life, we would not lose our faith, but our faith would raise us to life again!

For the next two days, Pastor Bob gave Cauliflower some space, and let her be comforted by her friends who came to visit, and her fellow counselors. On Friday, when the kids had left, and the counselors were packing up to go home for the weekend, Cauliflower came out to Pastor Bob’s car to see him off. All she said was “thanks” and gave him a good strong hug.

The gods in our society today are very much like the greek god’s of old. They are models, athletes, business men, politicians, and etc. They have logos on their clothing, and sell their products all over the place. When they fail our expectations, or when their products fail to deliver what they promise, we toss them aside and look for something, or someone else to believe in.

 Sometimes, this even happens in our churches, we may wrongly place our faith in a particular leader, or we may believe that our church is the only one with the proper faith, doctrine or worship. We may even believe that if we are good enough, that we will be or should be protected from the effects of sin in our lives. And when these beliefs fail us in our lives, when things go wrong for us, some people lose their faith, and move onto something else.

Now it is true, that when we Christians, obey God’s laws for our lives, we are saved from many a trial and trouble, and more easily find peace and joy in our lives. But in the end, no matter how perfectly we follow the laws of Moses, or the 10 commandments, or our own particular religious tenets and rituals, sin still breaks in upon our lives, and it is then that we need to have faith, not in people, or things, or even laws. It is then that we need to have faith in the God who has personally experienced the full weight of sin and death in his life, and was raised from the dead! We need to have faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s my final thought on why Paul latches onto this altar to an Unknown God for his speech. Because most of the world knows and worships the gods of the wealthy, the powerful, and wise. But very few know and worship the God who cares for the lost, the broken, and the hurting. Most of the world knows and worships all those gods who have fallen from grace, or failed to deliver their promises. But fewer know and worship the God, who lifts up the weak, shows forgiveness and mercy to the sinner, and changes people’s lives.       

But the Good News is, it is this Unknown God, who many of you here at Union Congregational know, who is the only God  who has the power to raise the dead to life! And how do I know this, all one has to do is read your newsletter, and see your love for the lost, the unloved, the broken, the struggling. In your ministry to this community, you worship a God unknown to much of the world, but who you know as the Risen Christ!