Based on the readings from Acts 17:22-31 & John 14:15-21

Paul is in Athens preaching in the Areopagus. It is a quiet place where speakers can present their ideas to those who gather to listen. There, people are able to speak freely without interruption. Freedom to speak out about your beliefs and concerns is typical of this centre of Greek culture. It is a cosmopolitan centre where people are eager to learn, cultured, well read. Here lies the difficulty for Paul, for this is a city overloaded with statues and altars – an altar on every street corner. They worship many gods. And when they are unsure of which of their gods has helped them, they set up altars to unknown gods.

Paul sees and judges the city as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is feeling down about his mission. He has had little success in establishing a faith community. He views their lifestyle, their secularism, their materialism, their indifference to his message. He is indignant to find so many pagan symbols in this cultured and beautiful city. He is not enthused by its historical and art treasures. And so he finds himself presenting his views to anyone who will listen.

"I found an altar to an unknown god, "Paul begins. He understands their hunger for spiritual knowledge; he can see it in their responses. He tells them about the God he worships, the Creator of the world, the one true God who does not need temples or sacrifices. The God who needs only that humanity should seek out and find. The God that longs to be known – not fashioned in human or animal form – but known as one who is present.

The altar to the unknown god – what a haunting image that is! What a haunting image it must have been to Paul who served a living God, whose image of God was of one who cared so much that he became one of us, that he died for us.

What Paul said of the Athenians could well be said of our own community. Our multicultural society is a secular world that pays little heed to religious matters. While most people recognize the existence of God, it is an understanding of God that is impersonal. There is no relationship between the way most people live their lives and how they respond to God. They may even come to church on Sunday, but it doesn't permeate into their personal lives.

There are many altars to unknown gods in our modern world. They take on many forms in our lives. Human searching for meaning to existence can take on many surprising, even frightening aspects. Even in our so-called enlightened, scientific age we have our share of people who search for manifestations of God in unhealthy and fanatical ways.

We live in a society that needs to know God. It is even difficult to judge whether churchgoers really have a relationship with God. It is difficult to see what difference God makes in their day to day lives. It is difficult to recognize any sense of commitment on their part.

Do you know that God is present with you? Do you look with expectation for the answer to your prayers? Do you believe that God makes a difference in your life? If we as the People of God don't really know that God is present to us, how will we ever convince those who are seeking God? People are looking for answers to their spiritual thirst. They are looking for meaning. They are looking for ritual. They are looking for answers to the difficult questions of our age. They are looking for help in making ethical and moral decisions.

Our concern should be why they are not looking for it in the Christian Church, at least if we, like Paul, know that creator, that one by whom we "live and move and have our being." Can we proclaim that one to the world, because if we cannot how can we expect them not to build "altars to unknown gods"?

The first step, of course, is getting to know God in that way ourselves. We need to know and experience God in the same way Paul did. We must know and search out that living God, that God who is present in our lives.

That is the purpose of today's Gospel reading. Jesus is speaking to the disciples about his need to leave. "God's purpose," he seems to be saying, "comes about not through a cold exercise of the will, but by the warm and personal love of the disciple for the teacher." That love is not a one way street. When we reach out to understand and know God, then God reaches out to us. We are not alone. God has sent another Advocate, the Spirit of truth, to be with us. We are not orphans.

How do we experience the power of the Spirit at work in our lives? Most of us would admit that it is at times of trouble that we find ourselves turning to God and experiencing God reaching out to us. That makes such sense, because those are the times that we are most open to asking God to be present to us. How do we open ourselves at other times?

When journalist Terry Anderson was released after having been held hostage in Lebanon for almost seven years, one of the first questions that every interviewer asked was "What kept you going through such a traumatic ordeal?" Terry credits his Christian faith that really came into full bloom during his imprisonment. He and two other Christians formed "The Church of the Locked Door". They read the Bible. They prayed. They shared.

Terry described the experience in this way. "You wake up every day, and you summon up the energy from somewhere, even when you think you haven't got it, and you get through the day. And you do it day after day." What had he experienced? Was it the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the companion on the way? I think so.

How do we proclaim that Spirit to the world? We do it by experiencing it working in our own lives. We allow our relationship with God to grow through prayer, through reading of Scriptures, and through study of God's word. Then we risk.

This congregation has a great deal to face in the years that lie ahead. We need a vision for our future. We need to be willing to risk. We need to be relevant. We need to reach out to children and young people, not only as our future, but also as our present. We need to be open to new ways of doing things, to new liturgies, to new ways of imaging God, and to new ways of experiencing God at work in our lives.