Sermon for May 1, 2005

In our speaking and our listening, let us glorify the one God, in whom we live and move and have our being.

Michael asked me on Wednesday to preach so that he might have a Sunday to worship as a member of a congregation somewhere. I'm glad to give him that chance to rest, but I feel a little bit the way I used to when my sister and brother in law would leave me to cook dinner for my nephews at the time when the boys were little. I would joke that it was amateur night, as I knew that no one could make the foods they loved the way their mom or dad could. The highest complement I received was when my nephew David said, "Gee, Aunt Mary, you cook as good as anyone!"

I feel very fortunate to be giving my testimony on a Sunday when the readings speak so eloquently to ministering in the wider world and to understanding other cultures. Our former assistant rector, the Reverend James Karanja who is originally from Kenya, used to begin all of his sermons with a brief story of how he came to know Jesus Christ. I'm an Episcopalian from New England, so my testimony might lack that eloquence, but for those of you who do not know me, I have been a parishioner at St. James's since 1993. I am a lifelong Episcopalian, but I believe that my true conversion to the Christian life has come through the many miracles I have seen over these past dozen years. I have seen physical and spiritual healing through prayer, and I have witnessed the power of hospitality in many forms. It has also been a gift to be exposed to so many other cultures and to the way they show their love for God. Just yesterday, for example, many of us had the privilege of attending a Ghanaian celebration of the life of the mother of one of our parishioners.

In today's first lesson, Paul crosses cultures. Throughout the book of Acts we see Paul persuading people of the good news through his eloquent preaching and skill in rhetoric. In this passage he is telling the Athenians that the one true God is already part of their theology. He does this by understanding their culture: they are concerned with paying reverence to all possible gods, and he tells them they can do this by serving the one true God. As a good educator of adults, he understands what they already know