The last few days have pretty much been a rollercoaster of emotions for me here in Athens…mainly due to the Phillies and the outcomes of the World Series games. The staying up until 6 or 7 am to watch the games was starting to take its toll on me, as well. Unfortunately, the Phils’ season ended last night and even more unfortunately, the Evil Empire regained the title of World Champs. I saw a kid wearing a Yanks hat today at the Acropolis and had thoughts of accidentally pushing him over the side….although I was more than extremely disappointed about the loss, part of me was relieved that I wouldn’t be missing a parade down Broad Street this year. I may have considered calling it a semester and getting on the first plane to Philly International.
We had Greek again today, which is turning out to be tougher than expected. What’s worse is that Stella, our prof, has a knack for calling on me as I am either: a) taking notes and not anticipating answering a question, b) dozing off, or c) completely lost and unaware as to what she wants me to say in this weird foreign language. The best part of the class is walking out the door at 11 am on each Thursday and calling it a week. Today I caught up on facebook and saw the dozen or so notifications from my friends who are Yankees fans. None were too pleasant. After reading through them and catching up on the Eagles news (NOW it’s football season) I decided to walk through the city and try to get some pictures for photo class…I got some good shots but found myself on Mars Hill, where Paul preached to the Athenians in Acts 17. I’d been here before but didn’t really get to enjoy it, as I was with a group the other times. This time I just brought my iPod and Bible and spent some time reading and in prayer. It turned out to be one of the best afternoons of my time here…It was so cool to have a view of the entire city of Athens and sit where Paul once preached to the Athenians.
I got back to the apartment and wound up talking Maddie and Heather, to a couple of friends from Messiah who mentioned that they had a chapel earlier in the week on Acts 17 and Paul’s message to the Athenians…pretty cool stuff. The passage really resonated with me and I just wanted to share what God’s put on my heart this afternoon.
-Verse 16-“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.”-No joke. Athens still is jam packed of idols and temples to their gods. Heck, every other day, someone digs up something 5000 years old in this city…I’m sure half the time it has to do with Greek gods.
-Verse 22-“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.”-Yep. Although people dig the Greek Orthodox church here, I get the impression a lot of it is based on tradition and history, not a personal relationship with God. Not to say there aren’t tons of people here who really love God…As a matter of fact, I think that there are countless people here that do. I’m just going off of what I’ve been told by Greeks themselves who have talked to me about it. It kinda makes me sad to see people going to church based on obligation or tradition, though (even though this happens in America, too).
-Verse 24-28-"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'” -Wow. Paul does some serious work here on crushing the notion that a) these temples, although impressive, don’t mean jack squat. First of all, Paul, says, these gods that the Greeks were building temples for were bologna. Second of all, Paul, states, God doesn’t need these temples. And secondly, his power and work on the cross through Jesus speaks for itself. I thought that was a pretty sweet thing to think about as I turned around and saw the freakin Acropolis staring me right in the face. I just realized I put an “a)” up there. Here’s your “b).” Paul goes on to say our job as God followers, as Christians, is not to be building temples and sick structures like the Acropolis like the Athenians did. It’s to spread the gospel and reach out to people who need to know Jesus in a personal way. These actions do more for God’s kingdom than any temple or statue could ever do. Paul says, that in God we have our meaning and we find life. He pretty much demolishes any idea that whatever the Athenians did on earth in terms of building stuff has lasting impact and that the only thing that mattered is what we did to share Jesus with others.
Needless to say, it was a thought-provoking afternoon. Like I said, though, it was one of the best of the semester for me. Yesterday was the halfway point of the trip here for me…Hard to believe, I know. But, spending that time alone with God definitely challenged me to take the second half and make an impact for Him, not just have a good time here in Athens. While I think this is gonna be really tough, verses 32 through 34 of Acts 17 offer some encouragement…”When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." At that, Paul left the Council. a few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
