Accounting for Hope

Last week we talked about agoraphobia, and the fear we can develop of engaging in our community. This week, we see Paul engaging with the all the force of character and confidence we have come to expect of him. The story of Paul at the Areopagus [Acts 17.16-34] reads like a manual of articulate faith sharing.

Paul engages with the culture around him and uses quotes from philosophers with whom they are probably familiar. In this way, he is able to share not only the Gospel, but to link their faith and hope with the hope and life found in Jesus Christ.

Too often we have been taught that only the “formula” will work, using language that is found solely in Scripture (redemption, sin, grace), or quoting verses from the Gospel as if that automatically confers our credibility. We have believed that “one size fits all” and the story we tell will work for boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and everyone else.

I know that in our past we have criticised music, poetry, film and drama which are “non-Christian” and see no point including them in a faith conversation; still less have we seen any merit in holding “a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other”.

Yet here is Paul, doing just that, quoting Nick Cave and Shakespeare, referring to the ABC’s Lateline interview with a federal politician, with his IPad in front of him, “so that they would search for God and perhaps … find him, though indeed he is not far from any of us”.

The honesty of the story captures us, too. At the conclusion of his presentation, several people want to engage more with Paul, while others mock his words, or disregard him altogether.

Peter writes that we need to be able to give an “account of the hope that is in you”, not to list a series of verses and the seven deadly sins, but to talk about what gives you hope – why you want to follow Jesus.

Perhaps this is the starting point: sit down for a moment and strip away all the all the evangelistic make-up you wear and think about what in Christ gives you hope. Think about what that looks and sounds like in the world around you – friendship, music, worship, forgiveness.

Can you tell a friend a short story about how that feels, what that looks like? At this moment, you are on your way to the Areopagus, not to debate with philosophers, but to give an account of your hope in Jesus, with those whose lives you hold dear.