Worship - 10 May 2026

Summary Of This Week's Theme

A year ago, Kate and I visited Athens, including the Areopagus, where the Apostle Paul addressed the Athenians beneath the shadow of the Parthenon. Standing there, I was struck not only by the grandeur of Greek civilisation, but by Paul’s extraordinary courage. Imagine the audacity of this man, with no status in Athenian society, proclaiming before the symbol of Greek power and wisdom that the true God could not be contained within temples made by human hands, and that God had been revealed in Jesus Christ.

What impressed me most, though, was not confrontation but Paul’s method. He did not attack the Athenians or ridicule their beliefs. Instead, he listened, observed, and looked for points of connection. He recognised within their spiritual searching hints of the God he had come to know in Christ. Paul met people where they were and gently invited them further.

That feels especially important in our own age, when disagreement so often descends into shouting, suspicion, or condemnation. There remains a temptation within Christianity to draw narrow boundaries around what feels familiar and to dismiss whatever lies outside them. Yet that can easily become an expression of pride: placing ourselves in the position of judging the faith of others as though we alone understand the mind of God.

The New Testament offers a different example. Paul at the Areopagus, and Jesus speaking of the “many mansions” of God’s house, both point towards invitation rather than exclusion. They encourage us to seek understanding before judgement, and to trust that God may already be at work in places unfamiliar to us.

The retired bishop of New Westminster, in Canada, Michael Ingham once wrote that Christians should engage other faiths not through fear or mere tolerance, but through genuine spiritual dialogue. That requires confidence in the Gospel, but also humility and openness. Paul modelled exactly that in Athens: taking time to understand others and allowing those encounters to deepen his own witness.

In today’s gospel, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to a vulnerable and uncertain community: “I will not leave you orphaned.” That promise still stands. We are reminded that God is near to all people, for “in him we live and move and have our being.” If we truly believe that, then perhaps we can begin to see humanity not as divided camps, but as one diverse family, still learning together how to love God and one another.