Acts 17:22-31

Easter 6 - Year A

Acts 17:22-31

Paul notes how religious folks are. Indeed, we don’t seem to be able to help ourselves from doing religion. It is a handy way to try to pass on to others any numinous experiences we have had.

A difficulty comes when our religious attempt to articulate a larger reality begins to take itself too seriously and restrict any further experience of a more expansive way of living. Religion starts with a helpful impetus - to share - and little-by-little puts up road-blocks to something new to share. So Paul notes the impetus and notes that the shrines established after the first experience no longer carry life forward.

The processes Paul indicates are still worthy ones. Working within space and time we are shaped into search engines for that which we may become. Searching for, groping for, finding even, even becoming what we find is identifiable with what it means to live and move and have being.

And so, identify your current shrine and begin to step outside its limits. Repent. Break the power of denial. Say No to that which claims your soul for itself. Upset the status quo.

In anticipation of another later saint: Religious people throw off your chains. All you have to lose is stale air, dirty water, and shiny objects that distract you from loving life.