800 Words
“In him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:22-31
Billy Graham and Paul the Apostle
Billy Graham has a special place in my life and heart. When I read the seventeenth chapter from the Book of Acts this week, as Paul was visiting Athens and making a defense of his faith, I recalled a moment in my life where Graham very much emulated this scene.
In September of 1986, I was working at the American Cathedral in Paris, discerning a call to the priesthood, when Graham came to Paris for his Mission France Crusade. The Graham organization had asked if Billy could preach at the Cathedral on the Sunday leading up to the Crusade. My job that morning was to be Graham’s assistant, attending to his every need from the time he entered the Cathedral (through the back door) and concluding with the recessional at the end of the service.
A group of the Cathedral staff met Graham and members of his team as he exited from his car. I remember that he first appeared frail and needed assistance. We entered the Dean’s study, and Graham was told that I would be serving him that day. He smiled warmly at me. The members of both teams went on into the sanctuary to finish coordinating details for the service and there I was one-on-one with Billy Graham.
After an awkward pause, Graham looked at me and said, in that handsome and engaging Southern drawl of his, “Tell me about you?”
The first thing that came into my head was, “Buddy, you have more important things to worry about at this moment than me!” Thankfully, I kept that thought to myself!
His eyes were encouraging and his presence was one of welcome. The short time we had together was a simple conversation between a young man and a seasoned evangelist about vocation and discerning a call to ministry. Soon the room was full again of staff and we were ready to begin worship.
During the service, as he walked through the choir stalls and moved toward the pulpit, Graham appeared literally transformed from an aging sexagenarian to a Christian disciple eager to do the Lord’s bidding full of the Spirit. His voice was strong with a clarion call to decision and action.
In his sermon, Graham used imagery of the city of Paris, much like Paul did in Athens, to make his case for Christ. He spoke of the Eiffel Tower stating that the lights on the Tower had changed. No longer illuminated from the outside, which was very beautiful, the lights were now shining from within the Tower. “And it is far more beautiful”, he added.
“This is what we need in our hearts”, Graham suggested to a full congregation that Sunday morning. “We need the Light of Christ in our hearts so that people will see us and know that Christ lives within. For when we come to Christ, we begin to reflect his Light.”
Billy Graham and Saint Paul both had extraordinary talents for knowing how to address the every audience they engaged. In today’s first lesson, Paul, greatly distressed by the idolatry he observed in Athens, used a quotation from the sixth-century BCE Cretan poet, Epimenides of Cnossos, to help illustrate his teaching to the highly sophisticated philosophers at the Areopagus.The missionary apostle began by presenting a totally “unknown god” to his proud and intellectual pagan Greek onlookers. Then Paul introduced the God of Israel, who is Creator of the Universe, Giver and Sustainer of Life, and the One True God. Quoting directly from ancient Greek poetic literature, Paul proclaimed with confidence, “‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said.”
By citing the crowd’s ‘own poets’, Paul captured his listeners’ attention and exposed the contradiction in their thinking. This first century missionary desired the Athenians to know that Yahweh was not a lifeless idol fashioned by human hands of wood, or gold, or stone. Rather, the God of Israel was a living God in whom we can experience the fullness of life through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
As each of us reflects on how we express and present our faith, what images do you use to share the story? There is no need to speak of difficult principles like the doctrine of the Trinity, or of the hypostatic union, or soteriology. Instead, speak of God’s love and the life of Jesus with instances of real-life local examples: mustard seeds, a pearl of great price, a lost sheep, the new lights on the Flat Iron Building in Manhattan, or an Ohio farmer working in their field.
I thank God for the examples of Billy Graham and Saint Paul who took everyday examples to open a conversation about faith and present Christ in a way that people could understand and grasp, in order to “live and move and have our being”.
