Maybe no one can see your inner qualities. Maybe you need to take a trip to downtown Washington, not just to see the cherry blossoms but to hear some personal affirmations. If you walk down a particular stretch of 14th Street, you might be surprised to hear the sound of a chime, followed by a reassuring voice, saying:
“You help create a brighter future.”
I’m not kidding. I read in The Washington Post (July 21, 2007) about the installation of bright red-and-white striped boxes on the streets of DC. They have speakers at eye level and a grid of ventilation holes in their sides. The boxes speak to you as you pass by, and a small sign explains what they are: “The Compliment Machine.”
Ding! “People are drawn to your positive energy.”
Ding! “You don’t hate the player or the game.”
Hey, if the machine says it, it must be true. The high-tech box certainly looks as though it knows what it is talking about.
The Compliment Machine is a creation of Tom Greaves, a visual artist who lives on Capitol Hill. It is part of a public art project that runs along 14th Street between P and V streets. You might call it “the art of gratuitous praise” — praise that is free and complimentary, maybe even unwarranted and uncalled for.
But who knows? Maybe this unjustified praise can have a positive effect. Perhaps a person who hears the voice of The Compliment Machine will actually be inspired to “help create a brighter future.” Could be that a passerby will actually use her “positive energy” for something constructive, after being complimented by the box.
You never know what kind of effect a few good words will have.
The apostle Paul is practicing the art of gratuitous praise when he stands in front of the Areopagus in the city of Athens and says, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way” (Acts 17:22). He is speaking in a very public place, the Areopagus — which had functioned as a homicide court for the city. He is addressing a crowd containing Epicurean and Stoic philosophers — not a congregation of devout Jews or Christians. So Paul is out in public, in front of a potentially hostile crowd, and he begins with a compliment, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.”
This may be a line of gratuitous praise, completely free and complimentary. But I don’t believe that his compliment is unwarranted or uncalled for. Paul is serious when he says these words, because he goes on to say, “For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (vv. 22-23).
Paul makes a connection with the people of Athens, by focusing on an altar they had erected to an unknown god. Paul does not criticize their attempts at worship, or condemn them for believing in a variety of gods — instead, he says, “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
He then begins to teach them. “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence … so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” (vv. 24-29).
Paul teaches them that there is just one God, not the many gods they have grown up worshiping. This one Lord “made the world and everything in it,” including all the nations of the world. He gave all people the desire to “search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him,” although this God is never far from anyone, for “in him we live and move and have our being.”
Paul even includes a line from a Greek poet, to make the connection stronger — the line “For we too are his offspring.” Paul wants them to discover that this unknown god is not a complete mystery to them, but is already a part of their life. The people of Athens simply need to discover his true identity.
This kind of gratuitous praise is an important part of making connections with people around us, so that we can share with them the good news of Jesus Christ. Our job is not to twist arms or bully people or intimidate them into believing what we believe, but instead it is to make a connection with them — a connection that will open the door to real communication.
- Letting them know that they have been created by God — that establishes a connection.
- Telling them that they are children of God — that opens a door to conversation.
- Saying that God loves them so much that he sent his Son Jesus to them, to save them from their sins — that can happen only after a relationship has been established.
That’s why Paul begins with praise for the people of Athens, and ends with a message about Jesus. He establishes a connection by praising them for being “extremely religious,” and only later tells them that Jesus has been sent by God to judge and to save them. “While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance,” says Paul, “now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (vv. 30-31).
Paul gives us some excellent advice about how to reach out to people and make a connection, across the lines of belief and culture. I want us to pay attention to his guidance as we seek to be “a house of prayer for all peoples” here at FPC (Isaiah 56:7), a Meeting Ground for people of diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
First, it is important for us to create an environment of acceptance, a place where differences are acknowledged and respected. I want this church to be a safe haven, a welcoming place to discuss issues — even contentious issues. In a world that is constantly fracturing into special-interest groups and highly specialized communities, it is important for us to move in the opposite direction, and to pull people together for worship and education. Paul had this same vision when he told the Athenians that God “made all nations to inhabit the whole earth … so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him” (vv. 26-27).
I’d like to hear from you about how we can do this — how we can be a true Meeting Ground, a welcoming place for a diverse group of people to discuss important issues, “to search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him.”
Second, we need to get clear about our bedrock convictions. It is fine to be soft at the edges — welcoming to all kinds of people — but we have to be solid at the center. The apostle Paul was certainly clear that the Lord God is the one who “gives to all mortals life and breath and all things” (v. 25), and his Son Jesus is the one whom God has raised from the dead to offer the world both judgment and salvation (v. 31). We need to be equally clear about what it is that we believe. We are “a house of prayer for all peoples,” as our Scripture verse from Isaiah reminds us. We are a community that gathers every Sunday around the pulpit, the Communion table, and the baptismal font, actions which make the statement that we take the Word of God seriously — we are a community that is shaped by the preaching of the Word of God, and by the sacraments that give us life and nourishment in the Body of Christ.
So what else do we believe? What is the solid center of our community of faith? I like to think of Jesus Christ as the core, because I see Jesus himself as a Meeting Ground — he is the place where the divine and the human come together, where Almighty God meets the people of the world. But what about you? I’d like to hear from you about where you find the solid center of life at FPC.
Third, we need to develop a strategy for reaching the world around us. We talk about having a mission-minded identity, and we certainly do a great job of reaching the world around us with food and shelter and help with a variety of basic needs. But where we need to get stronger is in reaching and attracting our neighbors — especially people of different races, cultures, and economic levels. Paul had a plan when he practiced the art of gratuitous praise, when he reached out to his Athenian neighbors and complimented them for being “extremely religious” in every way.
So what’s our plan? How are we going to create a house of prayer that attracts all people? How are we going to tap the rich resources of our region, and bring in experts to talk to us about important social and religious issues? How are we going to expand responsibility for growth and outreach to all the members of our congregation? How are we going to devise holistic ministries that reach people where they are, and provide them with opportunities for education, formation, and transformation?
I need to hear from you. So do the staff members and elders of this church. God has placed us in an exciting and promising place for ministry — a place with as much potential as the city of Athens in the time of Paul.
- You don’t hate the player or the game, so you can reach out to your neighbors.
- People are drawn to your positive energy, so don’t be afraid to invite them to church.
- You can help create a brighter future, in this church and in this world.
That’s the truth. Not gratuitous praise. Amen.
Source:
Joshua Zumbrum, “The Art of Gratuitous Praise: Compliment Machine Gives Passersby Pats on the Back, The Washington Post, July 21, 2007, C1).