Bulletin for Sunday, May 10, 2026
Cat Goodrich
Faith Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD
May 10, 2026
Knowledge of God
Acts 17:22-31
On Friday morning, the girls ate a quick breakfast, brushed their teeth and their hair, packed up their backpacks and tied the laces on their sneakers. Butthen, instead of heading to the car, we strapped on helmets and hopped on our bikes, to pedal our way to school. It’s not a long trip, about 15 minutes, and easy enough to bike if you don’t mind navigating traffic and a couple of hairy street crossings. And for the past six weeks or so on Fridays, we’ve been pedaling with a big group of other Roland Park kids and a few other parents – together becoming something called a bike bus. Based on the premise that there’s safety in numbers, and that cars are more likely to slow down if there are many bikers instead of only a few, a bike bus provides an alternative means to get kids to school safely. And, when the group includes friends – it’s fun! I love starting the day with community, movement, and a chance to be outside. We’ve gotten to know more neighbors, and it feels great to ride. But one of my kids – doesn’t love it. None of her friends live on the north side of school, so it’s not a fun ride for her. “Why do we have to, mom?” she says, “Can’t we just drive?” So I’m faced with a quandary I’m sure everyone can relate to. When and how do we compromise? What am I teaching my kids about living in community, balancing our individual needs and wants with our shared commitments to sustainability, relationships, and mutual thriving? Am I listening and responding to her concerns and needs, while sharing what I believe is important? And how do we negotiate this before the bike bus heads out at 7:20 on Friday morning? We learn about the world and our place in it through experience, wisdom shared by elders, and the power of observation. And we learn through repetition, memorization, and re-creation. For better or worse, we are shaped by our family of origin. We see how our parents – the people who raised us – uphold values, …or don’t. Share and communicate feelings, …or not. Teach us how to walk and throw a baseball and ride a bike, care for others, cook and clean, plan, and manage time. And one of the great gifts of maturity is the ability to reflect and decide – these parts of my formation are foundational. This is what I want to hold on to. And that – I want to discard, and live differently.
Maybe another reason why I’m considering what I’m teaching my children, is because today is Mother’s Day – a day of Hallmark cards, flowers, and appreciation for the ones who have cared for us like a mother. In popular culture,
Mother’s Day is typically pretty sentimental, and sweet – sometimes overly so. But remember: Mother’s Day has radical beginnings! It was originally conceived as a day to celebrate women’s equality, and to promote world peace and an end to violence. Mother’s Day began thanks in part to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, who envisioned a day for children to honor the work of their mothers, inspired by her appreciation of her own mother, Ann. Ann had given birth to 12 children, many of whom died from preventable childhood illnesses. That loss drove her to become an organizer and community health worker creating community groups of moms to promote sanitation and cleanliness. When her region was divided by the Civil War, she became a peace activist and insisted that her community moms groups care for all wounded and dying soldiers – no matter which side they’d fought for. When Ann died many decades later, her daughter Anna urged President Woodrow Wilson – a Presbyterian – to designate a day to honor mothers and to call for an end to war. So, in 1914, he did. Today can be a day that’s fraught for many – difficult for those who have a strained relationship with their mothers, painful for those who long to have children but for whatever reason cannot. I try to take an expansive approach to Mother’s Day, thinking of it as an opportunity to honor those who have cared for us, shaped our understanding about ourselves and the world, and inspired us to grow, to become better people, to care for others as we have been cared for. I wonder – whose memory or legacy do you honor today? Who cared for you, and shaped your knowledge about who you are and your place in the world? Who inspired you to grow into the person you are today? I ask you to hold that person or those people in your mind. Picture their face, if you can, their hands. Remember, maybe, what it felt like, or what their detergent or perfume smelled like when they hugged you. Rest in that memory for a moment. Our scripture this morning is a sermon given by the apostle Paul to the scholars of Athens. In it, he shares the essence of Christian faith and practice. Essentially, Paul asks: “How do we know God?” – We know, Paul says, because when we seek God, we find them: in creation, in community, in our very selves.
1 https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2022/5/3/theologians-almanac-for-
week-of-may-8-2022
And – As followers of Jesus, we know God because of the life and work of the resurrected Christ. Scripture tells us that when Paul arrived in Athens, he traveled around the city and observed. Athens, remember was the academic and cultural center of
the Roman empire – where both Aristotle and Socrates lived and taught! It was where scholars came to debate the latest ideas; the text tells us that all who lived or visited there spent their time in nothing except the telling or hearing of something new. And in Athens, there were idols everywhere – not unlike the images from India we just saw in the Forum! People were worshipping a plethora of pagan gods. To Paul, as a Jew and a follower of Jesus this was problematic. So what does he do? He preaches! He goes down to the town market and begins to engage in friendly debate with passersby, sharing the good news. Now, Paul is a wise evangelist. He engages the Athenians in ways they can understand – drawing from his observations in the city, using poetry and philosophy they would’ve found familiar. Instead of condemning their multitude of idols, he points to the divinity they’ve already noticed rippling through creation and gives it a name: the one true God! The mystery in whom we live and move and have our being, who is as close as our very breath – in the words of our own confession, who came to us in Jesus to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. God! Our curiosity about the universe, our ability to learn and assimilate information – is a divine gift! It is God’s will for us to be seeking and searching – and that is why God makes Godself available for us to find. As a follower of the human one, the crucified and risen Christ, I believe we find and come to know more about God in relationship. Learning through experience, and the wisdom of elders, and repetition and ritual the values that form us into the people God intends for us to be. And this Mother’s Day, I thank God for the relationships that manifested the care of mothers for each of you. The ones who shared the values of community and connection and service and compassion and justice with you. Because together, we get to be a family, too. Sharing our values, learning from one another, and acting together to bring the world as it should be into existence. Birthing something new together. Thanks be to God.