I have this thought (or maybe "I have a dream") . It is some thing that I can say is a dream that has existed for some time now. It seems that I cannot always put into words what is happeing in my head (the results of Adult ADD), but I am going to try.

In Acts 17 of the Bible, the apostle Paul went to Athens, Greece, where he spent some time teaching in the Jewish synagogue and also talking with philosophers.

While he was there teaching, he was taken before the Areopagus, which was court outside of town on Mars Hill. While he was in the middle of philosophers, religious teachers and thinkers, he began to tell them about "the unknown God" (referring to a monument to an unknown god among the other monuments to the gods they worshipped).

If you want to see the rest of the story and what Paul told them, you can read it in Acts 17. What I want to point out is the symbolism and what it can mean for the community that we are in now (as a church gathering in south Florda).

Paul is in the middle of ongoing discussions by the people of Athens about life, spirituality, God, meaning, beauty, truth. It is a culture that is poly-theistic (a representation of many gods). They were really into talking about things that were new philosophies and new ideas (Acts 17:21). But on this hill outside of athens known as Mars Hill (or the Areopagus) Paul tells the people about God the creator of all things, God the giver of life, the God who is not served by human hands, the God who is near and the God who raised Jesus from the dead (vs 31).

The symbolism to south Florida and the community that we want to be is that we are like Mars Hill. It is a place where many ideas and philosophies emerge and yet, there rises a community that talks about a God who is reconciling all things to himself (or putting back together what is broken) in the person of Jesus. We love the scriptures because they are the story of God. We trust Jesus with our lives because we desire to be a part of God's story of love, mercy and reconciliation all for His glory. We are satisfied in Him so that He is glorified in our lives.

Maybe we too are Mars Hill: A Missional Jesus Community

I love the church. There is something about being a part of a community of people who have Christ in common. This community has a long history that spans a couple of thousand years (some of those beautiful and some that are not so much).

Here is a thought from Mars Hill a gathering in Michigan:

"We see ourselves in a long line of generations taking part in the endless conversation between God and people. We believe the Bible to be the voices of many who have come before us, inspired by God to pass along their poems, stories, accounts, and letters of response and relationship with each other and (most importantly) the living God. To know where we're going, we have to know where we've been.

I have this dream that the community of people in the church will value the things that are talked about in the ancient scriptures and that we will see the glory of God shine out because of it.

Brad