Mars Hill

  My Dad wanted to hold Easter sunrise worship on Mars Hill, next to the Acropolis about 1965. He got permission from the government but was required to meet  with a Greek Orthodox priest. They climbed to the top of the hill, where the priest brushed away film boxes and cigarette butts and orange peels, and pointed out the place Paul was presumed to have stood while making his case for Jesus to the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers gathered there. He was asked not to stand in that spot. We call that presentation the sermon of the unknown God.  You can read it in Acts 17. 

As a fledgling trumpet player, and being handy, I was tasked with opening the service by playing a short piece of the hallelujah chorus.   Paul was no doubt a great preacher, but so was Dad. I think Paul would have been pleased that his efforts inspired a man such as he to tell that story again, in that very place.