Proper 26 -- Year C -- November 3, 2013
Text: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4,11-12 Tinh Huynh+
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"It is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service."
In the Name of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Today's Second Reading
is taken from Chapter One
of Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians.
The original readers of the Letter
were a group of Greek-speaking Christians
of the first century.
From the Book of Acts,
we learn that Paul visited Thessalonica,
the second largest city in Greece in those days,
on his second mission trip
and he was the one who established the church in that city.
You and I may wonder:
- What was that church like?
- Did they begin the Sunday service saying,
"Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit"?
- Did they have the yearly stewardship drive
and send out the stewardship letter with a pledge card?
- Did they hold the annual bazaar or the harvest thanksgiving dinner?
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We don't know.
We don't know whether the Christians in Thessalonica had a church building
or a yearly budget like we do.
But the Book of Acts gives us a glimpse
into this early Christian community.
They first met in a synagogue.
They did not have a church building.
Some of them were Jews.
Many of them were Greeks.
Women were among the leaders of the church.
And, remarkably, they were persecuted.
The Christian community in Thessalonica
was vulnerable to attacks
by those against the Gospel.
Acts Chapter 17 describes their situation vividly:
"... but the Jews became jealous,
and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces
they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar.
While they were searching for Paul and Silas,
they attacked Jason's house."
Jason was one of the supporters of the apostles.
Paul and Silas had to leave the city at once.
We don't know exactly where the believers
in Thessalonica continued to hold worship services.
They must have had some places to gather,
as they were expelled from the synagogue.
They were continually harassed in that city.
The enemies of the Gospel did not leave them alone.
Paul had been in Corinth, a different city,
far away from Thessalonica,
when he sent them the letter.
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Letters in the first century did not go as fast as they do today!
Letters might have taken months to reach the addressees.
Surprisingly,
the main theme of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians
is not about the persecution that they endured.
There were several verses in Chapter One,
which the lectionary omits for today's reading,
that speak about God's punishment of those persecuting Christians.
But Paul's main concern in the letter is not about hardship.
It was about heresy.
Some among the Thessalonians preached that Christ had already come again,
and Paul said, "Don't listen to them."
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Anyhow,
is there anything for us to learn
from this passage?
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Obviously, the early Christians were very different from us.
They did not have the New Testament.
Their Bible was what we now call "The Old Testament,"
or the "Hebrew Bible."
They must have had quite a few hymns.
Some of their hymns got into the New Testament writings, as quoted by Paul and some other writers.
We wonder what their music was like.
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And yet they might have been very much like us.
They got together to worship and they shared meals with each other.
They experienced conflicts in their community life,
and they learned to forgive.
They reached out to the poor and they preached the Good News of Christ.
They shared joys and sorrows.
Like us, they were called into different ministries.
There is a call in the mystery of faith that we proclaim:
"Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."
We say that phrase on every Sunday at the Holy Eucharist.
As Christians, we believe that in Christ God calls us
to offer ourselves to Him, for the glory of his Name.
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This last week I came across a letter
written by our Mary Isibel in 2007
when she was the Senior Warden of Saint Patrick's.
Mary said in her letter:
"Our call in practicing stewardship is not only about maintaining our church property
and keep the church vibrant;
our call is to follow the teachings of Jesus
and to proclaim to the world that
in Him
there is a place of refuge for the weary soul.
Our call in stewardship is not to look back into the past
nor to maintain the status quo,
but to look toward the future
while making sure that our House of the Lord
is in good shape for the many generations to follow."
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We are thankful for the community of faith,
and we are thankful for this place of worship.
We tend to look at the church as a place
that provides the services we need.
But God calls us to gather mainly to worship God.
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There is a very important message in Paul's letter,
which I would like to point out to you this morning.
Paul says,
"We must always give thanks to God for you,
brothers and sisters,
as is right,
because your faith is growing abundantly,
and the love of each of you
for one another
is increasing."
The love for one another.
Nothing is more important for a Christian church than love.
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Each of us has stories
to tell about what Saint Patrick's means
to him or to her.
Yet we all have experienced love in this place.
It is love that holds this community together.
Love is the gift from God for us in this very church.
Love is our guiding light.
Our collect for today reads,
"Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift
that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service:
Grant that we may run without stumbling
to obtain your heavenly promises;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen."
Our My-Linh Tran was the first speaker of our Stewardship Season. Below are thoughts she shared with the congregation at announcement time of last Sunday.
- FCS CROP Walk -- Sunday, November 10th, 1-2 PM. The Falls Church Community Service, Inc. (FCS) will be holding its very first "CROP Walk" for hunger relief. Participants in the 2-mile walk in the Falls Church area will work to raise pledges and donations to fund a world hunger program administered by Church World Service, with 25% remaining for the FCS food pantry. All are invited to participate.
