Psalm 77:11-15; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Inspired
by this morning’s Psalm and the Apostle Paul’s relationship with the first
century church in the Greek city of Thessalonica, I’m pleased to share a few
faith community strengthening moments I’ve experienced as part of FPC.
I
remember how just a few days ago I was playing catch inside our fellowship hall
with young guests from the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Not with a ball, but with a small rubber
chicken I’d snuck in by way of my back pocket.
This found its way out after dinner so it could fly through the air with
the greatest of ease. I remember how I
then thought it would be funny for the kids to find this amusing object frozen
in the box of freezer pops. Turns out it
was an adult guest – who just happened to have served as a military policeman –
who found it instead!
I
remember the many times of sitting in a dunk tank at our former Fairmount
Country Festivals. I’d do my best to gently
heckle folks of all ages to pitch their purchased tickets into a bucket and
three softball sized, hard yellow orbs at a bulls-eye. For most of these experiences I was wearing
a custom made t-shirt with the words “Pastor Rich” and “Dunk Me, You’re
Forgiven” on it.
On
more of a humorless note, I remember the many times I’d sheepishly instruct
visitors attending a baptism, wedding or funeral here in this sanctuary where
to find a restroom. It was always
uncomfortable explaining how this old house of worship could not accommodate
their natural need. Not to mention having
to then suggest they return to their vehicle so they could drive down to the
Community House. On a redeeming note, I
also remember the day I joyfully announced that the renovation was complete and
that this historic sanctuary had finally constructed something even Ben
Franklin had in his home.
And
then my heart constantly remembers the blessing of being present during difficult
but deeply prayerful moments. Early
morning pre-surgery visits, post-surgery follow-ups, those tremendously
touching times of being a companion in Christ during a loved one’s passing on
from this earthly plain. The last time
I was at Fieldcrest Farm with Harris Smith comes right to mind, as do Mary
Elizabeth Young’s final words to me.
How
often do you pause to recall and share your most vibrant memories life
faithfully shared as part of our FPC family?
Do you know how important this is to the present and future vitality of
our common ministry?
Our
Scriptures this morning are a call to remember. They are not a call to remember the sins of
any given situation, but the salvation that is always present. They remind us that the stories of all our
human relationships are firmly set in the context of our Lord’s powerful,
perpetual relationship with everyone.
And they remind us that deepening our trust in one another depends on our
willingness to be vulnerable before our Lord.
One
Bible commentator, a Professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, GA, reminds
us how our sin makes vulnerability so difficult. He writes, “Far too often we find
ourselves, because of our own hardness of heart, seeking to find excuses --
seeking to find loopholes -- to avoid the vulnerability that such a
relationship demands. We far too often are looking for ways to be offended so
that we can justify the severing of a relationship, or at the very least
distance ourselves from other believers.
Maybe we are tired of doing the work, but each of us has experienced --
probably more often than we care to admit -- that we look for ways to get out
when we find a relationship too burdensome.”[i]
The
people participating in the first century Christian community in Thesselonica were
constantly coping with vulnerability.
The church was in its infancy.
Its crib was the second largest metropolis in Greece. Thesselonica was at the intersection of two
major roads of the growing Roman Empire.
And the Empire strategically befriended the Thessalonians in a mighty big
way!
The
city was made a Roman imperial province and granted these citizens “freedom
from taxation, unhindered self-governance, local voting for leadership, freedom
to hold public assemblies, city-administered courts, and [the] minting of
money.”[ii] From the Thessalonians perspective, their
city was not occupied by the Roman Empire.
It was instead a “metropolis that saw itself as an integral part of the
empire.”[iii]
This
all set the table nicely when it came time for the Roman Emperor to insist on being
worshipped as a god. There was a temple
to the Emperor served by priests who would, among other responsibilities,
organize festivals that economically benefited the city. This imperial worship was woven into the
broad cloth of Thessalonica’s religious life.
Judaism was one thread and it actually thrived there at that time.
Then
along came Paul. Paul who preached the
one true God of Judaism, whose Messiah had come. Paul who preached against false gods and
especially imperial worship. For those
who opened their hearts to receive the Good News of Jesus Christ, it meant
being vulnerably in conflict with Thessalonian culture. Being in league with Paul therefore brought
about persecutions against the fledgling faith movement.
That
early congregation, which met in homes, could have blamed being in a religious
relationship with Paul for their constantly living in such a vulnerable,
dangerous position. Yet they didn’t. They remained open to the ongoing work of
the Holy Spirit. They focused on being
a resilient community by imitating the strong example of Paul, who fully
understood from Jesus that worldly persecution was but a prelude to resurrection
power.
In turn, Paul’s letter to his vulnerable Thessalonian
brothers and sisters reinforces their common need to constantly remember the
mighty works of the one true God. The
opening, in particular, is “a powerful passage on the life of the church. God
here is active, empowering, encouraging, and persistent in the lives of those
who have turned to God.”[iv] It absolutely affirms God’s love for the congregation
and how God kept calling on them to be a holy megaphone for the Gospel
throughout their region. Paul is genuinely thankful for his faithful
relationship with these Thessalonian partners.
And he expresses his confidence that they will share in the day of
Christ's return together, a day of divinely wrathful shattering of the Roman
Empire’s false gods and false security.
Our
FPC community is very far from its infancy and we thankfully don’t face the
dire persecutions of the ancient Greco-Roman world. Yet we as a congregation can surely feel
vulnerable at times. We grieve our
losses and name our fears. Broad
cultural forces keep decentralizing the institution of church and our impacting
our capacity to grow. Our membership and historic buildings keep
getting older. We all slip into
worshipping the false gods that are so much the fabric of our American society.
The
Psalms and letters like Thessalonians give us strength to face any and all our
vulnerabilities together. They
encourage us to constantly focus on being thankful for and deepening our
relationships with one another in Christ.
We do so every time we share our remembrances of what God has done for
this world and what we have done for God through our faith community. They call on us to constantly remember the
positive and always prevailing power of our God.
I
invite you to take time this week and spend it recalling and sharing your most
vivid memories of FPC life. Rather than
lament days gone by, may these serve as empowering reminders that we are all
constantly called to be imitators of our Lord and of the first apostles serving
the earliest churches.
And
all God’s people say, “Amen.”
[i] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2222
[ii] http://spectrummagazine.org/article/ben-holdsworth/2012/07/17/thessalonian-letters-greco-roman-context
[iii]
ibid
[iv] Bartlett,
David L.; Barbara Brown Taylor (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year A,
Volume 4, Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle
Locations 6626-6627). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
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