Better Than Nothing

 Text:   1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10

 

As a school aged child, I had the pleasure of my grandparents living next door. After school my brother and I would walk home from the bus drop and would veer into grandma and grandpa’s house for cookies before reaching home.  Most days grandpa would ask, “What did you learn at school today?”  The general response was “nothing.”  When I graduated from my masters degree,  grandpa remarked at how impressive it was that one could achieve a degree having spent 20 years learning nothing.

 

Of course, I had learned many things over the years. On most days, however, when asked I really couldn’t recall what I had learn; or it was too difficult to articulate.  I can look back over the years, now, and I could go on and on about what I learned. While at school there was no time for this sort of reflection and seriously at the time it really didn’t matter to me.

 

I suspect that for many of us church is similar to my school experience. Imagine going home from church today and a grandparent, or housemate, or dinner guest asking you, “what did you learn at church today?” What would your response be?  ...Nothing?  Now think of all the times you have been to church, if you were asked every time you left – what would be the general response?

 

We have learned more at church then we realize. And today I am going to make it easy for you by giving you an answer:  Today I went to church and learned to write a letter. I went to church and learned to read/hear a letter.

 

Somewhere over my years at school I learned to write a letter, in fact a wide variety of different kinds of letters and templates – with salutations, punctuation, bodies, and postscripts. This morning we heard the beginning of Thessalonians, a letter read over five weeks in the lectionary. The letter to the Thessalonians, in Paul’s hand, is unique in form and substance compared to what I learned at school.

Today’s text – the opening portion of Paul’s letter-  is in three parts, including: a salutation, thanksgiving, with an emphasis on the gospel’s effectiveness. 

 

We hear the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. My guess is that we hear it as positive – but have never taken the time to investigate further. We have failed to realize that there is some important information to ferret out of this sunny intro; more depth than niceties  – it is a letter that could be read again and again.

It reminds me of a friend who is digging through old letters of one of her ancestors.  She is gathering information from the letters, then taking the tidbits of information and investigating other historical documents, to piece together a fuller picture of the life and times of this ancestor. It is fascinating!

We can do the same with Paul’s letter.

For me it is Paul’s enthusiasm -read between the lines-  joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; that captures my attention. This is the oldest letter of Paul’s in the Bible, written around 50CE. This is early in his ministry – having had some difficulty at Philippi, Paul went to Thessalonica and established a congregation there. This letter was sent to one of the first communities who accepted Paul and Paul’s telling of the gospel. I am sure that Paul had a special place in his heart for them, and that their actions -their faithfulness and witness to the gospel- buoyed him on in his adventurous and dangerous travels.

 

The letter is an encouragement to the people to keep on keeping on, by living as models of the gospel and godly-living. They are to continue exemplifying faith, love, and hope for new Christian communities, particularly important in the times in which they find themselves, an antagonistic environment with harassment common, and persecution a potential reality.  When I hear the letter – I hear the words – and I translate the letter to speak to our current time. What congregation would not welcome such words? To hear that they were a model of Christian living – showing the gospels efficacy through faith, love, and hope?

Looking at the statements in the text, we learn how to be such a Christian community. The learning points from the opening chapter of the letter are:

*greet one another in blessing, peace, and grace

* pray for each other and give thanks to God

* show commitment through faith, love, and hope

* pass on the gospel to others; others will follow, and imitate the lives of faithful Jesus’ followers

* remember that persecution is a real possibility

* be welcoming and offer hospitality

* leave idols behind

* serve God

We have learned far more then we realize being in church week to week.

That is why the learning points from the letter to the Thessalonians sound familiar. We have heard them before in a multitude of variations – in the Ten Commandments, through the prophets, in the life of Jesus, in pillars of the faith, Christian teachers and mentors.

 

Today I am encouraging you to go into the world with the learning points from the letter to the Thessalonians and with the intention be a model of the gospel’s effectiveness.

Even though it might feel like you know nothing, you have everything you need.  You are able to greet others with blessing, peace, and grace. You can pray for each other and give thanks to God.  If you choose, your life can model faith, love, and hope. You can be welcoming and offer hospitality.  You can do these things as an individual, and with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, engage your congregation – your faith community- to exemplify the gospel, leaving idols behind and serving God.

 

As a challenge I invite you to write a letter. In these times of COVID; in times of trouble, uncertainty, and immense change Christian communities could use a little love and encouragement to keep on keeping on.  Consider writing the letter with other members of your faith community – choose a recipient:  a family, specific members in the congregation, the church council, your congregation as a whole, a neighbouring church, another Lutheran church in your Synod, maybe your Synod office, or the National Office.  In writing, imitate Paul’s letter. Offer a pastoral blessing and greeting, enthusiastically encourage the recipient; note specific examples of their faithfulness, love, and hope; give thanks for their continued commitment and effort to living the gospel. Speak of Jesus and the promises that come in trusting and following. Remind the reader of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

 

What did you learn in church today? ...  Let me write you a letter. I will show you.