Sunday, December 17, 2017

How to build a Christian

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24   (NRSV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets,[a21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
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It is Advent - a time of waiting and anticipation.   It is a time of looking back to the birth of the Christ and looking forward to his return.   Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica at a time when they were dealing with uncertainty and not a little fear.   This letter is almost certainly the earliest of the letters, the earliest Christian writing that we have available to us today, and yet already there was confusion and uncertainty.  Paul and all the other leaders of the Christ followers had been so sure that Jesus would return soon, next week or maybe the one after.  They had gone out from Jerusalem to carry the Good News to as many people as they possibly could reach before the end of days arrived . . . and here it is some twenty years after the resurrection and he still hasn’t come.  In this letter, Paul comforts his people, telling them that just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen.  He counsels them to faith and patience, and reminds them that God, the one who called them, is faithful.  Meanwhile, all around them are people who chase after wealth and pleasure, whose only care is for themselves, whose lifestyle and attitudes could easily tempt these young Christians away from their new life in Christ.  He  urges them to remain faithful, and to behave always in ways that will encourage others to respect them, and perhaps even emulate them. 

This may sound silly.  I play a game called Township on my iPad.   It’s a city building game.  We each have our own Township - mine is Parsonville - and players form co-ops to compete with other co-ops in growing crops and manufacturing goods.  Each person in the co-op can see what everyone else is doing as far as completing tasks and we help each other to complete their tasks. I like helping people so I help, a lot.   And it didn’t occur to me that I was doing anything different or that anyone was even paying attention until last week, when for some unknown reason, our co-op went from 8 members to 30 in a day or so.  One of the new co-op members said something about how she liked that we all help each other, and one of the established members said, “I just keep trying to catch up with Parson, but no success so far.”  As the conversation continued I became aware that my willingness to help everyone had spurred others to quietly compete with me.  They all want to be the leader in helping!  I think that is so cool.  What if my co-op members go out into the real world looking for ways to help others without fanfare or reward?  That would be even more cool.  

That’s kind of what church is for, you know.  We come here to worship, first and foremost.  But we also come here to learn how to live in the world while being somehow apart from the world.  We come to learn how to help and do good things, without fanfare.  Like the people of Thessalonica, we live in a time when social norms are all about getting attention, and acquiring stuff, getting the best of others in every situation, seeking pleasure even at the expense of other people, looking for someone to blame when stuff goes wrong, even looking for the worst in others instead of the good.   For anyone who thinks that this kind of ugliness is a modern phenomenon that only happens on Facebook . . . did you know that early Christians were thought to be baby killers and cannibals?  Yes.  People heard that they shared the body and blood of their dead God, and decided what that really meant is that they stole babies and ate them at their worship services.  They also thought that Christians were incestuous - people heard them calling each other brother and sister and talking about loving one another and immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion.  It wouldn’t have been hard to get up a mob with torches and pitchforks - or stones - or crosses - with rumors like those making the rounds of the city.  Persecution of groups of people generally  happens because falsehoods are told that create fear and incite hatred.  Even today.

Paul was well aware of the dangers his people faced.  He, himself, had been stoned, beaten, imprisoned and otherwise persecuted for his preaching.   He had been lied about and heard mobs call for his death because of things said about his actions and his preaching that were totally untrue.  So he gives them a list of admonitions.  A list of ways to live their lives in Christ.   
Rejoice always.  We spoke of this at some length last month, when our focus was on gratitude.  Even when things go wrong, there is always something to be grateful for, or rejoice about.  I presided at a memorial service yesterday, and there is a reason we call them Celebrations of Life.  Even when grieving the loss of husband and father, brother and friend, there are funny stories to share, joys to lift up about that person’s life.  Rejoicing, even then, is possible for the Christian.  

Pray without ceasing.  You know, I used to wonder how this is possible.  How can I pray without ceasing if I am supposed to be working or driving - ok, scratch that one.  I pray while driving all the time!  But how can one do that?  You can do that if you make your life a prayer.  If you offer your entire life, everything you do all day, to God.  And then there is popcorn praying, which I something I tend to do. If I think of you during the day, I will pray for you at that moment.  Usually just a quick “God bless them,” or “Thank you, Lord, for putting them in my life today,” kind of prayer, offered up on the spur of the moment.  In this way you don’t get to the end of the day and realize you forgot to pray today.  Because you did, in fact, pray without ceasing.  

Give thanks in all circumstances.  Again, gratitude for everything, even the bad stuff.  Pain makes me ask for help - and I am really bad at asking for help.  So I become grateful for the pain, because it forces me to do what I know God would prefer for me to do. 

Do not quench the Spirit.  No matter what, let the Spirit have her way.  Inspiration comes from the Spirit - new ideas and aha moments.  Don’t let tradition bog you down, as it did for the Pharisees of Jesus time, but allow new ideas to flow through and catch fire in your hearts,  like the wind and flames on Pentecost.

Do not despise the words of the prophets.  Just as in Paul’s time there were disagreements between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians about the importance of the Law and Prophets to followers of Jesus, even today some Christians think that only the New Testament is relevant to Christian faith.  Yet Jesus was a Jew. He preached from the words of the prophets.   Paul spoke of the lineage of Abraham coming to the Gentiles by adoption through the Holy Spirit.  Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, whom we have come to know and to love through the teachings of Jesus, his son.  So we must respect and try to understand the words of those whom God sent to prepare the way for the Messiah - the prophets.

Test everything, hold fast to what is good.  Not all preaching and teaching will be in accordance to the will of God or God’s Spirit.  So when you listen, test the words in your heart.  If you feel that the preaching fits the teachings of Christ, then accept it. If not, do not accept it.  Not everything that you hear will be of God. Sometimes it will be driven by the personality or agenda of the teacher.  So test everything.  (In other words, just because the preacher says it, doesn’t mean you have to believe it.  That’s one of my favorite things about the Disciples of Christ.  It is one of the things that attracted me here in the first place.)  

Abstain from every form of evil.  This isn’t as easy as it sounds.  There is so much that could be considered evil - gossip, jealousy, acting out in anger, greed  - all of those sins that seem to be part of the human reality.  Consider everything you do before doing it, and choose the good.  Always, choose the path of love, compassion and mercy.  

Have you ever been to a Build a Bear workshop?  I think building a Christian might be a little like building a stuffed animal.   We take a body, and there are so many different kinds of bodies.  And we fill that body up with stuffing - teachings to help it develop faith.  Some will develop a faith that seems "Soft & Cuddly,” some will seem more "Hard & Firm," but most will fall "Somewhere In Between.”  Into each will go a heart, and each heart will be a little different.  Some have a heart for the poor.  Some have a heart for animals.  Some have a heart for the hungry, or the elderly.  Some hearts focus on sharing musical gifts.  You might not know what you have a heart for just now.  But you’ll figure it out.  And then we add the outer stuff - clothing and accessories for the stuffed creature translates into the way each of us lives our faith differently.   No matter what each one ends up looking though, each one is loved so much by its Creator.  Each one is different, and precious and beloved.

And so the Thessalonian church grew.   Each Christian grew in faith and strength.  And they waited, just as we still wait, for the return of the King - for the coming of the Lord.  Paul assured them, and us, that Jesus would return.   

Christians all, your Lord is coming.  Let us sing out our faith in the one who called us, for he is faithful, and will do as He said he would do.



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