They accepted it, not as human words, but the Word of God

11/2/2023 0 Comments

They accepted it, not as human words, but the Word of God

Beloved of God,
This Sunday we have a couple of chances to spend some meaningful time together. On Sunday after our Sunday School hour we’ll be gathering together for a potluck. Please bring whatever you like with just enough to share. In addition to taking time for fellowship, our Church Council will be handing out a budget proposal that we’ll be taking up for a vote in our December meeting. I sure hope you can make it.
In the evening, we’ll be gathering together at 6:00pm for a chance to grieve and give thanks over those who have passed away in the preceding year. If you have lost someone, please feel free to come spend that time of reflection. You may bring a small memento and if you like, you can share with us about who you are missing. This is a wonderful chance for us to mourn with each other and to affirm our gratitude to God for the important people who have crossed our paths.
Finally, I hope you’ll make plans to spend the early afternoon with us next week as we hear from Carrie Blake. Carrie will be updating us on the good and holy work she’s doing with the Remember Niger Coalition. There will be a luncheon, a brief film, and a Q&A session with her that will help us to know how we might continue to support and pray for Carrie and others as they serve these global neighbors in Jesus’ name. Your RSVP will be very helpful in knowing how to prepare.

Our Scripture reading this week comes from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church. I’ve spoken with you about how deep Paul’s affection for these folks seems to have been, but here we get a picture of what that looked like not just in writing but in person. Paul speaks of how he and Silas toiled day and night in an effort not to strain what were likely already thin resources among these people. When exactly was he preaching to them if he was busy all day at work? My deep suspicion is that the two, labor and preaching, were conjoined. Paul was speaking gospel to these folks both as he went about his labor and they went about theirs. He took the chance to “encourage, comfort and urge” them toward a godly life even as he went about his business.
There is an important but subtle difference between viewing the folks we encounter as “in the way” or “on the way”. We can come to view our interactions with others as impediments to following Jesus, or the substance of it. Surely Paul could have worked more efficiently if his attention had not been diverted by a Thessalonian convert with a question, or a struggle, or just the need for companionship. But efficiency is neither a gift of the spirit or a good of the kingdom and the more important matter was the matter of the soul in front of him.
I hope we can become people who learn to view our work as an occasion to live the life of the kingdom before our neighbors and beckon them into it rather than people who find others to be mere impediments to our own private pursuit of Jesus. May we encourage, comfort, and urge on those around us as we walk in his way.

Please join me this week in praying for:

Those among us who approach the upcoming year end holidays bearing great grief.
Those among us and in our community who are sick.
Those who are suffering and have suffered violence in Israel and Gaza.
The lonely, especially as we encounter them.
Those struggling with their faith and needing reassurance.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local levels. Pray especially for folks who will be called into that work for the first time.
Those who respond to emergencies in our wildlands, on our roadways, in our communities, and even in our homes.
The young people in our midst; may we be good and loving stewards of them.
Your enemies.
Each other (please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).