Readings: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Luke 21: 25-36
Let
us pray: Open our hearts and minds, our ears and our eyes to your word for each
of us this day O God. May our listening
and our response be held in the presence of your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen.
“And
may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we abound in love for you.” Thessalonians 3:12
We have a rather abrupt beginning to the
reading today from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and it is worth going
back a little to pick up the strands of the story so far. Paul had founded a new congregation after
leaving Philippi, then has left and been quite frustrated in his inability to
get back. So he had sent Timothy to find
out how they are and report back. And
they are well. More than well really,
Paul is overjoyed to hear they are thriving and writes back to tell them
so. And he emphasises two things in
particular that he is thrilled about.
One is their continuing faith in adverse conditions. Paul knows, more than most, about how
difficult it can be to walk in faith when all around you are intent on dissing
you and bringing you down - and he had foreseen that this would be a big issue
for this fledgling congregation. So he
congratulated them on their faith: ‘constancy and steadfastness of hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ’[1]
were the actual words. And along with
their hope in Christ, Paul, as we heard today, emphasises that they continue to
love one another, ‘to increase and abound in love for one another and for all’[2]
are the words used in my bible translation.
These are the two things, their faith, their hope in Christ, and the
love they have for each other, that the congregation is strong on and that he
applauds them in. But it is
interesting in his choice of comparison that he then uses to inspire them: it
is not God’s love for them he quotes but rather his own love for them – ‘to
increase and abound in love for one another and for all: just as we abound in
love for you.’ Paul is firmly and quite
extravagantly reassuring them of his love, almost going overboard in his need
to reaffirm to the readers of his letter that he really cares about them and
wants to be with them. He is relationship building - and with good reason: he
is aware that things have been a bit tricky so far –that people have accused
him of lacking integrity, of being a manipulator and a bludger, of usurping
authority that is not his to have, or pushing them too hard. He realises that people easily believe this
kind of stuff and, because of it, damage their relationship not just with him
but with Christ. At the same time Paul
doesn’t really get how people can say that they love God and be so downright
mean to him - because for him hope in Christ translated instantaneously,
unequivocally into love and care for others.
Responding to Christ, for Paul, means passing on his generosity and
openness to others and he gets quite cross when people withhold that gifting
from himself and others. For this is
Paul’s understanding of mission – the expansion of love to all – being one with
a God of love and each other.
So yet again Paul is drawing a picture of
the absolute reality of life in Christ, as he exemplifies the pain and the joy
of being big-hearted in love – pain because you are more vulnerable to hurtful
rejection when you give fully of yourself - and joy because you see the amazing
fruits of love given freely and openly.
So is big hearted love the way to go? Should we all be like Paul, larger than life,
absolutely focussed, boundless energy and answers for everything? It is what he seems like sometimes, isn’t
it? Well I think he would be horrified
at at any suggestion of cloning in that way.
He would say ‘stop looking to me but look to Christ – look to Jesus
example and teaching’. What would he say
and do, do you think?
The Gospel reading for today comes at this
concept of gifted unconditional love in a slightly different way – we hear
words like ‘be on guard’ and ‘be alert’ for that which prevents you living in
the light of Christ’s example and teaching.
In the passage from Luke we are drawn into what the kingdom of God here
on earth is to be and our place in it – we are called to hold up our heads so
that when the signs of the kingdom begin to show we can know that we have our
place in that kingdom. It seems to me
there is a very real prod here for us to examine our choices, evaluate our
past, present and future in the light of this coming kingdom of peace and
justice and hope for all. And I think
that this too is what Paul is talking about – that we can’t segment our lives,
apply love to just some people and some things and not to others. Paul too is asking us to be able to hold up
our heads and be counted for the love of the world in every part of our
lives. Not to save it for the easy and
the familiar but also to lay it out there in situations where it might just
mean huge impact on our lives, might affect who we are, might even make us
unpopular and the object of ridicule.
How about, right at this time, each one of
us were to lose some equity in our land/our houses in order that others might
know the security of being a property owner, gifting a bit of your backyard to
someone who is homeless. That is out
there! How about we buy only free or
fair trade goods, always, or own only what is locally and/or seasonally
produced - that means we lose a whole bunch of useful gadgets and tasty foods
from our lives. Might not go down too well in the house? How about we seriously challenge this
economic system we live under - that applauds individual and corporate greed,
encourages debt and equates poverty with failure? Might not do much for our
status in our community? How about we go
down to the night shelter to help out or invite strangers to our
long-anticipated family Christmas dinner or give half our clothing to those who
have none? Because the coming of the
kingdom will only happen here in this world if we invest in this big-hearted
love in a big way, if we decide in ourselves that the gifting of the Christ
child is a gift of new beginnings not just for ourselves but for all people
everywhere, that fair treatment, justice and compassion is not just something
we enjoy but that all people are entitled to.
It is then that we will be able to say that we have ‘increased and
abounded in our love for one another and for all’ so that the kingdom of God
might be known.
As we gather at the table Christ has
prepared for us today, may we remember the costly gift to the world of the
Christ child, and let us be reminded of all others who stand in need of the
tangible gifting of costly love in their lives.
Amen.
Margaret Garland
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