1022 Reflection -- 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Upcoming Sunday Epistle Readings

Sunday 22 October 2017

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

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Paul gives thanks for the faithful to whom he writes for their steadfastness in faithfulness and their sharing in the Gospel with Paul and all others.  We should take note of this.  How often do we give thanks for the faith of fellow brothers and sisters?  I dare say not enough!  Perhaps Paul can inspire us here to go and do likewise in our own day and generation. 

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Father Timothy Alleman

1015 Reflection -- Philippians 4:1-9

Upcoming Sunday Epistle Readings

Sunday 15 October 2017

Philippians 4:1-9

My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

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Paul calls on the Philippians to rejoice.  They are to give thanks for the nearness of the Lord.  Remember how the previous chapter ended also.  It is not merely the near presence that causes rejoicing.  Paul, it seems, is also calling the faithful to rejoice in the fact that they belong to Christ.  So also we should rejoice, for we too belong to Christ.  We have received an inheritance of eternal life through Christ who has broken into our midst to claim us for God.  That inheritance, and the joy it brings, enable us to bring our joys and concerns, and all other emotions and needs that we have, longing for Christ to hear and to respond for our good, and the good of the whole earth.

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Father Timothy Alleman

1008 Reflection -- Philippians 3:4b-14

Upcoming Sunday Epistle Readings

Sunday 8 October 2017

Philippians 3:4b-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

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Paul lists his credentials, and they are quite impressive to be sure.  There are moments where Paul could be accused of boasting about himself.  In this case, as soon as Paul has listed his credentials, he throws away all the status points which he just referenced.  All of these things that are signs of his pedigree Paul refers to as rubbish compared to the identity that marks not who he is but rather whose he is as a follower of Jesus Christ.  This is a powerful statement, even an offensive statement.  When Paul speaks of rubbish, he is not merely speaking of garbage.  He is speaking of human waste, of excrement.  And he is doing so in a rather crude way that some would refer to as vulgar.

This image brings to mind for me the passage in Zechariah in which Satan, the accuser, is bringing accusations upon Israel and the high priest, Joshua.  God rebukes the accuser and calls the heavenly beings who have witnessed these accusations to tend to the high priest, to remove from him the soiled rags and to clothe him in rich robes that he might stand in the purity of God and minister to the people in the name of God.  And as he does so, the dirty rags of all the people of God are exchanged for clean garments given by God.

For Paul, his credentials are as the dirty rags of Joshua the high priest.  Dare I say that Paul, a Pharisee, would have known this text well.  The apostle is aware that he has been clothed in Christ, and thus all his credentials are worthless in comparison with the power of Christ’s resurrection that has transformed Paul and commissioned him to proclaim the Gospel.  Nothing else matters apart from belonging to Jesus.

It is good for us to hear this, for it applies as much to us as it does to Paul.

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Father Timothy Alleman