Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 (April 28, 2025)

April 28, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10

Dear Ones in Christ,

Good morning on this wonderfully unusual cool Monday morning. Today please keep our members in Hawaii – Kandice, Lisa, and Alexis – in your prayers. They join us for worship every Sunday via the internet. Pray for Kandice and her battle with cancer. I have been praying for her to have the best quality of life possible as she goes through this health crisis. Please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in the Catholic church as they now deal with their grief in the loss of their pope, Francis, and as their cardinals prepare to select a new leader. Pray for the Spirit's presence to create in the college of cardinals a willingness to move beyond their own desires, and that they will select the pope who she guides them to select. (Spirit in the book of Genesis is feminine.) Pray for our congregation that the hearts and minds of our members will move them to more active participation in Christ's Church, the Body of Christ, and that every one of our lives will be filled with the Spirit's gifts of compassion and love for all people.  I thank God for each and every one of you!

Yes, it is still Easter. Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! This passage from 1st Thessalonians is about the return of Timothy who has traveled back to Thessalonica as the representative of Paul. The news that Timothy brings back to Paul is an affirmation of Paul's work there, and the staying power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this passage it really sounds like Paul is in a circumstance which has been most difficult for him. He needed to hear some encouraging news about the staying power of the faith through which he came to the Thessalonians. When Timothy returns to share his news with Paul, we find Paul giving thanks to God for the success of his ministry with these new Christians, and for their lasting faith. Paul does this more than once as he responds to the courage and strength of the Thessalonian's faith lives. It is obvious that they have modeled their own lives of faithful and thankful service on the model which Paul had become for them. It never ceases to amaze me about the connection of this passage for today with the message of my sermon yesterday at worship. My sermon title was "Me, the Body of Christ?"  Of all of the things we think we have learned about Paul, the most important thing is that his conversion experience was complete and life changing. Though we have not been caught in a storm or struck blind to be guided into the hosting of an unknown man, we too really do know that power of the abiding love of God for our lives through Jesus Christ. However, in our modern culture today, I feel like we sometimes find it too stressful to claim the One to whom we belong, who has saved us from our sin, and presented us with the most extraordinary gift of Salvation. Even the last enemy had no power over Him, and now, in our faith journey we come to understand that victory is ours too!  This is the power of the Gospel which we, and Paul, preach. It is all about faithfulness and trust. When I tell you that I pray for you, I want you to know that I am praying with a fervor and joy for your life of faith, praying also with thanksgiving to Christ for the power of His Love to transform your life, and mine!  I am certain that there are those who believe in their hearts that my ministry of 34 years in your midst is too long, but you must know that I always feel that there is so much more that Christ has called me to teach in our setting about the love of Christ, and the outreach of our hands and hearts, because we are unable to resist helping others, bringing them to know the Christ of our own hearts and lives.  It is really important for us to be able to read how the teacher and the students were affected by the power of the Gospel. Pastors have never arrived complete in their knowledge of all of Christ's Grace, Faithfulness, Love, and Compassion. We are the shepherds of the sheep of Jesus Christ, and the pastoral joy in the Gospel of God's love in Jesus Christ for all people is in our words and deeds in this gift of life with which we have been blessed. The call of Christ to proclaim and serve is on all of us!

Thanks for letting me share with you this morning.

In Christ's love, Pastor Kim