1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
(Common English Bible)
Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every
situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
November 9th, 1985 is a day that I will always remember
Just like this year, it was a Saturday
I was a student at Duke Divinity School and serving two
wonderful congregations in rural Western North Carolina --- Richfield and New
Mt Tabor.
Richfield was a town of 225 people,
had a flashing light, gas station with a convenience store, post office, school
and hardware store --- and two United Methodist congregations.
I was getting ready to have a lock-in for the youth of the
two churches that evening at my house
Games were
planned
Dinner and
snacks were arraigned
A hayride and
bonfire were to be the highlight of the evening
I was anticipating a dozen or so youth and a couple of
adults to help
Late that afternoon my phone rang
Remember,
there were no cell phones in those days
As I answered the phone, an operator on the other end said: "I
have a collect call from Fred Conger, will you accept the charges?"
That is a
blast from the past
But a collect call from a father to his student son is not a
good sign
Of course, I
said yes
As he came on the phone he said to me (and I will never
forget these words):
"The doctor has said, that if
you want to see Stewart before he dies, you need to head home."
What was I to do?
I had the youth coming to my house
And (I obviously was a lot younger back then) I had to
preach at both churches the next morning.
I remember stammering and not knowing what to do or say
I remember nothing about the lock-in that night, except one
thing
During the hayride,
as I stared up into the sky, I saw a shooting star
As a child, my mother would read
to us, --- and at that moment I recalled the story of the Little Match Girl by
Has Christian Anderson
Nancy and I were dating at the time, and her mother drove
her to the Richfield Church that morning and after the service was over --- we
got in my car and began the journey to Downers Grove, IL
After Stewart died, I have to admit I was in a funk
I finished Divinity School and began as the pastor of Pretty
Lake Trinity UMC just outside Plymouth Indiana on January 1, 1986 with a heavy
heart and plenty of doubts
During my devotions, I came across the little prophetic book
of Habakkuk, and found myself drawn to Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians.
Paul writes to the community at Thessalonica probably toward
the end of 51 CE, and is quite possibly his earliest letter.
Paul had left Thessalonica abruptly after a rather brief
stay --- Luke tells us the story in Acts 17.
The community, of Thessalonica, was left with little
external support in the midst of persecution.
·
Paul was wanting to encourage the new converts
in their trials,
·
to give instruction concerning godly living and
·
to give assurance concerning the future of
believers who die before the Christ returns.
The letter ends with Paul offering instruction on how the
community is to live.
And in that last section he writes:
Be cheerful no matter what; pray
all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you
who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
(1 Thes. 5:16-18 The Message)
or from the Common English Bible
Rejoice always. Pray continually.
Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ
Jesus.
The devotion, I was reading, ended with Reinhold Niebuhr's
prayer that many of us are familiar with:
God, give me grace to accept with
serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to
peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all
things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy
in this life,
And supremely happy with You
forever in the next.
Amen.
Give me the grace to accept the things that I cannot change
I battled with that phrase --- because quite frankly --- I
wasn't yet ready to accept the fact that Stewart was dead.
But slowly ---
Maybe because my older brother
couldn't accept the reality of Stewart's death and went into hiding.
Maybe because the role of the
eldest son was thrust on me at that moment, and my parents needed me to accept
the reality that their youngest son had just died.
I really don't know --- but for whatever reason, I began to
accept the reality that Stewart was dead --- and as I did --- Paul's words kept
ringing in my heart
Rejoice always. Pray continually.
Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ
Jesus.
How does one rejoice at a loss --- at a death?
You have all
been there
You
have lost siblings, spouses, parents, friends, and yes children
And I remember --- as if it were yesterday --- when I read
Habakkuk that it all clicked
I don't rejoice over a life that ended --- I rejoice over a
life that was lived
Paul does not tell us to rejoice FOR every situation ---
Paul tells us to rejoice IN every situation
God does not cause the bad things to happen in our lives
But what Paul is asking us --- is
in the midst of the hard things --- what are we going to do with it?
Are
we going to let it make us bitter, or will it make us better?
And Paul is asking:
What is it
there in this situation for which you can give thanks to God?
Brittany Hughes tells the story of Martin Rinkart --- you
probably have never heard of him.
Born to a poor coppersmith on April
23, 1586 in Eilenburg, Germany, Rinkart was determined to be a minister. He
managed to scrape up enough money to put himself through the University of
Leipzig, where he studied theology. After years of hard work, Rinkart was asked
to return to his hometown as a Lutheran clergyman.
One year later, ignited by a
religious conflict-turned-political feud, the Thirty Years’ War exploded across
Europe.
A walled city, Eilenburg quickly
became a place of refuge for thousands of frightened and displaced Germans
fleeing the devastating conflict. The sudden overcrowding caused widespread
food shortages, and starving residents soon began fighting in the streets for
dead cats and birds.
On top of the famine,
densely-packed humanity and filth soon led to an outbreak of plague. Rinkart
and the three other town pastors began officiating ten or more funerals a day
-- each. One overwhelmed pastor eventually fled and two others died, leaving
Rinkart the sole minister in the desperate and overpopulated city.
Alone, Rinkart was tasked with
burying up to 50 people a day, including his own wife. By the end of the
ordeal, he’d conducted nearly 4,500 funerals. The dead eventually became so
numerous they had to be buried in mass trenches without services.
In the face of overwhelming
pressure, constant risk and horrendous conditions, Rinkart never stopped
ministering to the people of his city. He gave away nearly everything he owned
to the poor and needy, though he could barely clothe and feed his own children.
After nearly thirty years of
ceaseless struggles, it began to look like peace was within grasp. Wanting to
give his children a song to sing to God in thanks at the dinner table, Rinkart
sat down and composed what would become one of the most well known Thanksgiving
hymns of all time.
Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother's arms,
Hath led us on our way,
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
My experience has taught me that the very act of praising
and thanking God in the midst of suffering helps to lift us out of the pit of
misery and into the loving embrace of God.
"Even though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death --- You are with me"
God's love for us is unconditional
How many
times have I said that over these last three years?
But just in case you didn't hear me, let me say it again
God's love for us is unconditional
--- that is the love that Jesus demonstrated in his life.
God never said --- I will love you IF . . .
I
will love you WHEN . . .
God says: I LOVE YOU
I am convinced that one of the goals of the Christian life
is to get to the point where we can give God thanks and praise in every
situation --- despite whatever pain and suffering we might be going through.
However, while God's love for us is unconditional
Our love and gratitude back toward God is often very
conditional
We bargain
with God --- I will love you IF . . .
I
will love you WHEN . . .
Our love and gratitude to God is frequently conditioned on
how things are going in our lives.
When things are good --- with our families, our business,
our relationships, our church community, etc. we are eager to give God our
thanks and praise
But when the storms of life rage --- when things don't go
like we planned --- we often find little reason to give God our thanks and
praise.
Paul want to teach us that we must practice unconditional
gratitude --- and give God thanks and praise in every situation of life.
In a few minutes --- we are going to remember the lives of
the saints of Meridian Street United Methodist Church, who have gone on to
their eternal home. And I am sure you
have many other people on your minds and hearts today --- I know I do.
I want you to take a moment, and offer God thanks
thanks for
them and their lives
for
how they intersected with yours
and for how God is making you a
better person because you knew them
Silence
We give thanks O God, for those who have blessed our
lives. May we see the blessing and be
thankful. Teach us unconditional
gratitude so that we might give thanks IN every situation. Amen.