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October 16, 2005
Rumors of Faith
I Thessalonians 1:2-10
You gossip. I gossip. We all gossip, some time. We like it. It's fun. It can be helpful. A friend may be too shy to tell a need, but you pass word along and something gets done. Gossip can be destructive. A partly understood, or misunderstood deed or conversation overheard is told, retold and embellished until another innocent character lies assassinated. What we say is only part of gossip. The why of it counts, too. Some gossip to slander another. Others to call attention to themselves by telling a juicy tale. Yet others gossip for good.
Everywhere the Apostle Paul went throughout Greece and Macedonia, he kept hearing the gossip about the phenomenal turnaround in outlook and actions of the congregation at Thessalonika. Doubtless travelers to and from there started it; others picked up the word; and Paul got an earful wherever he went. The buzz was that a growing number there had given up idol-worship and had taken up serving Christ. No small thing when patriotism and religion were so closely intertwined. Paul knew all about it, the what and the why—he had started the congregation at Thessalonika. Still, he could not help but be amazed. Everywhere he went people were excited, puzzled and filled with wonder because of the congregation's faith, love and hope.
I wonder, what do you suppose people say about First Presbyterian when they gossip? Do you know? Do you sometimes wonder? Maybe not everything said about the congregation at Thessalonika was flattering. But the things that stood out, the things to be grateful for, that is what Paul relayed to them. What are the things Paul was glad to hear about the congregation at Thessalonika?
The common thread in the gossip about the Thessalonikans was that they had given Paul a tremendous welcome. They welcomed him; they welcomed his gospel. They weren't lukewarm. They were eager to hear. Eager to learn. Eager to get their hopes in focus. In faith they looked beyond themselves; in love they looked to others' interests; in hope they looked beyond their own time. They welcomed Paul and what he had to tell them of a true and living God. This time next year doubtless people will be talking about how you've welcomed your new pastor.
They turned. They turned from idolatry. They turned to serving God. We don't seem to talk much about idols or worshiping them. Scripture is pretty hard on idols. Where scripture sees danger, we are increasingly tolerant. Yet, in biblical view, idols are regular rivals to God, and idolatry embodies their competitive spirit. Old Testament prophets mock and condemn them: ". . .idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good" (Jeremiah10:5, NRSV). New Testament Christians were regularly warned against idolatry. Paul equates idolatry with greed. Nowhere in scripture are idols accorded respect; nowhere are they nor the religious mentality they represent tolerated.
Whatever we may think about idols, if we think of them at all, Paul would want us to focus on the radical, fundamental shift in loyalties among disciples. We recognize a difference between people who simply go along to get along and people who are responding to challenges to look for something finer in their lives. That's the sort of congregation Paul heard about everywhere he went: a congregation marked by faith, love and hope.
Faith, love and hope: These are Paul's favorite words for summing up Christian discipleship. Later, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul would settle on the order most familiar to us: faith, hope and love—and of the three, he would then say the greatest is love. For now, in his letter to Thessalonians, the focus is on the last of this enduring triad: hope.
Hope's roots are in faith. Paul begins by giving thanks for the "work of faith." That is not the same as a "faith that works." Christian faith is dismissed by some because it "doesn't work." Disciples don't believe God's gift of faith has to pass some pragmatic test. Rather faith tests and challenges every notion of what we think works. Does God "help those who help themselves," or does God help the helpless? Faith trusts God who helps the helpless, hapless, and hopeless. Faith that is from God in Christ does not abide idols, and does not afford them easy tolerance. Faith provides a vision for a life of service to Jesus Christ, service to Christ alone.
Faith is the new vision of new life in serving Christ. Dag Hammerskjold put it this way in his book, Markings: "I don't know who or what put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer "yes" to someone—or something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal. From that moment I have know what it means 'not to look back,' and 'to take no thought for the morrow."
A church where faith is at work is a congregation in which people are empowered to say "yes" to Jesus Christ. And having said "Yes," it is where people actually seek to practice their faith in Jesus Christ. Is that what people will be gossiping about First Presbyterian in the year to come-that this is where that "Yes" is to be heard clearly? And if, they're not, then do you think we should be giving them something to talk about?
Paul gave thanks to God for the Thessalonians "labor of love." Love puts feet on our "yes." Love looks to our neighbors, and seeks their good.
A few years back, during the winter, a sixteen year-old boy in Westbury, Long Island, was picked up for defacing a synagogue. He had gone on a Halloween tear with some friends. They sprayed obscenities on the front door while services were going on. The young man, a Roman Catholic, was caught, convicted, fined $150 and ordered to give 100 hours of service to his hometown church. His parents deplored what he had done. Their pain drew letters of understanding and sympathy from far and near. Most touching of all was a letter accompanied by a check for $1,000 to defray the family's debt for court costs and legal fees to defend their son. The check was from a Jewish lawyer in Manhattan (Ernest Campbell). The attorney gave people something to talk about. Love takes risks for others. Is that what people will be gossiping about First Presbyterian in the year to come—that this is where that "Yes" is to be heard clearly? And if, they're not, then do you think we should be giving them something to talk about?
Paul gave thanks for "steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ." For the vision of faith not to fade, for deeds of love to be sustained, takes stamina. Without hope, we cannot endure.
Imagine this scene. A very old man is planting pecan trees, seedlings. Another is watching, and saying to the aged tree-planter: "Why don't plant larger trees. You'll stand a better chance of living to see them bear at least one cup of nuts."
The old man looks at the questioner, with no particular point of focus, but with a gaze that sees through things, replied: "These small trees are cheaper and I have very little money."
"So," said his conversation companion, "you don't expect to live to see the trees mature and bear fruit?"
"No," replied the old man, "but is that important? All my life I have eaten fruit from trees that I did not plant. Why should I not plant trees to bear fruit for those who may enjoy them long after I'm gone? Besides, the person who plants only because he is sure of reaping the harvest has no confidence in life." He knew there's more to living than "what's in it for me." He had learned to hope.
Psychologist Karl Jung talked about dealing with hopelessness and depression this way: "Among all my patients in the second half of life—that is to say, over thirty-five—there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them feels ill because he lost that . . . . Jung goes on to emphasize: " . . . none of them have been really healed who did not regain his [sic] religious outlook." The church Paul gave thanks to God for is a place of hope.
Douglas Phenix, a pastor and acquaintance of mine, made the point more sharply. What was the most important thing he had told people in his pastorates? "I told them," said Rev. Phenix, "that the church you should be making is not a country club for yourselves, but a ministry you are to give away to those who come after you." Is that what people will be gossiping about First Presbyterian in the year to come—that this is where that "Yes" is to be heard clearly? And if, they're not, then do you think we should be giving them something to talk about?
Underlying all the gossip about the Thessalonian congregation was an abiding sense of wonder; wonder about the power of the true and living God; wonder about people with faith, love and hope who were eager to live free of idols; wonder about serving Christ; wonder about living for others.
God always speaks a "No" against our sin—our faithlessness, our lovelessness, our hopelessness. But God's "No" is on the way to God's "Yes" to us in Jesus Christ. God's "yes" is so that we might share the faith, love and hope that's at the heart of the gospel. The divine "Yes" is the last word.
Isn't that what we hope people hear at First Presbyterian, God's resounding "Yes?" Is that what people will be gossiping about when they mention First Presbyterian? If not, then do you think we need to give them something to talk about?
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Phone: 319-364-6148
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