Advent
December 7, 2018
Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:3-11
I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 1:3-6
Is Paul suggesting that if all Christ’s followers begin a good work and bring it to completion, God’s kingdom will become a reality? So what good work(s) have you got going? Have you completed and started on new good works? Have you started some and decided the timing was not right, so you set them aside for a time and worked on other good works? Has the time arrived to revisit those held back to dust them off and try again?
Doing good works takes patience, cooperation, and good timing. The Thunder (that is the Oklahoma City pro basketball team) were getting their socks beaten off in a game last night; got behind 23 points. The other team could not seem to miss a shot and the Thunder, let’s just say, were not at their defensive best. They kept playing; kept trying to win, until with the help of every member on the team working together started playing like a well-oiled machine with great assists being delivered in a timely manner to the players making shots and they won by two points in the last eight seconds of the game.
Paul is addressing the plural you in the above scripture—the whole Body of Christ called to patiently work together within the context of God’s good timing. We are to do good work as individuals and as communities of faith toward transforming our world into one ruled by love as we complete one good work at a time.
Prayer: God grant us the humility to work together as we strive for the sum of our parts to be far greater than what we can accomplish alone. Amen.