Kingdom Building

November 7, 2019

Scripture Reading:
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My mother’s family lived in Springdale, Arkansas while we lived on a farm almost in the middle of Oklahoma about 200 miles away. We made a couple of trips to see them each year and my Grandmother would come by bus to spend a week or so with us every year. Long distance telephone calls were for important business or reporting very serious news like a death in the family. It was a different world than we have today with cell phones and the Internet. Driving on four or six lane interstate highways is also much faster than driving on two lane roads circling up the Ozark Mountains behind a slow-moving truck. My mother was thus a dedicated letter writer as was her mother and her two sisters. I remember running to the mailbox after seeing the mailman drive up the hill from our house. When there was a letter from “home” for my Mom, I knew she would stop everything she was doing and read it immediately, often more than once savory every word and bit of news. There was always a returning letter on our mailbox the next day with the red flag set in the upright position so the mailman would be sure and take the outgoing mail.

The time span between letters was far greater than a week when Paul was writing to the church at Thessalonica, but I feel confident the receipt of the letter was cherished not unlike my Mother’s letters from home. I also am sure those words of greeting Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ were a welcome balm as the Thessalonians dealt with major problems. While much of our work in being the Body of Christ in the world today is oriented outward, we must always remember that we are also called to care for one another and strengthen one another.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be balm to the souls of our fellow sojourners in Christ. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.