Living in the Spirit

October 20, 2023

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

This letter to the Thessalonians is believed to be the first of Paul’s letters that have been published. He writes to a congregation suffering persecution while still holding tight to their faith. We are living in very troubling times right now with wars in both Ukraine and the Middle East. With Russia and China coalescing to strengthen their power in the world, our faith communities shrinking rather than growing and being challenged with the blending of worldview and faith for greed and lust for power. People who are crying out that we are being indoctrinated into misguided beliefs are the ones doing indoctrination. One of the USA’s founders, Thomas Paine said it this way: THESE are the times that try men’s souls, women‘s too.

These are the times we must turn even more toward God’s loving guidance and hold on to the hope promised in the development of God’s Beloved Community, as the people of Thessalonica did in the first century. God’s vision for us was right on then and is right on today.

Prayer: Lord, guide us to build the Beloved Community in times like these.  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.