Pastor's Ponderings: New Bible Study on Paul’s 1st letter to the Thessalonians (March 24, 2025)

March 25, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians

Good morning my dear friends in Christ. As I write this morning, Gail is in her knee surgery. Please keep her and her doctors in your prayers for success as they work to replace and repair her knee. And please remember Teri as she awaits her appointment with a new Orthopedic surgeon on Friday. Please pray that they have good news for her about the hip replacement surgery and that the cost for this new surgery will be covered. In times of continued division in our nation, pray for peace, fairness, and kept promises that social security, low-income aid for housing and medical care, and SSI coverage will continue to provide stability in the lives of so many people in our nation. In the midst of all of this stress, anger, and frustration, pray that our center in Christ will sustain us and fill us with the hope that is ours through His powerful love for all of His children. Firebombings of car dealerships in our nation are not the action of those of us who love Christ as our Savior, but our fervent prayers are indeed the action of truly faithful people who seek fairness and justice. Christ has already made it clear that He is the only one who rightfully judges His creation and all of its children. Guided by His Spirit we shall know how to move in the face of sin and brokenness, and faithlessness. May we all begin by seeing the model for the fullness of life which the LORD desires for all of us, in the person and in the Living Word, Jesus Christ.

Today we begin our study of Thessalonians. From the beginning of this letter, we get the feeling that the people in Thessalonica must really be together. What Paul often encounters in his journeys is that there are only a few in each community which he visits who find themselves moved by the strange message of a man who died and came back to life, and that, in combination with the Jewish history and traditions.  Evidently, in this community about 200 miles north of Athens, a bustling sea port, there really only are a few who are moved by Paul's presentation of the Gospel message, but by the power of the Holy Spirit they are really moved to not only hear, but to have their lives filled with hearts and minds which are transformed in ways that few of them would have thought possible.  The power of the Spirit is immense, fully God and fully Spirit at the same time. All of this is in much the same way as we speak of the divinity and humanity of Jesus, fully divine and fully human at the same time. I have had that same experience a number of times in my life, just as Thessalonians did, and it is powerful and emotionally potent, moving me to tears of joy and wonder when the Spirit's action comes to me at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.  Yesterday, as I practiced piano at home on our Yamaha Studio piano, I happened to pull out a Spring compilation of Christian Music book in which I have spent little time in the past years. The music in it is from 2008, and I have many other books that I usually work from to prepare preludes. I began to play a piece that I played back then, and in the center is a most complicated part of the music, with full cords and difficult parts, my hands and skill fells back into place, and I was deeply moved that through the Spirit, I was able to play, hear, and respond emotionally to what, and how, my fingers and vision moved together so powerfully after all of this time.  As I ended the piece I wept and gave thanks to God for such an unusual and powerful Spirit led experience. You should know that often happens to me when I sit and page by page go through the Hymnals and other music that we use at worship, songs that I have played for years move my heart in new and special ways. When I stop playing it is not out of frustration, but instead out of joy and wonder, knowing that text writers and composers knew Christ in the same way, and I understand exactly what Paul is speaking of here in these early verses of chapter one of First Thessalonians that these newest Christians have experienced in their lives.  For me it is the same way that the Spirit is so alive in my preaching. Guided in my early reading of the Sundays Scriptures that are ahead in the coming weeks, and perhaps even a month or two in advance, l am guided to a part of the passages that sets me to focus on a particular part or verse as it relates to the themes for that particular Sunday.  At that I await the arrival of the sermon title, and from there I let the Spirit guide me to shape a message that speaks the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and His love for us, and in all of that happening, I must trust with awe and wonder at how the Spirit shapes my experiences as all of this continues to move my heart allowing the Gospel to speak to my need and the needs of all of us in the church, and beyond, filling the hearts of all who hear with that very same powerful Spirit-presence that has first moved me, and moves my words as I preach about His Love for us all. I know that this was the experience of this new community of Christians in Thessalonica too, and it was Paul's life, transformed by the Holy Spirit, through whom Paul's message transformed those who were Spirit-moved to receive it. This made all the difference in the lives of these new Christians, and today, it happens to the new in faith, and for us long timers in our faith journeys, who can still be, and often are, moved by such loving power. The story of Paul's imprisonment before his journey to Thessalonica is told in the Acts of the Apostles 16 and 17.  But his much more powerful story happens in the greeting and joy in the new faith of these people in Thessalonica whose changed lives and faith will now continue to do the work of the Gospel no matter where they are.  Though Paul was not long in Thessalonica, having heard the Christ's message from Paul for their lives, they were called to faith, love, and hope, in all of the places in which they might be challenged, and in the places where the mutuality of their strong faith strengthened their sisters and brothers whose lives had also been moved by the Spirit.  Like Paul, I too have found the power of joy, love, and hope in the Spirit's service in which our congregation has journeyed. Do not tire of service for the sake of the Gospel in all of the good things to which the Gospel and Spirit guides us.

With Love in Christ, and joy in the work of His Spirit, Pastor Kim

I am taking next Monday and Tuesday off to take care of our taxes for last year. I will be back with you for the Psalm Study on Thursdays as scheduled.