This morning’s sermon takes us to the city of Thessalonica on the shores of the Aegean Sea in Macedonia.  It is around 51CE.

What drove my scripture choice today was the lectionary.  That’s the cycle of readings in the Presbyterian Church that gets us through the Bible every three years.  Most of the time in my preaching I follow these suggested readings somewhat loosely; but other times, to keep myself honest, I just close my eyes and point at one of the selected readings and choose it for Sunday; I hope this streers me to what God wants to talk about instead of what I want to talk about.  So that’s the origin of today’s sermon; we will look first at the Scripture itself, which I suspect is unfamiliar to many of you, we’ll ask what it’s about, and then we’ll see if it has anything to do with us.

You may remember that the New Testament is composed largely of letters, usually written by Paul or another early Christian leader to a church community they planted and are keeping in touch with.  Thessalonians is one of these letters, two letters actually, written some years apart.  We think the letters are by different authors, even though they both claim to be from Paul.  We think this because they express conflicting points of view on an important matter:  what the text calls “the Day of the Lord.”  The Day of the Lord:  other people will call it the Second Coming or the End of the World as we know it.  That’s what the people in Thessalonica are struggling with.  They want to know what’s going to happen when Jesus returns and the world as we know it is changed forever. Some of you may find this whole topic too esoteric or fundamentalist sounding…stick with me...

In the letters to the Thessalonians, its clear people are not in agreement about the Day of the Lord—they disagree about what it means, or when it is coming; they don’t know whether it is something to be looked forward to or something to be feared.  And this lack of agreement is having an effect on people—it’s changing their emotions and their behavior.  Some of the Thessalonians are worried about the people who died already, before the Day of the Lord and won’t be here to be gathered into God’s Kingdom.  Others are worried that maybe it already took place and they have been left behind.  Still others think the Day of the Lord is going on right now.  They wonder if evil and lawless earthly rulers in their land are the first signs of an end to come.  All of these people want to know what to do:  do I run and hide, do I rebel, do I keep my head down and just keep doing my best?  They are living in anxious times. The uncertainty about the Day of the Lord is changing how they behave with one another.

So, for those who may be skeptical about this whole conversation about the Day of the Lord, the end of the world, let me try to bring this Scripture from Thessalonica a bit closer to Observatory Avenue:

You may not have a strong opinion about the Day of the Lord; you may not have thought much at all about when or how Jesus Christ is coming back; but take a moment and consider this:  I bet most of you do have a sense, if you stop to think about it, of whether the world is getting better, or getting worse, or staying about the same; and I bet you have an opinion about exactly how desperate or immediate the situation is; and I bet you’ve noticed that not everyone else shares your opinion.  I wonder if you’ve notices that your point of view about such things has an impact on how you behave.  And in that sense, perhaps we are very much like the people of Thessalonica.

Consider for a moment the various behaviors that are possible when one is troubled by the state of the world, and curious where things are headed in the future:

I can imagine different ways this might play out:

Some folks want to get away from the situation, disengage from it.  This person could be liberal or conservative, or could have little interest in politics; but for whatever reason, they think things in the world are getting much worse and have decided to step away from the dominant culture in a range of ways.  Some of them might be literally building a bunker and arming a militia along with their friends; but alternatively they might be living off the grid as a way of protecting the environment.  There have always been folks who look at the dominant culture and want to get as far away as they can.

I can think of other folks who are less escapist and more activist.  This person looks at the world around them—maybe they thing things are getting worse, or maybe they think things are getting better,…and they want to stay in the culture and do something about it.  Again, there are different ways of going about this:  one activist might be a frequent marcher or protester, but another one might run for office, a third might make a career change or become deeply immersed in volunteering…whatever the case, the activist has a point of view about the world around them and decides to do something to change things.

A third example is one I’d classify as an everyday Jane or Joe, just trying to do his or her best. I can imagine one who may not think so much about global or social issues, but whose daily life is swept up in doing what they can do closer to home:  coaching youth sports to help shape the character of children, or caring for a parent with dementia, or dealing with their own struggle with addiction before its too late.  These people too are often troubled about the ways of the world.  There’s enough anxiety about the cost of groceries and the dismay in social media to get a person worried.  There’s balancing the needs of your boss and your family, and your own good health.  Perhaps simple daily life seems quite overwhelming, especially if you feel that you’re doing it without close friendships or community.  Some folks in this situation may be wracked with anxiety, or grief, frequently angry or depressed…  Sometimes life in this world is the way it should be.  Life just doesn’t seem right, and it feels like something needs to change.

I could go on and on.  In each of these situations, you can see the ups and downs of people doing their best in an uncertain world.

Here’s the connection:  when the letter to the Thessalonians talks about the Day of the Lord…and the confusion it is causing in the community…I wonder about the modern people I see all around me.  I see people living in a world where it seems like things are changing too fast, or they don’t know where things are headed…and the stress of it can make life in the world really hard.  Some want to escape, some have got to do something, some are just doing their best in their small corner of the world…and many of them feel lost and unsure of where things are going.

The point isn’t that one of these ways to live is the right one and the others are all wrong. The point is that for all of these different people, the letter to the Thessalonians has a common message about how to find your footing—and that’s what I will invite you to think about.

Today’s scripture is framed by these two phrases at the start and at the end.  At the beginning, the author warns:  “We beg you not to be quickly shaken [by news of the Day of the Lord…]  And then at the end it says, “…stand firm, and hold fast to the traditions you were taught by us…May…Jesus Christ and God who loved us through grace…comfort your hearts and strengthen them.”

When I read this, it says to me that in the midst of whatever uncertainties life may bring us, the love and grace of God is meant to comfort us and give us strength.  We can choose to ground our lives in that grace and love.  I observe in these days that there are escapists, and activists, and everyday Joes and Janes, some who are feeling completely lost, anxious and at sea these days; and there are others who are feeling secure, grounded, and ready to stand firm and hold fast for what may come.  The letter to the Thessalonians says that trusting God is the difference.

I often suggest to you something that may not be easy to hear but at least its honest:  that religion is not going to solve your problems; but I do think it can help us navigate our struggles.  Faith invites you to think about life through the lens of a God who creates us out of love and calls us to love one another.

It seems to me that regardless of whether you are a bunker builder, or an activist, or simply trying to do your best, you have the opportunity to ask yourself a big question:  how does my faith ground me for life in the world, so that I can withstand the stresses of the world changing around me?  What are my values, what are the beliefs at the core of my being, what is the tradition that has taught them to me?  These are questions of religion, and this grounding in our traditions is what sustains us as people of faith.

This sort of getting back to basics is the work we will be doing here at Knox in the first half of next year, through our sermons and education, and in a variety of other means…we’re going to spend some time thinking about the basics of our tradition that are supposed to ground us for life in the world.

We plan to do this through a very traditional model:  one built on what Christians call the Trinity.  First, with God the Creator:  what does it mean to live a life shaped by the belief that God created the world, called it good, and loves every human person?  Then with Jesus Christ the Son:  What does it mean to believe that God came into the world to be with us, to guide us, and to show us forgiveness and grace?  And finally, what does it mean to believe in the Holy Spirit—the presence of God that remains with us in the world, sustaining us as we care for one another, and live lives of justice and mercy?  These are big questions.  We’ll spend six months on them.  That will be a start.

Here we are called to build a life grounded on these basic beliefs of our tradition, so that even in the midst of a changing world, with all its fears and anxieties, we need not fear the Day of the Lord, and can stand firm and hold fast.

Across time and space, 2000 years and halfway around the world, we are connected with the people of Thessalonica, who struggled as we do, wondering about the future of the world.  God’s Word to us is the same as to them…  whether our gut is telling us to escape, or to act boldly out in public, or to keep doing the best they can among the things that are ours to change, the Word to us is the same: Stand firm and hold fast.  We pray that Jesus Christ will give us comfort and good hope, and strengthen us in every good work and deed.  Amen.