Sunday, November 10, 2019

Lectionary 32C/ Proper 27

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-5, 13-17

Friday morning I had a meeting in Greenville and I didn’t check the address, and sure enough when I arrived, I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. It was ok; I was close and I got where I was going despite the disruption. Then, that afternoon as I was driving over to the church to meet folks to go to the high school and feed the football players, coaches and trainers my car acted up. It had been chirping at me every now and then and I knew the noise had gotten louder that morning, but as I was driving here, I decided I better stop at the garage and make sure it was safe. The good news is it was. And I got where I was going despite the disruption.

My dad calls moments like these when you are trying to live your life and you are thwarted by random obstacles “Screwtape moments.” You may remember me telling you about “Screwtape” before. He is a character that theologian C.S. Lewis portrays as a highly placed assistant to Satan in his book The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape corresponds with his nephew “Wormwood” as he directs the younger inexperienced demon to corrupt a young man he knows.

“Screwtape moments” are one way of thinking about the discouraging, nonsensical and chaotic moments that happen in life, but underlying any comical elements is an acknowledgement that the devil and evil are real. “Old Scratch” is another nickname given to the devil. Both Screwtape and Old Scratch embody evil in ways that modern enlightened thinking is quick to dismiss, because in our “secular age” we live in a largely “disenchanted world” where “talking about the Devil is more and more awkward” and more “like telling a story about ghosts, alien abduction, or Bigfoot.” [i] But if we name the existence of forces that work against God, the powers and principalities of this world that perpetuate evil, then, as Rev. Dr. Barbara Blodgett notes, “[we can ] take all the more comfort in the One who saves us from them.”[ii]

When Paul writes his second letter to the church in Thessalonica, he describes the presence of evil in the world in yet another way.

Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and the people in the church there were converted Gentiles, but there were others in the city who did not believe in Jesus Christ and persecuted the Christians.[iii] Paul who had first traveled to Thessalonica after a rough reception from the people in Philippi regarded the Thessalonians with affection that we hear clearly in his first letter.

Now he has heard that they are suffering, and he writes to them to reassure them, to remind them of the promises of their faith, and to comfort them. In this letter, he describes “the lawless one” and the presence of rebellion against God and deception by the ones who are against God. (v. 1-5)

Although the western church does not experience the kinds of oppression that existed in the first century Christian church, we do not have to look that far back in history or even in today’s headlines to see evidence of destructive evil and suffering in the world.

This weekend marks the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, during which Nazi soldiers executed pogroms or destructive violence against Jewish communities throughout Germany and other annexed states. The troops torched synagogues, businesses, schools and homes and thirty-thousand Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.[iv] The destruction is remembered as “the night of broken glass” and its memory continues to bear witness to the shattering of Jewish life that happened during the Holocaust years.

Paul’s encouragement to the Thessalonians is not to deny the presence of evil, but to remember the promises of faith in spite of it.

Paul tells the church, “Don’t fall for deceptions or false truths or be misled.” The Lord Jesus Christ — the incarnation of the Living God, the Lord of our lives and the Messiah or Savior of the world — is the One who loves us, and by His grace, comforts us and gives us hope.

Remember that you are called  to faith by Jesus Christ. Have confidence in the faith you have received, a faith rich with God’s promises, not that evil won’t manifest, but that it will not prevail.

That same promise is ours today. Evil will not prevail.

Kristallnacht is not the only anniversary being remembered this weekend. Thirty years ago the border dividing East and West Berlin in Germany was opened. What is now remembered as “the day the wall came down” began as a political announcement removing barriers that had obstructed the movement of people between the two states, but it quickly escalated into the removal of the physical wall as people chipped away at it to collect souvenirs and bulldozers moved in.

While most of us remember the day the wall came down in Berlin, what many of us might not have known is that seven years earlier, the people at Nicolai Church, a Lutheran church in the East German city of Leipzig began holding prayer services. People, numbering in the hundreds, came together every Monday night, gathering to pray for peace and democracy in the divided country.

When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was in East Berlin on October 7, 1989 to celebrate the East German state’s fortieth anniversary, pro-democracy demonstrations were put down with force.

But two days later, there were 2,000 or so inside Nikolai Church for the Monday prayer meeting, and when those two thousand went outside, they joined tens of thousands waiting with candles in their hands.

Pastor Christian Führer recalls, “Two hands are necessary to carry a candle and to protect it from extinguishing so that you cannot carry stones or clubs at the same time.” So, though there were some arrests, and the East German military units were on alert, there was no massive display of force.

What had begun as a few hundred gathering at the Nikolai Church had swelled to more than 70,000, all united in peaceful opposition to the communist regime.

The following week, 70,000 became 120,000.

And then 120,000 became 320,000.

They laid their candles on the steps of East German secret police headquarters and, waiting, they prayed and sang.

And thirty years ago on November 9, the Berlin Wall fell and East and West Germany began to find a new way forward together.

The Good News from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is that the hope we have in Jesus Christ is not in vain. As Christians, we are not defeated by this world or the evil in it. But we aren’t called to ignore it either. Reflecting on this text, Presbyterian pastor Neta Pringle writes, “God
wants to find us at work for those things that are dear to the heart of God.” [v]

Forces that defy God and powers of this world that rebel against God continue. Even as we recognize veterans for their service this morning during worship, it’s estimated that nationally 20 veterans complete suicide every day and 46,000 veterans are homeless.[vi] [vii] Heart-breaking evil persists and humankind suffers.

As Christians we are called to respond to the suffering we witness, and not with “a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love…”[viii] God wants us to live out our baptismal covenant where we promised to serve all people following the example of Jesus and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”[ix]

Here, Paul reminds us that we are not defeated, and we are not helpless. We are Christ’s church, called to bear God’s love and mercy, comfort and hope into the world.

Let us pray…
Holy Comforter,
Thank you for your grace, love and mercy known through You Son Jesus, the incarnation of the living God, Lord of our lives and Savior of the World.
By your Spirit empower us to bear hope into the world, confident Your light will dispel any darkness.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

[i] Richard Beck. Reviving Old Scratch. xv.
[ii] Barbara Blodgett. “2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17.” David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle Locations 9938-9939). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[iii] Robert Brusic, Matt Skinner. “Thessalonica.” Enterthebible.org. Luther Seminary. https://www.enterthebible.org/newtestament.aspx?rid=13, accessed November 9, 2019.
[iv] “Kristallnacht.” History.com. A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/holocaust/kristallnacht, accessed. November 9, 2019.
[v] Neta Pringle. “2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17.” David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle Locations 9984-9985). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[vi] https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/09/26/suicide-rate-spikes-among-younger-veterans/, accessed November 9, 2019.
[vii] http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/#facts, accessed November 9, 2019.
[viii] 2 Timothy 1:7
[ix] Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA. 236.

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