What would Paul write to you?

This sermon was preached at St John the Baptist, Ermine. I spent a long time trying to find the right angle for this, and eventually decided to play with the idea of the letter - not just to preach on Thessalonians, but to see how the church would react to the idea of receiving their own letter from Paul.

I did a bit of business at the beginning with finding the letter, opening the envelope, seeing who it was from, asking if I should read it - just for setting the scene and getting people interested.

This was also the Sunday that the long-serving Vicar announced his retirement, so I wanted a sermon that said something about who the community was and would remain; that suggested that change was not necessarily destructive; and that would stay with them into the announcement to offer some hope. 

In retrospect, there are things I'd do differently, but I was pleased with the concept of the letter-from-Paul. I probably can't do it again in the same community though!

It might be a useful question to ask every so often, whether in a sermon, in a group or in reflection - what would Paul write to this community now?

Dear all the church community on the Ermine, dedicated to St John;

The Lord be with you!

You are constantly in our prayers and we thank God for you and your love for each other and for your community. Your faith in God and your hope in God’s promises lead to love that is practical and active, and we are so proud of the way you live out God’s love in the way you act as a community.

We thank God that he has called and chosen you to be his people – and we thank God that he has a plan for the Ermine, a plan that you are part of. Thanks be to God – because God knows better than us the plans he has, and God is always in control! But also, thanks be to God that we can be part of God’s plans – what a privilege it is to be God’s people together.

We can’t know the whole of God’s plan, but we can trust that God guides us to take our part in it, because we can trust that we are God’s called and chosen people. And if we want to know what that means, we can’t do better than think about God’s people in Thessalonia – a long time ago and a long way away – but still our brothers and sisters, and people we can learn from.

When I wrote my first letter to them, I gave thanks to God for them just as I do now for you. I told them they were chosen and called, and I was certain of that because of the way they had responded when he first told them about God. When I went to tell them the good news about Jesus, the people in Thessalonia responded eagerly. They were keen to hear more. And I soon saw the Holy Spirit at work in them.

They became fully convinced.

They changed their behaviour – they started to follow my example of how to lead a Christian life.

And they started to tell other people about the good news of Jesus.

When I wrote to them a few years later, I gave thanks for their faith, hope and love – and that people from cities all around them had told me how wonderful they are.

The church in Thessalonia was a beacon of God’s love to people all around – that’s what they were chosen and called to be.

And so are you.

Just look at all the people who find friendship and enjoyment and healing through Ermine Voices, and the way they find a home at St John’s. Just look at the children in the schools who encounter God through Fr Ruben, through the staff team and their assemblies, through the welcome they find here in church! Just look at the elderly people in the care homes who encounter God through people from church who go to take them communion, to lead them in Songs of Praise, who welcome them to the luncheon club every fortnight! Just look at the way the community larder has become part of the way the Ermine works. You are a beacon of love to the community, and that’s because you know you are God’s people. The work you’re doing as God’s people is part of God’s plan – for you, for the Ermine and for the whole of God’s church.

And God always calls his people to carry on growing – and you are no different. God calls us to keep on looking at him and listening for his plan – and trusting that he is faithful and his plan is good, in bad times as well as good times. Remember the church in Thessalonia – they received the word of God with joy even though it led them to persecutions and sufferings. Remember your sister churches and your brother and sister Christians all over the world who are persecuted and suffering. We can learn from them that God is faithful in bad times as well as in good. And remember that Jesus is our guide in bad times and in good.

God’s people in Thessalonia were committed to Jesus – just like you. And they tried to do what Jesus called them to do – just like you. They wanted to give God everything.

That’s what Jesus calls his people to do: to give God the things that belong to God, and that means everything!

Your brothers and sisters in Thessalonia gave God everything – they stopped being the people they had been, following the religion they’d been brought up in, when they heard God’s good news. And because they gave God everything, they were full of faith and love and hope – faith and love and hope that spilled over into their behaviour, their community, their relationships.

They gave God everything – and they realised that this meant it wasn’t just about them. What they did in church had to change what they did in their daily lives. And what they did in their daily lives, in their community, changed what their community was like. It wasn’t just about them – and it isn’t just about you. What you do as a result of your faith becomes part of God’s bigger plan. When you give God the things that belong to God, God uses what you give to build a new community. You work together with your brothers and sisters; you work together to build God’s community; you work together to bring God’s plan into being. And God works together with you to build you and them into something new. A beacon of love. A beacon of God’s light. A beacon of hope.

The church in Thessalonia knew that God is in control. When they gave God the things that belonged to God, they were taking part in God’s plan – proving that they believed that God was in control. And when you give God the things that belong to God, you are also showing your faith that God is in control.

God is in control and calls you to be part of his plan. And that means keeping doing what you are doing – keeping on showing your faith and hope in God and your love for God in everything you do in the community. But it also means keeping on listening to God – for God to show you new parts of his plan, to call you to new ways of being his people.

Lots of love,

Paul