Coming Up Sunday, July 12

This Sunday, we will continue our study of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonian church. Having looked at Paul's extended introduction to the letter the past few weeks, now we will consider Paul's specific recommendations to the church.

This week's sermon has developed in a different way than I expected, so I have changed the scripture lesson and the sermon title from what has been published. Now the text will be 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, and the title is "Speak Softly...". The lesson focuses on connected instructions from Paul -- not to engage in unhealthy relationships among themselves and to live quiet, hard-working lives.

Both of these directions seem concerned with preventing the Thessalonians from drawing the attention of the governing officials. Paul is greatly concerned with encouraging the church in the face of growing persecution -- including the threat of more persecution in the future. So he tells them to not draw attention to themselves, to live simply and productively. He also tells them not to do things that will lead others to gossip about them, especially in their relationships with each other (an allusion, likely, to sexual relationships, or even the appearance of sexual relationships).

We live under very different circumstances than the Thessalonians. Christians dominate the American culture, so there is rarely danger of persecution for religious practice or profession. And 2000 years of teaching have convinced the wider world that all this talk about Christian love is distinct from romantic and/or sexual relationships. So the question arises: Are we still supposed to keep our heads down and live quiet lives?

On Sunday, we'll consider what our reputation as Christians is today and whether we should be happy with that general reputation or not.