There really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to following Jesus or building up the church. The blueprints are all over scripture, and if that weren’t enough, we can read about church after church throughout history having the same struggles, the same joys, the same ups and downs that we have today. But just like those churches, we need reminders. We need constant prodding to be faithful, frequent encouragement that we aren’t experiencing anything that different from other tumultuous times in history, and a little nudging to “freshen up” our understanding of who we are from time to time.

As people come and go, the landscape changes, and what we think is common knowledge really isn’t. Therefore, in the day to day operations of the church, it’s easy to fall into being something other than the community Christ calls us to be. Even Paul’s established churches that could speak of face to face knowledge of the apostles needed to be reminded of their mission statement every couple years. The second letter to the church at Thessalonica is just such a reminder. However, the authorship of this letter is in question according to biblical scholars. Either it is written by Paul very shortly on the heels of his first letter, or it’s written by a ghost-writer Paul to dispute what the Thessalonian church had become. Since Paul’s first letter has such an immediate apocalyptic tone, this author wrote to the church to get them to calm down the fervor a bit. Rather than be a church focused so intentl y on the Second Coming, they needed to reassess what it meant for them to be a church that would follow Jesus dependent on his first appearance.

Those scholars who do bible commentary for a living can surely point out all the passages in question that perhaps indicate that this is a forgery – but the longer tradition would tell us that it doesn’t really matter. “There are no copyright laws in heaven.” Paul’s own hand or not, this letter to the church has been received as canon, as holy scripture, and as such it is to be revered as testimony to the saving grace of God.

One of the reasons for saying this is a Pauline copy rather than an original is to notice that the opening sentences of both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are indeed quite similar. They give identical greetings, offer grace and peace (something other pastors copy in letters to their churches) and then offer thanks for the gathered community in that place. Paul and his successors obviously felt very close to the Thessalonian church. It was a church to boast about. In the first letter, Paul recognizes their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. He acknowledges that they practiced their faith by becoming “imitators of Christ” and he talks about how they endured persecution and yet responded with joy from being inspired by the Holy Spirit. They loved so deeply and so completely that they were known far and wide, throughout Macedonia and Achia as an example of the true community of faith. They had completely departed from their past idols and turned their hearts to God.

In letter 2, the thanks continue. The author of that letter talks about the Thessalonian faith as “growing abundantly” and indicates that “the love of everyone of you and for one another is increasing.” It is boast-worthy that faith and love are on the rise, in spite of persecutions and afflictions that are still taking place in this new development church.

In liturgy-land, according to the suggested readings for today by the common lectionary we would stop there and skip to the part about how often the pastors pray for this church, “asking God to make you worthy of his call…so that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him.” Good stuff. We like hearing that churches can do so well – and be praised by their pastor, their community, and even those on the outside who notice the bonds of love between them. But the second letter has this section in the middle that is tempting to omit.

The middle section, verses 5-10 speaks a word of judgment to the people who are loved so much. They are reminded of the pitfalls of failing to carry out such an important mission. It’s one of the “hell” passages in scripture that we closet universalists like to avoid. God’s righteous judgment, just in case they forgot, will be afflicted, yes on those who afflict you, but it will also strike vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Thessalonian church, this would seem like a no-brainer. They were the favorite – of Paul, and of others so it seems. They didn’t need to be told about the “punishment of eternal destruction.” They were being good without further motivation. The fear factor was unnecessary. They believed, and didn’t seem like ones who would be easily swayed.

But my guess is that even though they were the church to watch, they were also a church, just like any other, that was populated by human beings with wants and desires that could lead them astray from being the church. As much as the Bible gives us indicators of what it means to carry out this mission to be faithful to the gospel, I’m grateful for the times it shares with us just how difficult it is for God’s beloved children to do so. When I read the Bible, I look for ways to see myself and to see us as a congregation in it. Like the Thessalonians: We are worthy of God’s favor. We are trusted with good news. We love one another and can choose to increase that love so that it is a noticeable gift. It’s also worth noting that the saints of this early church are thanked for weathering the persecutions are often found right alongside of being faithful. Actually living the gospel, being imitators of C hrist, is troublesome. It means confronting evil head on. It means loving those who are hard if not impossible to love. It means being honest – even with ourselves – about the times we miss the mark. It ain’t easy!

But just in case the persecutions and troubles are starting to wear the community down, the writer of this letter says that there’s a bigger price to pay for getting too far from this mission. Those who don’t know God and those who do not obey the gospel will be punished according to this text. We dance around this wording theologically all the time. Whereas some want to interpret this passage as grounds for discrimination, it’s also possible that we can treat it too casually as to not heed the warning therein. I happen to believe that there are many ways of knowing God and many paths to obeying the gospel and that defining those kinds of passages too narrowly has hurt the church. But on the other hand, I don’t think we can just avoid the warning that God will exercise judgment when we stray too far from the path.

Those prayers promised in 2nd Thessalonians are then important prayers for each and every church that is trying to follow Jesus yet today. We need prayers that we will be made worthy for this call and that we will be upheld by God’s own power in every good resolve and work of faith. The church is in need of constant reflection and renewal. It always has been. It does my heart good to see that being the case in scripture as well as in our own lives. The saints of our own past remind us of God’s steadfast love and they pray for us. They pray that we will be faithful followers of the call to love as Jesus loved. They pray that we are upheld by God’s love and God’s grace. They pray for us when the going gets tough. And they gently acknowledge that we must stay on the path or face God’s judgment. The great company of our beloved saints is our shield and our protector as we find ourselves rec eiving this news as the Thessalonians did so long ago.

We are loved by God to love one another. We are the carriers of the faith. Stay true to God’s path.

Amen.