What a beautiful question! The church at Thessalonica was a “good church,” the one for whom Paul seemed to have the most affection. My study Bible describes his letter is described as warm and pastoral. He calls the people there “the children of the light” and even as he offers them instruction, he feels touched by them, offering at the close of the letter that they greet one another in his name with a holy kiss.

The church in many segments these days gets far less of a warm reception. Very few Paul’s and Timothy’s are out there suffering on behalf of the church. More often we get the stories in the news of pastors behaving badly and churches who never suspected their leaders of such character flaws. Even close to home, the Committee on Ministry in this Presbytery is no stranger to churches in trouble – from untrustworthy pastors to small churches digging in their heels to try to perpetuate what they’ve always known. The church is not well loved, certainly not from the outside, and it doesn’t get much respect from the inside either. The bean counters who watchdog church statistics tell us that mainline churches these days are not losing members as we might think to more fundamentalist type churches, but our big drop offs are attributed mostly to those who opt out of church life altogether. Good people who want to worship God are frustrated with fighting infrastructures at the larger levels and waning commitments at the local levels.

What will it take for religious leaders to love the communities of faith that they serve? And what will it take for those communities to be loveable? Certainly, the church at Thessalonica wasn’t perfect. Paul, even after his loving comments, said that he was hoping to see them again face to face to restore what was lacking in their faith. He knew that they were pilgrims together on the journey, and perfect adherence to the gospel is something he would say can only be grasped through a glass darkly. They were not Super-Christians. They didn’t even have the Jewish background that some of his other communities of faith could draw from to help them learn.

So what did they have? This is considered the earliest letter of Paul, and as such the earliest communication set down in the New Testament. And in this text, fresh from the first written words about following Jesus, what does Paul talk about? Right relationships! We get bogged down these days with words like purity and holiness – but Paul uses these words to make the point that we please God when we live in peace and harmony with one another. It’s important how we treat each other. It’s important that we don’t objectify or bring bodily harm to another. It’s important not to repay evil with evil, but to do good to one another and to all. It’s important to rejoice, to give thanks, to pray. It’s important to test religious words, but also to hold fast to what is good.

The Thessalonians apparently practiced what Paul preached. They were intentional about their community with one another. They may have needed further theological instruction or additional guidance from time to time. Don’t we all? So Paul also gave them much to think about when he talked about this anticipated time of the apocalyptic coming of the Lord which he felt was imminent. But basically, Paul acknowledged that they were good people trying to live a life according to this model that Jesus sets before us. I think that’s what being the church is all about!

One particular community of faith got some good press recently that might help us out who happen to believe that “church” still can be a good place for the formation of human beings. Shortly after the horrific killings that happened in an Amish school, a story broke that left the usual writers of religious news scratching their heads. One of the families who had lost a daughter invited the widow of her daughter’s killer to attend the funeral. This was not done in order to “rub it in” but to communicate that forgiveness and love are more powerful than hate ever can be. Those of us who are parents cringe a little. But those of us who are Christian can at least in part understand that God’s love truly can do all things.

Do I love the church? I certainly do. There are days, a lot of Presbytery meeting days especially, when I wonder how or why, and there are days when I heartily echo Paul’s words, “How can I thank God enough for all of you?” Christian believers have much we can teach each other about goodness, and kindness, and respect, and love.

I love this church because you have taught and are teaching me so much. You are doing the kinds of things Paul is talking about when you treat one another as the holy and precious people that you are. You are enacting Christ’s vision of his body at work in the world when you return no one evil for evil, but hold on to that which is good. You are capable of setting the kind of example that the Thessalonians did or that the Amish community did. That’s when the church turns heads for all the right reasons!

I’ll end with Paul’s charge for it is my charge and blessing for you also, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as I abound in love for you. May God strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

Amen.