Last weekend, we had a leaf-clearing morning at my church. Tools were brought and shared, paths were swept and the grass was relieved of a generous covering of leaves and twigs. Bags were filled and taken for disposal and donuts and coffee were enjoyed. Aching backs were soothed later in the weekend.
Now that the leaves are all down from the trees, passing motorists get a far better view of the mock-gothic of the church building, and all around can see the trees in a new, naked splendour with the branches twisting and almost dancing around each other as they reach up to the autumn sunlight. We can see the underlying structure that forms the basis for the familiar green shapes that will once more greet us next spring.
This weekend has seen the start of a new church year, a year that traditionally begins with the first Sunday in Advent. Advent means 'coming', and that's a good way to start the year: reminding us what belonging to a church and being a follower of Jesus really means. When Jesus left this earth at the end of His ministry here, his disciples were gazing after him; suddenly, two men in white - angels - were beside them and told them, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way ..." (Acts 1:11).
From that moment until now, and beyond, history carries us with it towards this specific point, the return of Jesus in glory, to judge and rule over the earth. We don't know - any more than did those early believers to whom Paul wrote in Greece - when He will come. However, we do know that it will be sudden (I Thess. 5:2) and we're told to be ready for his return, working to share His gospel so that others, too, can share in the blessings to come. That's what the church is all about.
Like Lent, Advent is known as a 'solemn season', a time when we pay special attention to looking at ourselves, reviewing how we spend our lives, and trying to move closer to God's ideal, the way He wants us to live. Just as we can see and measure the structure of the trees, now they haven't any leaves, so we can measure ourselves in this period of thoughtfulness. We can examine the structure of our lives and see how they fit into that eternal structure, the blueprint for which we were created.
The verses in Paul's letter that follow the one I've quoted above - indeed the whole of that first letter to the Thessalonians - are a good guide to living the Christian life. Thessalonica was the chief city of Macedonia. It lay on the Egnatian Way, the principal highway of its day, stretching from Rome to the Orient. As such, it was very much the centre of an international, cosmopolitan culture, and thus presented the infant church with a whole range of glamorous worldly temptations. Paul was well aware of this, and sought to encourage the members of that infant church as each tried to deal with all these threats to a new life as a believer in Jesus Christ.
As the preparations for Christmas dominate your life in these coming weeks, you may be looking for a 'breathing space', some relief from all the commercial pressures. I invite you to read this letter - it will only take half an hour or so - and ask yourself whether your life reflects what you say you believe ... or not. Paul, and his friends Silas and Timothy, had a great influence on the Thessalonians because they not only talked the talk ... they walked the walk.
Does your life do the same ... or is just masking the view, like the leaves on the trees?
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