1 Thessalonians Study: Week 1

St. Paul window, Christ Episcopal Church, Herkimer, NY

A group from St Peter’s started a bible study this past week on Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians.  We covered 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:12.  I am grateful for the gathered group which includes some seasoned bible-readers as well as folks who are new in the faith or exploring the Bible for the first time.  That makes for a great group to look at this letter.  Paul and his ministry companions probably had to leave Thessalonica suddenly due to unrest caused by his preaching activity.  The book of Acts records this story in 17:1-10a.

We discussed the pastoral and caring tone of 1 Thessalonians.  Paul is writing to them as a loving leader who is concerned for them—especially considering that he had to leave them suddenly.  He reminds them of his loving character when he was with them, writing, “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children”—and a few verses later, “For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you….” (2:7,11-12a).

While the window from Christ Church, Herkimer shows Paul with a sword and book, instead of as a tender pastor—I thought I’d drop it in for you—its a beautiful church, and it’s where my mother was baptized and confirmed!

I chose this letter for our Advent bible study because of its tender and pastoral tone written to a community that was experiencing anxiety and affliction.  The Covid pandemic has placed many Christians—us at St. Peter’s included—in a season of anxiety as well.  The world has become unfamiliar in some ways—our ordinary ways of holding one another up in support and affection have been disrupted and challenged.  Our ways of being pastoral to one another through friendly togetherness at worship and in the normal unfolding of our life and friendships has been interrupted—and even marked with trepidation.  Paul is writing to them to pastor them from a distance, and to remind them of God’s good purposes for them.

While some of us are meeting in person for worship, others of us are not.  And some folks come to participate in our bible studies and adult education forums from quite a distance—other states, even.  Paul in this portion of the letter that we read, prominently calls on the new believers who are fresh in their faith to imitate him and imitate the Lord in their life together.  “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example…” (1:6-7a).  The loving compassion of Paul—like a nursing mother, like a father—is the kind of compassion that we hope to imitate in our own Christian life.  Paul had to do this bit of loving relationship with his new friends in Christ by letter, from a distance.  We also are learning how to maintain, and even deepen our care and concern for one another even though we are using Zoom, or meeting with masks on, or reaching out to each other in ways we never thought we’d have to use before this pandemic.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments—