For the next several weeks, I am going to alter my normal practice in this space, and write extended reflections on some of the shorter New Testament letters of Peter, Paul, and John.  These three apostles wrote 19 of the 27 books of the New Testament - 20 if you credit Peter with the second gospel attributed to Mark, but which many people believe came from Peter through the young Mark.  

This week I will begin with thoughts on Paul’s famous "Prison Epistle’" – also known as the Epistle of Joy for the frequency with which Paul expresses his joy in Jesus and in the believers in Philippi.   

We are introduced to the church in Philippi in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas meet a woman named Lydia, whom we are told was a merchant, soon after arriving in the city of Macedonia. Philippi therefore is considered the first city in Europe to have a Christian congregation.  Paul stayed in Philippi long enough to have been jailed there, beaten and almost killed. But he still managed to thank God as he remembered the church in Lydia’s household and their faith and care.  It’s not often we are able to pluck a good memory out of a period in our life tainted by a bad one. But Paul leads with his thankfulness for the kindness of the people. That thankfulness swelled up in him more than the wounds from his beating swelled his body.

Gratitude enlarges our hearts, and Paul shows this by the way he recalls people who were his fellow believers far more than those who rendered him harm.  

From this initial greeting, in verses 5-6 Paul regards the Philippians as his partners in the gospel – confident that that relationship will continue.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to remember other Christians and participate in the causes of Christ with other Christians.  That is why our Mission of the Month ministry means so much to me, and I am sure to you as well.  Through it, we are partners in the gospel with people we may never meet, but who rely on us for our support.  I am sure it buoys them just as the knowledge of the gospel work being done in Philippi after Paul’s departure buoyed him.  

Christians in our country tend to personalize our faith – making our faith a "me and God" experience rather than a "fellow member of the body of Christ and workers with us in the kingdom of God" experience.  Every Saturday night and Sunday morning before I emerge from my office to lead worship, my final prayers are all of gratitude to God for fellow pastors whom I have come to know and who are about to do the same thing I am about to do – preach the Word of God and administer the sacrament of Holy Communion.   I recall places and faces even if I cannot remember names, but it is a practice which helps me carry those colleagues in ministry with me into the Sanctuary.   

With Paul, we can learn to give thanks for people whom God has placed in our lives - even if those folks are long removed from us by death or distance.  The Philippian letter starts us off with that important lesson.

We’ll talk more about this great letter next week.

Thanking God as I remember you.

Pastor Ken

Hence, Christ wishes to say here: You have now heard both what kind of joy the world will have, and what kind of sorrow will be yours. Therefore, learn it and cleave to it when you meet and experience it, so that you may have patience and lay hold of true comfort in the midst of such suffering.

-Martin Luther

Sermon on John 16