Second Sermon at St. Paul's

Year B, Advent 3, RCL
I Thessalonians 5:16-24

“Do not quench the spirit”, Paul wrote these words to the church at Thessalonica nearly two thousand years ago. I’d say this advice is still pretty good in our day. Think about it, Paul’s advice can apply to any facet of life, any situation we may find ourselves in, any of life’s happy accidents or tragic tales. One of the best things we have, one of the best things we can take with us into any and all situations that life may present us with is a sense of the spirit. That mysterious person of the trinity whom Jesus himself promised to us, his disciples, his apostles, his prophets, to all the members of the Body of Christ. He promised the Spirit to guide and teach and strengthen us. He promised the spirit so that we might not become lost or fall away from the church while we await his coming again and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven. As we await his second advent we would do well, Paul says, to not quench the spirit.
After Jesus’ ascension the early Christian’s expected his return rather quickly. They did not know when he would return, but they did expect his return within their lifetime. If you remember, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples “there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”. The belief that Jesus would come again within their lifetime is easy to understand in light of Jesus’ own teaching.
Imagine the anxiety of these early Christian’s, these men and women who put everything on the line for their belief, for their hope in the return of Jesus, as they awaited his return. Imagine this anxiety building as people they know continue to die, some of whom may have even heard Jesus himself say that they would not taste death before seeing the kingdom. I can almost feel their anxiety myself.
This is the context for today’s epistle, for Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians. Their anxiety and fear is beginning to overcome them as they question, when will the Lord return? How much longer must we wait? How many more of our loved ones must we see pass away before this all comes to be? Beyond the loss of loved ones, the questions and anxiety of these early Christians were also fueled by the social conditions of their times. Thessalonica did not exactly warm up to Christianity that quickly. When Paul and Silas were first evangelizing there, they had to be ushered out in secret in the middle of the night for fear of what might be done to them if they stayed.
These early Christian’s in Thessalonica had much reason to desire the return of Jesus, for in returning he would usher in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom, which years later, Paul described as “righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit”. This is what Jesus’ return meant to the early Christians, righteousness, peace and joy. And the fact that Jesus had not returned yet, contrary to what they understood his teachings to mean, scared them. They were yearning for righteousness and peace and joy… but what if Jesus might not return? What if they had been wrong?
So Paul wrote to the Thessalonians explaining that the Lord will return and that those who have died in Christ will not be forgotten but they will rise and be with Christ. Those who are still alive will then be joined up with them, and we will all be with the Lord forever in the kingdom of heaven. There will be righteousness and peace and joy forever.
Now, today, looking back we know that Jesus did not return within the lifespan of those who were present for his earthly ministry. And yes, we can find those who believe that we are now living in the end times, that the kingdom is coming, and it is coming soon. Personally, I don’t know whether we are or not, for as Jesus said “about that day and hour no one knows”. What I do know, however, is that we find ourselves in a time between the ages. Jesus, through his incarnation and earthly ministry, through his death, resurrection and ascension has begun a change. Nothing… nothing, will ever be the same again. Yet, this change has not been completely actualized yet, we are still waiting. We are awaiting the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.
We find ourselves, in a similar situation as the Thessalonians to whom Paul wrote. We ask, when will the Lord return? When will we have true righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Finding ourselves in a place like that of the Thessalonians of the early church, Paul’s advice applies to us just as it did two thousand years ago. While we await the coming of our Lord, and all that his coming entails, we must not quench the spirit, Paul tells us.
What does this mean though? Do not quench the spirit. How do we go about not quenching the spirit? Paul tells us, “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances”. Pretty easy stuff right? <1,2,3> Always… without ceasing… in all circumstances… <1,2,3> I am reminded of something I heard Fr. Sloane say not too long ago: in our lives as Christians there is no such thing as neutral gear. We are either moving closer to Christ or we are moving further away from Christ, there is no standing still, there is no neutral gear.
With no neutral gear, we have two options, forward or reverse. Reverse leads to a quenched spirit. Going forward, however, follows Paul’s direction, and does not quench the spirit. In good times, and in bad, going forward, not quenching the spirit makes demands of us. We are to rejoice, we are to pray, we are to give thanks. All of these seem a lot easier said than done.
What stuck out to me the most out of Paul’s triad of advice for not quenching the spirit, was giving thanks in all circumstances. How can I do this, I thought, in all circumstances. Looking into this exhortation more deeply though, I found something that made me smile. The word that Paul uses for giving thanks here is the same word used by Jesus on the night that he was betrayed. On that night he took bread, and he took wine and he gave thanks. And this word, that Paul and Jesus both used to give thanks, eucharisteo, it’s where we get the word Eucharist. Whenever we come to this table, we are giving thanks.
It may be difficult to be thankful after having lost a loved one, or receiving a poor diagnosis, during financial troubles, after receiving a bad grade in an important class, or not knowing if we’ll have a warm place to sleep and something to eat tonight. <1,2,3> But ven amidst all these things, we can come here, come to this table, and we can give thanks in all circumstances. In doing so, not only are we not quenching the spirit, but we are in fact stoking it.
We find ourselves in this odd place of waiting for the return of our Lord, waiting for the kingdom of heaven, but unable to remain motionless while wait. We can move forward or we can move backward, but we cannot remain where we are. Moving forward in this way, will at times be easy and at times be difficult. Regardless of which, we are to take the spirit with us. We are to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks, and in doing so we are preparing ourselves for his return, and we are preparing ourselves for the kingdom of heaven. As we wait, as we go through life with all its joys and sorrows, Paul urges not to quench the spirit. Here at St. Paul’s, we can go beyond not quenching the spirit: we can stoke the spirit by coming to this table, by participating in sacramental worship, week after week, day after day no matter the circumstance.