1Thessalonians 5:1-11

            I was having a discussion the other day with some one about the internet and how fifteen years ago hardly anyone knew what it was and now we can’t live without it.  What would we do without the internet?  How would we ever circulate silly lists of preponderances like the following?  “Why isn’t phonetic spelled the way it sounds?  Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?  Can you imagine a world with no hypothetical situations?  Finally if 7 Elevens are open 24 hours a day 365 days a year then why are there locks on the doors?”  The internet can be a very handy tool, but one of things it best demonstrates is we live in a crazy mixed up world and too many people have way to much time on their hands with nothing better to do than to sit around and think up crazy things like this list. 

            In the days of the Apostle Paul there was no e-mail he had to write letters by hand on scrolls and they were delivered even slower than our present day snail mail.  I am sure Paul would have made good use of the internet and used it to get his evangelistic message out to the entire world quicker and with much greater ease.  I am sure he would have loved to video conference with his followers, since he was really big on people following his example, and it may have afforded him the ability to avoid a few unfortunate incidents like ship wrecks and imprisonment.  Without a doubt there would be certain aspects of the internet and its uses that would have been very distasteful to Paul and he would have been squarely against.  Even without the benefit of the internet Paul found plenty of things to preach against.  Even without the internet he understood the world to be a crazy mixed up place. 

            That is what I hear Paul saying in the passage we read from his letter to the Thessalonians a few moments ago.  He is saying here what he says in other places “you who are believers in Christ belong to another world so don’t get caught up in the craziness of this world.”  The image is that of awake and asleep, and the word he uses for asleep could also mean dead.  Paul is reminding the Thessalonians and us that we are alive in Christ and therefore we should give up playing dead.  He urges us to be in the light rather than the darkness because people with too much time on their hands do all kinds of crazy things in the darkness.  We on the other hand who have been redeemed by Christ to live in the light have a mission of faith, hope, and love.  These things are plenty enough work to keep us busy and we should be like the 7 eleven; open to these things all the time never ceasing to live in faith, have hope in the resurrection of our Lord, and to love God and love each other the way God has loved us. 

            Why do 7 elevens have locks on the doors when they are never closed?  You would think they would use the money they spent on locks for more useful sorts of things like an additional slurpey machine or since they seem to get held up with some regularity rather than locks maybe a higher quality surveillance system would be money well spent.  Maybe greater watchfulness on their part would ward off would be thieves.  In a way that too is what Paul is encouraging us to do.  Not only are we supposed to be like 7 eleven, dedicated to our intended purposes of faith, hope, and love, 24/7 365 Paul encourages us to be always on the lookout, not for real thieves, but for the return of our Lord who Paul says will come like a thief in the night.  While Paul expected Christ’s return to be immanent, he also knew that it would be unexpected.    Paul therefore encourages us to always be on the look out for Jesus’ return and consider those things we can do without. 

            In the movie “Joe Dirt” Joe is on a quest to find his parents from whom he was separated on a trip to the Grand Canyon at a young age.  Joe now an adult has only a few memories of his parents but the one that proves to be the key to finding them is the memory of his mother’s frequently saying “Is this where you want to be when Jesus comes back?” especially when she is correcting some undesirable behavior on Joe’s part.  It might seem that is what Paul is about in this letter, he tells us to be on the look out for Christ’s return and to avoid undesirable behavior, but I don’t think Paul meant it like Joe’s mom did.  I don’t believe Paul is trying to shame us into doing what he wants.  In the conclusion of the passage we read Paul says God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Did you catch that?  “He died for us so that whether we are awake of asleep; Jesus didn’t die just for those who live perfect lives, he died to save both the awake and the asleep, the judge of the living and the dead died for both so that all may be counted among the living together with him.  I don’t think Paul, unlike Joe’s mom, is trying to instill in us the fear of being caught by the returning Lord and somehow risk jeopardizing our salvation.  Rather I think Paul is encouraging us to look diligently, tirelessly, unceasingly for Christ’s return because it is the consummation of our salvation. 

At the same time we already have been saved and are children of light and therefore we ought to encourage one another build one another up.  Paul knew that even though we are children of the light that darkness has a way of creeping into our lives as he admits it did his own, but having been bathed in the light we are called to resist going back into the darkness as best we can as a way of testifying to, or bearing witness to the light.  We are to practice always faith, hope, and love as we look for that day when all three will be made complete in Christ’s return. 

            All the Christmas trappings have been available on store shelves already for over a month.  Already we are being tempted by the retail world to skip entirely the season of Advent and rush headlong into Christmas.  Soon we will be bombarded with songs about having the feeling of Christmas all year long.  Here two weeks before we begin our Advent journey Paul reminds us that while there is no doubt Christ’s birth had a significant impact on the world; what we are to be about all year long is more of an advent thing, that is waiting for, hoping for, preparing ourselves for Christ’s return.

            There is a story about a mother doing her Christmas shopping with her two children in toe.  She had been battling crowds for hours and wanting nothing more than to escape the madness she pushed the button for the elevator to make her escape from retail hell.  When the elevator car arrived it was already full but she squeezed herself, her children, and all her purchases in anyway.  As the elevator doors closed behind her she couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out “The person who came up with this Christmas thing ought to be strung up and shot.”  A voice came from somewhere in the back of the elevator “Its ok we already crucified him.”   Friends before the madness begins may we pause to remember he has already been crucified, died, buried, and raised, and what we are waiting for is his return.  May we be fully awake and may we have 7 eleven faith as we await his return, being about the business of faith, hope, and love, and letting the rest take care of itself. 

            It is a crazy mixed up world out there today as it was in Paul’s time, there is plenty of darkness to go around.  Don’t believe me; well here are two news stories I read on the internet last night.  According to Reuter’s an Australian resort, the White Cockatoo in Queensland is planning to hold a month long nude “anything goes” party to combat the expected economic downturn.  “You’ve got to wonder what kind of people go and why.  Where is the moral code of behavior?” said local Catholic Bishop James Foley to news of the announcement.  But local regional mayor Val Schier was not opposed to the event saying “These are tough economic times and as long as it is with consenting adults then there is no problem.  And it’s not only down under where things are dark.  The headlines in

            It’s plenty dark out there as it is, so we don’t need to chase after the darkness, it has a way of finding us; instead we need to look to and be examples of the light.  To be in the darkness is to be focused on peace and security of the secular world, while to be in the light is to find peace and security in God.  To be in the dark is to be unaware of what God through the Holy Spirit is doing in the world, but to be in the light is to be tuned to the Spirits involvement in human life.  These are tough economic times, some might even say dark.  How might the Spirit be involved in human life through us in these tough times, by worrying as the world does that people won’t spend enough this year on Christmas shopping or by sharing what we have with those who have much less?   Will we be focused on the peace and security the retailers bring or will we be focused on the peace and security, the hope that we have through faith in the one who demonstrated his love for the world by dying so that the world might be saved?  Paul reminds us that this Advent, Christmas season and always we are to have a 7 eleven faith always guided by faith, hope and love, waiting expectantly for Christ’s return.  May it be so.  Amen