This Sunday is the 12th Sunday of Kingdomtide. Only 2 Sunday left in this liturgical church year. The assigned text for this Sunday encourages us in “Standing Firm in Troubled Times.”
We all faced troubled times in our lives. Struggles with health, relationships, finances, depression, anxiety and let’s not forget “hurts:” all contribute to exacerbate troubled times. Often these times are heightened because of the season of life in which we find ourselves. As a Pastor, I’ve often wondered why so many when faced with such challenges turn away from their faith instead of toward their faith.
Then I reminded how so many of the churches we grew up in made things worse for those going through troubled times with sermons laced with large doses of condemnation. This judgementalism was so contradictory to the love of God we sang about in hymns like “Jesus loves me this I know” from Sunday School. No wonder many turn away from faith in troubled times.
In the assigned text for this Sunday, Paul is writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, a church he had established. The people were facing challenges of bad preaching and teaching. It was causing many of them to have a crisis of faith. So, Paul writes to encouraging them saying “Stand firm and hold on to the traditions you were taught, whether we taught you in person or through our letter.” He then reminded them that their traditions of faith included this: “Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father love us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and a good hope.” In other words, turning toward your faith is where we learn to be “Standing Firm in Troubled Times.”
Join us in worship this Sunday. We will be blessed by the music talents of a special guest singer, Donny Cook, who is still standing firm after the challenge of cancer. My sermon will be “Standing Firm in Troubled Times” based on II Thessalonians 2:13-17
About Author
