Bible and Mission

First Thessalonians 4.13-18 reads: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  14  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  15  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  16  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  17  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  18  Therefore encourage one another with these words (ESV translation). Encouraging believers about those who have d...

  The second week of Advent focusses on peace.   I suppose that the first week’s focus on hope hits us first in a more personal way.   I say, ‘I hope’.   But when we speak of peace, we often have grander notions in mind, like peace in the Middle East or in Ukraine.   In today’s lesson, we will start with the idea of peace on earth but end up with a focus on the peace of the Church, in our families, and in our own lives. Governments We have heard the phrase, ‘Peace through strength’.   It is perhaps most associated with policies of governments during the Cold War, but ‘peace through strength’ was the heart of imperial Rome, the pax Romana .   The first emperor, Augustus Caesar, boasted that he had brought piracy under control and fought numerous wars to establish peace in the empire. Yet we have learned to fear governmental power.   An article just yesterday, entitled ‘Slipping through our fingers: How democracy is being eroded’, mentions mul...