holy communion is served the first and second sundays of the month
holy communion is served the first and second sundays of the month
In the second Scripture reading for this Sunday, we hear a section from Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians. Near the end of his letter to those first-century Christians, Paul refers to “the God of peace”: “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
"The God of peace." That is Paul’s favorite title for God. (See, for example, Rom. 16.20; 1 Cor. 14.33; and 1 Thess. 5.23.) The Hebrew term for “peace” is “shalom.” "Shalom" does not refer so much to the absence of conflict or trouble as it does to the perfect condition of the human and the world, when everything is working the way it is supposed to work.
According to Paul, we receive shalom, true and lasting peace, only when we are “right with God.” And how do we get “right with God”? Answer: When we trust that for Christ’s sake we are right with God. Jesus is the one who reconciles us to God. He is the one who establishes perfect shalom for us. We receive that shalom by faith in him: “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have shalom with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Rom. 5.1-2).
Only by being reconciled to God can a person experience life as it is meant to be lived. It is only by the grace of God that we can enter into a right relationship with God and with our fellow human beings. The God of peace, the God of shalom, is the One who gives us that peace which the world cannot give.
Paul also refers to God as “the God of hope.” (See, for example, Rom. 15.13.) Faith in God is the only thing that can keep us from ultimate despair. It is God’s grace in Christ that keeps us from despairing about ourselves, our sins, our failures, our death. It is God’s grace in Christ, God’s providential care for us and the world, that keeps us from despairing about our world, its conflicts, its failures. Ultimately, our hope is an indestructible hope because it is founded on the eternal God and the lasting promises he makes to us in and through Christ Jesus.
Finally, Paul also speaks of “the God of patience,” “the God of all comfort and consolation,” and “the God of love.” God allows us to move forward, even under the most trying of circumstances. God is with us. He will not abandon us or forsake us. When we are at our weakest, at wit's end, God is strong and able to bear us and carry us forward. Behind and beneath everything, behind and beneath our joys and sorrows, our successes and failures, our achievements and setbacks, is the love of God. It is that love which will never let us go, that love that bears with us and forgives us, that love which will never cast us off. God's love never sentimentally weakens. It is always there to renew and strengthen us for daily living.
Shalom, hope, patience, comfort, love—these are the gifts that we receive from God. Indeed, “our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3.5).
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