Don’t Step Out Of Line Again!
2 Thess 3:6-13
“I don’t care if you are the Vicar, if you step out of line once more, I’ll have your guts for garters”
The wife of my then Church warden was very cross with me.
The circumstances were not, however what you might expect.
We were rehearsing for the parish pantomime in which I was the Dame and she was the producer and director.
I had been warned several times about ad libbing.
About suddenly introducing new jokes which were not part of the script.
About putting in extra lines without any warning and quite rightly she had had enough of it.
“You may think, it’s funny” she continued “but it destroys the flow of the performance, puts everyone off and if you’re not careful you’ll completely forget your next lines.
There is a similar warning being addressed to the young Thessalonian church in our Epistle reading.
They had apparently started to get slack and idle and were losing the discipline for work and service which had been their character.
They were beginning to coast along in their faith and make it up to suit themselves.
There were two possible reasons for this downward spiral.
Firstly, this was a church which felt that the end of all things was close at hand.
That Christ’s return was imminent and there was therefore no need to strive towards a future that simply was not going to happen.
All they needed to do was to hold tight.
Secondly, it could be that the Thessalonian church had become a victim of its own success. There would have been programmes in place for the care of the poor among them and there were indications that the needs of the poorest people were being so well met that everyone just lived in a permanent state of idleness – which Paul rightly challenges.
It does not do us any harm to hear the call to step into line every so often.
Keep with the traditions which drew you to faith – continue to work tirelessly for the kingdom whatever situation you find yourself in.
Interestingly, if there is any idleness to be found in the church today, it may be for precisely the opposite reasons from the Thessalonians.
They were veering off course because they believed the end was in sight whereas
we have such a low expectation of Christ’s return that we don’t feel we have to be ready for anything very much. If we equate the church of today with the parable of the wise and foolish virgins – we could be seen as those who have given up believing that the bridegroom was ever going to arrive – and had gone off for our own feast rather than wait around aimlessly.
The Thessalonian’s had stepped out of line because their material needs were being met so there was no need for urgency about anything.
We are so caught up in the need to acquire more and more for ourselves and no amount of possessions seem to satisfy – so we just go on relentlessly accumulating – and this becomes our rasion d’etre – the urgency of faith gets banished to the background incomparison.
The message from this epistle is timeless.
Whatever is going on around you – don’t let that distract you from living a life firmly based on your faith.
To live and work in quietness of living.
To set an example of good conduct to others
To never be weary with serving one another – and all this because of the reality of Christ within you.
When I think back to stepping out of line in the pantomime.
I guess I did it because I thought I was funny, thought I could improve things by imposing my take on things, thought I was somebody, and all this at the expense of everyone else involved.
From that moment I never stepped out of line again – well, only once or twice but that’s another story
RH 18.11.07