1 Thessalonians 4:13-18   ¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died,  so 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 died.  ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.  ¹⁶ For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.  ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

            Tomorrow is All Saint’s day, and we will celebrate that day next Sunday with All Saint’s Sunday.  During the past year, we have been fortunate that no member of our congregation has joined the saints in light.  However, we have had two funerals this past year.  Next Sunday we will remember those that have passed away during this past year.  It is a good time to remind ourselves that we too will one day pass from this life into the next.

            Our text above is St. Paul’s interpretation of what the return of Christ will look like.  For me, this text is very comforting in that it reminds me of the equality in Christ.  No one is better than anyone else.  Those that are asleep in Christ will rise first, so that they, along with those that are still alive, can ascend together to meet Christ.  It really is quite remarkable how this type of theology was around just 15-20 years after the crucifixion.  Furthermore, that theology hasn’t really changed in the past 2000 years.  The theology of Christ’s second coming is still basically the same:  that he will return, raise those that have died, and take them along with those that are still alive to live with God in the “New Jerusalem.”   That is what we profess, hope for, and pray for.

In our prayers this week: Ann, Daniel, David, Brianna, Scott S, and Anna

God’s Peace