Dr Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today’s Epistle reading has the following instructions, which Saint Paul delivered to the church in Thessaloniki:

Be at peace among yourselves.
And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers,
encourage the fainthearted,
help the weak,
be patient with them all.
See that none of you repays evil for evil,
but always seek to do good to one another and to all.
Rejoice always,
pray constantly,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit,
do not despise prophesying,
but test everything;
hold fast what is good,
abstain from every form of evil.

(I Thess. 5:13b-22)

I am struck how an apostle with such prophetic charisma and a penchant for dense theological arguments can break it all down into simple exhortations for day-to-day life.

It is in passages like this, and drawing on the example of the saints, that suggests the Christian Faith cannot simply be reduced to a community’s favorite ‘issue’ — whether that be limited theological articulations, or social activism, favorite ideologies, or the subject de jour. The Christian Way seems to primarily about me walking the path of Christ-likeness as an individual — or stumbling, falling, and getting up while trying to walk it.

In my very limited experience, it seems that part of the conservative and liberal impulses we all experience in various church settings often tend to look out towards controlling others asking them to change, to make the world a better, more moral, more just — or whatever — place, or to attempt to fashion the world into that better place through my direct intervention.

But really, I wonder if can only profitably attempt to walk the path laid out for me, and try to live with a growing relationship with Christ. This life is nourished by Christ himself, especially in the sacraments, and (mercifully) often lived in community, guided by those especially luminous examples of experience and wisdom: God’s saints.

Thankfully, the Christian Way also has room for intellectual life, if one has the desire to pursue that, and it involves a love which can always accommodate those who differ from me. But in the end, the Way is one I have to take individually.

Here’s a piece of music to relate to this idea. Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler by none other than Arvo Pärt. You can read the poem the work is based on and listen to a recording here.

Yours in Christ,
Justin