Oct '09

In his letters to the early churches, Paul has a particular style. Paul starts his letters by drawing the reader’s attention to God and Jesus and then giving thanks for the faith and love of the people he is writing to.

I believe that it is through Christ and in Christ that we have been drawn together at Hatfield Road Methodist Church - to share worship and serve God in a variety of different ways, which He calls each of us to.

Saying thank you for the things people do for us is a natural expression of our gratitude. However, in Paul’s letters, he is saying thank you for the very essence of who the people are and giving thanks for their very being in Christ - something that might be more of a challenge to us. When did you last thank God for the people you know in work, in your family, in church, for being the person they are and all that that makes you and means to you?

Paul, in his letters, goes on to say many different things. Some are encouraging, some give advice, others rebuke. It illustrates that even though Paul is giving thanks for the people he is writing to, he is not always in harmony with them, as can often happen with us and the people we are in contact with.

Paul does not think less of the people - it is what is happening that he is concerned about. Paul desires the people to live true and godly lives through Jesus. He continually brings his letters back to reminding the people that they are saved through Christ, loved by God and are to be full of the Holy Spirit, to work to the glory of God, spreading the gospel of good news, before he tells them again how much he gives thanks to God for them and rejoices in them.

So let us together give thanks for each other and in the words of Charles Wesley’s hymn:

All praise to our redeeming Lord,
Who joins us by his grace,
And bids us, each to each restored,
Together seek his face.

He bids us build each other up;
And, gathered into one,
To our high calling's glorious hope
We hand in hand go on.

(Hymns & Psalms, 753)