When Sermons and Blogs Meet

Jon and I listened to a podcast sermon while in the car yesterday.  It was from from several Sundays ago (while we were in Kauai).  Our pastor was on vacation, so a church member and one of the wisest women I know, spoke.  The title was, "Beauty in the World."  She began by telling a tale of a king who asked a servant to go out into the kingdom and find every weed he could find and bring it back to the castle.  The servant left, found every variety of weed, and returned to the king.  The king praised his work and the servant replied that there were weeds everywhere and that, indeed, the entire kingdom was awfully full of weeds.  The following day, the king called another servant.  That servant was asked to go out into the kingdom and pick every flower he could find.  He returned with many, many flowers, exclaiming how easy a task this had been, as the kingdom was filled with the beauty of flowers.

The point:  We see in our world that for which we are looking and hoping to find.

She went on to discuss 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, but pointed out something I hadn't considered: the imperative modifiers.  Again, the verse reads, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ."  She pointed out the clarity in Paul's choice in adverbs.  Paul could have said, "be joyful when life is good; pray when you have extra time on your hands; and give thanks when things are going well."  Most of us could follow those instructions pretty easily.  It's the "always, continually, and in all circumstances" part which is difficult...not because it's impossible, but because we have such short memories.  It's in the remembering of God's ridiculously lavish outpouring of grace and love for us that we are compelled to "be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances."

All day yesterday and today, amongst a screaming 2-year-old and fighting siblings, I have been meditating in a fresh way on 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 and wondering if there shouldn't have been just a little "except..." somewhere in there.  :)