Homily from 10-4-20 on 1 Thess 2:17-20 "Longing to See You"

 

“Longing to See You”  1 Thess. 2:17-20  LMPC Dr. Ben Sloan 10-4-20 (Communion Homily)

     Paul, in talking about the Lord’s Supper said, “When you come together”…(1 Cor. 11:20).   The supper is meant to be together.  But we are like soldiers on station far away from home.   We are not fully together.  We are like a puzzle that is half way done.  It is nice that we can begin to see the picture coming together, but we are not there yet.  We ache to be complete.
      There is a classic movie called “Dances with Wolves” starring Kevin Costner as “John Dunbar” about a soldier who is stationed all alone in a remote outpost by an officer who died and told no one he was stationed there.  He became so lonely after years of being isolated with no human contact that he befriended a wolf.  Interestingly this parallels the life of a real John Dunbar who was a Christian missionary to the Native Americans in Nebraska- also isolated from all who spoke his language for a greater good.   John Dunbar teaches us about social isolation. 
     The Bible says, “It is not good for people to be alone.”  We are not meant to live isolated lives.  Yet sometimes we must.  In our passage, Paul says that he had an intense longing to go to church with the Thessalonians.  But he could not. 
      Interestingly he describes not being able to gather in morally evil terms.  He was orphaned from them.  Like he was torn away or cut off by a type of death.  He says he tried over and over again to see them but “Satan blocked our way.”  Many do not see our isolation as an evil thing- but Paul saw it that way.  Blaine last week rightly described our time as a period of grief- teachers have not been with their students, some grandparents have been separated from their grandkids, friends have been separated from friends.  Perhaps Paul was thinking “it is not good for people to be alone.”  Sometimes it is something we have to do- but loneliness, being away from everyone is not the goal. 
        One of the four orders of monks is the order of hermit- whose monks live in basic isolation.  Luther, who was a monk himself, criticized monasticism and especially hermits as making it very hard to love your neighbor and thus serve God when you are in isolation.  While there is a time to be alone, it is limited with a goal to come together.  Jesus often withdrew to solitary places- where he prayed.  But his goal was to come back and serve the people. 
        There are many examples of people being alone.  US Admiral Richard Byrd who was in isolation in Antarctica for five months in 1934 with no phone, internet, or way of communicating but morse code. He pointed out that he felt there was a great power in the universe that never left him alone.  
       Al Worden has won the title of “the most isolated human being in history” by the Guiness Book of World Records.  As a pilot of Apollo XV he was further away from any other human being ever- all alone, 2,235 miles from his companions on the surface of the moon and 250,000 miles from home.  When he went behind the moon he could not communicate with anyone at all for 47 minutes.  Wordon orbited the moon 74 times.  Every time he came into communication he would say, “Greetings earth from the Endeavor.”  Why did he greet us?  Greetings are not only a sign of peace but a sign of hope and joy.  A common saying among the older men at LMPC when Then  are told, “It’s great to see you” is “It is better to be seen and not viewed.”  It is a sadness in life to miss someone you know and love.  It is a joy in life to reconnect.  Maybe you are missing that relationship with God.  Maybe you are missing being a part of a church family.  Now may be the time to get that straight and ask Christ to come into your life and for the people in the church to be your supporting family of brothers and sisters in Christ. 
      The word we often use for the Lord’s Supper is “communion.”  “Communion” means fellowship with God and with each other.  When we have communion we remember that one day we will eat and drink with Him and with each other in heaven.  That fellowship will never be taken away.  The isolation on the cross means God can offer us eternal fellowship with Him- that can never be taken away.