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We have come to the time of year where we have to deal with Paul. And people who have spent time in the letters of the New Testament tend to have a lot of opinions about Paul often negative justifiably so. These opinions often come from letters like Ephesians and Timothy which we will look at later this summer, which talks about lives submitted to their husbands, and we know churches, some churches and communities will take to the inevitable extreme.

It seems important for us to remember that Paul’s letters were written for a particular people in a particular time to a particular place. In general, scholarship says that Ephesians and Timothy were not actually written by Paul, but by people writing in Paul’s name or followers of Paul. So those comments were not written for Paul’s particular time or people or places.

That’s not to give Paul a complete free pass, but maybe we don’t have to carry those things into this letter to the Philippians which the scholarship says is an authentic Pauline letter.

If we go way back and connect some dots, you may remember that. Paul in the book of Acts chapter 16 spends some time in Philippi to important things happen there: 1) he meets Lydia and some other women who gather to worship at the water’s edge and he ends up in jail for removing a spirit from a slave girl whose whole purpose was to be a fortune teller and increase the fortunes of her owner. It was her that called Paul And his missionary companion Silas, slaves of the most high. The guess is that this happened around the year 50 give or take a year.

It was one of his earliest churches that was established that he started. And some of that might be what we see in this text. They took a risk and trusted him when so many others were fearful and skeptical of putting their trust in the one who had previously persecuted followers of Jesus.

We don’t know if Paul ever made it back to Philippi, but over the years they continue to support him and he continued to respond in letters. Letters this letter as it talks about his imprisonment is thought to have been written well. He was imprisoned in Rome around the year 60 and Paul was killed there during the persecutions of Nero which happened between the year 64 and 68. Though we have no writing from Paul of the Jewish uprising that would result in the year 70 with the destruction of the temple by Rome and began in the year 66, so he was probably dead before that, as a Roman citizen, likely beheaded outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

And all of that also means that the writings we have from Paul the authentic ones, at least, are the earliest Christian writings we have, for better or for worse. But like we maintain with all of our scripture that was written for a particular people at a particular time in a particular place, We hold that there is still truth speaking to us today.

Much of what I read said outright that this letter of Paul’s which is so different from say Corinthians where Paul is trying to fix problems and calm arguments, this letter is missionary update and fundraising letter. And it occurs to me that I haven’t received a fundraising missionary letter in a very long time, probably because when I was first receiving them, I didn’t have the resources I didn’t think to support.

There is also a part of me that questions the justice of such things. There was a church in Northern Chicago that had the pastor that it paid and then there was a deacon which was also who is also ordained who did the primary work of employment for new immigrants for food and basically all of the community support that the community needed, and he had to fundraise his own salary. Didn’t seem right.

From the opening words of the letter, there is a recognition that Paul isn’t doing this alone. From Paul and Timothy, to the saints, to the supervisors and servants of the community. The proclamation of the good news is done in community, in partnership, in friendship, and in companionship.

Paul’s preaching of the good news to them had been so transformational that they wanted to ensure and share that with everyone. But not everyone could go so they invested in Paul. They invested in God. They invested in the good news with their prayers with their support and with their finances. And in this way, Paul took that Philippians with him everywhere. He went remembering often how he was able to preach the good news because of the care and support and prayers that they offered. They were partners in this work even if they weren’t traveling with him.

And he wanted them to know that their support mattered, that it continued to bear fruit that the good news was being proclaimed even as he was in prison that it wasn’t worthless to do the good work, to invest even when they weren’t seen it because Paul was miles away because he could no longer travel because it had been so long since they had seen him.

And we’ve recognize that it has kind of gotten out with a whimper, but that the Ladies Fellowship was a sport in this community and this congregation and beyond for its craftwork and candy making, to its  work for the community or its care for people who are grieving, and for its care for the community within itself that gathered.

We remember how we have cared for families, ones that we know well and once that don’t.

We remember that we’ve taken food and casseroles to those that we love who are grieving to make sure that they eat in the midst of their grieving.

We are a community that lives out the gospel and love.

What then does it mean to invest in the gospel? Well Paul was looking for financial support. Doesn’t necessarily mean supporting the institution. That is the church though at this point it is necessary. What I really want to know is how do we invest in each other in our partnerships in our church? That is the people in our community and our chosen family?

And what does it mean to invest in each other for the sake of the Gospel? For the good news, not for church growth, not because of some presumed results or reciprocity.

And it seems it’s rooted in two things, at least from this point of the letter. Overflowing love that roots our knowledge from which we grow and discern what is right and good. Love that is generous and self-giving and liberating. Love that patient and kind. Love that Does not count wrongs or hold grudges or resentful.

And joy, or rejoicing, living in gratitude. Not out of expectation but out of gratitude for what God has done and out of the love.

So I wonder what it would look like for us to invest anyway. For the folks. You wonder why you haven’t seen here for a while? Instead of reaching out to say, I’d love to see you at church. Send a note that says a text. I was thinking of you and I thanked God for you can even reference Philippians.

I wonder if it’s when we give to a mission first, before we worry about paying our bills, trusting that they will be taking care of even if we don’t see the results of our giving. Maybe it’s proclaiming your life changed by God and sharing that with others. Maybe it’s in this community because you love and care for this community out for each other. In this community because we make space for new people in our community, not because we need more people to fill our seats. Maybe it’s really getting to know someone so that when you realize you haven’t seen them in church for a little while, you reach out because you actually missed them, because you actually know them. And the people that you haven’t seen for a while, I wonder if we reach out and say not well seeing you on Sunday and instead send a note was thinking of you and thanking God for you, quote Philippians, and needing nothing in response.

Rejoicing in the Lord is a salve against the temptation of withdrawing partnership when your investment seems to be going sour. The world tells us to cut our losses, to pull out when returns diminish. Paul, writing from prison, dares to say something different: Rejoice, and keep investing anyway. Timothy L. Adkins-Jones workingpreacher.com

And so, take a moment and think about who and what you might invest in, who you might send a not a gratitude to that they exist, that God made them and loves them, and you love them too! And maybe nothing will come of it. It doesn’t mean we stop.