Keep Calm and Carry On
AM Psalm 16, 17 • PM Psalm 22
Isa. 3:8-15 • 1 Thess. 4:1-12 • Luke 20:41-21:4
“Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another…. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you…”
Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica is written both to calm and admonish the Christians there whose daily life has been disrupted by the many who have quit their work to stand, day after day, scanning the skies for the Second Coming of Christ. Paul tells them that such idleness and worry must stop. His advice is practical: keep calm, mind your business, and go on working with your hands.
For two centuries, Christians have awaited Jesus' return, but Paul's admonition still applies. And in no area of St. Paul's Episcopal Church life do we see his words more generously put to practice than through the ministries carried out by volunteers. We can openly appreciate the lovely faces and voices of the office angels and the several choirs, but many ministries remain unobservable. Who prepares the immaculate altar linens and polishes the Communion utensils? The Altar Guild volunteers. Who arranges the glorious floral offerings that brighten our altar on Sundays and other special days? The Flower Guild. Who prepares the food for the lunches, breakfasts and dinners, the funeral receptions, and the many other gatherings? Loyal St. Paul's parishioners and community friends. Who collects all the metals, plastics, glassware, office paper, and cardboard generated by the church's many functions and programs and carries it to the City's recycling center every week? The St. Paul's Recycling Volunteers, for the past two decades.
One has only to look at our directory of programs to see how many ministries are organized and fulfilled by volunteers. Although we may not be able to put names and faces to the many volunteers who carry out these Godly works through St. Paul's, we know that they are living out Paul's advice to the Thessalonians by going about their business quietly, working with their hands, with love for both their fellow beings and their God. They are not standing idle, waiting for the Kingdom to come. They are bringing it about.
I write this on November 18th, the same day that two years ago, during the lockdowns of the pandemic, Dean Robert Willis advised us from Canterbury Cathedral in his Morning Prayers, much in the same manner as Paul to the Thessalonians: "Christ's servants have to work hard with their own flesh and blood and imagination, and prayers, patience and the sense of encouragement for one another… for all are on a journey as guests on this wonderful planet."
Written by Kay DuVal
Kay has been a member of St. Paul's for thirty years, during the last twenty of which she has coordinated the recycling ministry. She thanks all St. Paul's volunteers for their work in forwarding God's kingdom on earth.