Rejoicing in All Things

I have an irritation on my finger. I noticed it the other night – a place with tiny, little hard bump. It didn’t hurt unless I scratched at it, so I left it alone. The next day, it didn’t bother me until late afternoon, and I actually hadn’t even thought again about it. I was just sitting, working. I flipped through a book to find what I was looking for, and the paperback cover rubbed against it just right. Ow! I looked down, and I saw that the spot had developed a little bit of a blister, and deep inside there was just a little dot. A thorn. I worked in the flowerbeds last weekend, several times thorns went through my gloves. Every day it gets a little more irritated, a little more visible. I really can’t wait until I can get it out, in the open, and it can stop festering and irritating me.

We don’t know what the thorn was that was irritating Euodia and Syntche, but we know that it had festered and was irritating the community. Both women were leaders in the church, co-workers with Paul spreading the Gospel and growing the church, and they’ve gotten crosswise. We don’t know what the issue was, but Paul and the congregation at Philippi did. Maybe it was an innocent misunderstanding.

It happens. Several years ago, in another church, the music director was planning a Living Last Supper for Maundy Thursday. He asked a member of the church, who was not really involved in anything, and only attended occasionally, to play the role of Jesus. The man’s mother was very active and engaged in church activities, and he agreed to be part of the service. The rehearsals went well. The man, Tommy, didn’t miss a single rehearsal. The week before the service, when he walked into dress rehearsal, the music director, David, could not believe his eyes. Tommy had gone and gotten his shoulder-length hair cut short. Tommy wanted to look nice to play Jesus. He cut his hair out of respect, but the David, the choir director, was dismayed that his vision of the Living Last Supper with an authentic-looking Jesus with messy, long dark hair.

Innocent misunderstandings can fester. Maybe that’s what happened with Euodia and Syntche, maybe a misunderstanding didn’t get cleared up. David waited until after rehearsal to talk to Tommy. The only reasons he could think of that Tommy would cut his hair were scheming, maybe trying to undermine the efficacy of the service, or at best Tommy cutting his hair showed complete disregard for the service and for the role of Jesus. By the time David approached Tommy, the he was blistering, “Tommy, why did you cut your hair? Your hair was the only reason I asked YOU to play Jesus.”

The wound was opened. Tommy’s feelings were hurt. He had been so excited to be asked to play Jesus. He had never been invited to serve or be part of something at church before. He had finally felt like he was accepted, a part of things, like he belonged. But, he didn’t respond.

Maybe Euodia or Syntche had said or done something that hurt the other. We don’t know what happened, but we can relate. There was a thorn between them, and it must have been festering for some time because word of it has reached Paul in prison.

Why does it matter? We have to back up to understand Paul’s whole train of thought here. Remember, this is a letter; it would have been read aloud in one sitting. Paul has just been telling the church that we are citizens of heaven. “We are eagerly awaiting the Lord Jesus to come from heaven. This body – This old thing? – is shabby. When he comes, the Lord will transform it so that it is just like his glorious body. And he’s going to do it with the power that makes him able to bring everything into line under his authority. THIS is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved people,” Paul writes and then, like the bump on my finger, he thinks again of the irritation he has learned about between Euodia and Syntche, and he interjects his appeal for them to move beyond their differences by focusing on the same thing – having the mind of Christ, a mind that is humble and puts others before self.

And I think because we have that interjection of addressing the wound that is infecting the whole church and threating to divide them, we have often quoted the next verse without putting it in context to understand what Paul meant. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Paul is NOT saying that no matter what, you ought to put on a happy face. He says, “This is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved people. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Always, no matter what has happened, or what is happening, or what you are facing in the future – remember what Christ has done, and rejoice.

The Greek word here, “chairete” that we translate “rejoice” can also translated “celebrate or be glad.” What I find interesting is that “chairete” is the verb form of the same root word as “Charis,” grace. When grace becomes a verb, it becomes rejoicing. Makes me think of a confetti canon. This is how the community of believers stand firm in the Lord, by being so filled with grace that we explode in rejoicing. And, says Paul, by letting everyone know what a gentle, gracious community we are.

As we stand together, a gentle, gracious community, firm in the Lord we will find that our anxieties are overcome by prayer. In everything, pray. Ask God about any and everything. If it matters to you, it matters to God (N.T. Wright). With an attitude of appreciation for all that God has already done for you, make your requests known to God. New Testament scholar N.T. Wright reminds in his commentary on this passage that in the 1st Century, anxiety was a way of life, “you never knew whether something bad was waiting for you just round the corner.” The same might be said of the 21st Century. With God, who reveals himself in Jesus, we have seen that there is no guarantee against suffering. What there is, is the certainty that God is ultimately in control and will always hear and answer all prayers.

Bad things are going to happen – to good people and to bad people, and to a lot of people who fall somewhere in the middle. You will suffer. When you do, turn to God. The Lord is near. Pray, talk to God, share your heart, your needs, your wants, your thoughts, your hopes…all your requests, with an attitude of appreciation and gratitude. And God’s peace, which is wider than the widest ocean, taller than the highest mountain, deeper than the deepest sea, will settle on you, over you, around you, and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus by reminding you of what Christ has done because of God’s amazing love and the grace that flows out of that love.

People are going to get crosswise. You are going to have some thorns in your relationships – with one another, and sometimes with God. Follow my example, says Paul, name them. Call them out of the dark into the light of day. The more I try to ignore this thorn in my finger, the more it will aggravate and potentially infect and make me ill. The same is true with David and Tommy, and Euodia and Syntche. Name the conflict, the problem, acknowledge it and go directly to the other person. It is so easy to employ shuttle diplomacy in church. For a third party to become the mediator, going back and forth between the two who are cross-wise. I can just imagine the conversations, “David didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when he said he only asked you to play Jesus because you had long hair. David, Tommy really wants to be more involved in the church, he just hasn’t felt at home here.” A good shuttle diplomat can smooth things over, but the rift is still there, under the surface, until David and Tommy talk. Jesus taught us how to deal with conflict, go directly to the person, one-on-one and address it. If you can’t settle it, he said, then both of you go to a third person to mediate…all together. Paul heard about Euodia and Syntche’s falling out all the way in prison – everyone knows, everyone is talking about it – they need to talk to each other about it and get to the facts of what really happened, to listen to each other’s experience and thinking as they were acting, never loosing sight of the larger goal: to live here, on earth, as citizens of heaven, standing firm in the Lord, seeking to have the same mind and attitude as Christ Jesus, and rejoicing always in what the Lord has done. Amen.