1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; November 8, 2026; Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Today’s sermon is about hope. Because today, hope I have.
You want to know why I have hope?
The Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series. After 57 years of waiting. Isn’t that amazing?
But wait, pastor, aren’t you a Pirates fan? Oh, but I am! And today hope I have!
You see, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers more than any other team this year. They beat them seven times, winning their season series 7-6. Seven, the complete Biblical number!
So…ergo… by perfect philological and theological logic, the Pittsburgh Pirates were and are the best team in baseball! Oh yes, my friends, this sermon is about hope, because hope I have!
And we are a people of hope, aren’t we? We don’t grieve as others who don’t have hope, who expect and anticipate nothing of promise to happen now or in the future.
No, we are those who expect something great to happen. For something great has already happened. And one day we are told it will happen again.
The Biblical Greek word for hope, as used in our passage, is one of my favorites: ελπισ
It looks as beautiful as it means. Look at that!
My favorite character in the Jetsons cartoon was Elroy and my favorite Greek word is Elpis. Maybe that’s because they both begin with the prefix El which means God; and with God, my friends, hope I have!
Interesting thing about ελπισ is that while it’s translated as hope it really sort of means to have an expectation. An anticipation of something evil or something good. It can go either way. Just like our lives can go either way, where based on our experiences we can have expectations of hope or fear about tomorrow. Be it a test in school. A meeting at work. A local or national election. Whatever.
So ελπισ being rendered here as hope means so much more than just having a wish or to desire an outcome. Rather, Paul is saying we have hope because we expect something good will happen. We have hope because we’ve been promised something good would happen. We have hope because our experience is that something good has already happened!
Namely, that Jesus Christ walked and lived among us. And though he died and was buried, the belief is that he was resurrected and ascended! And more, he promised to one day return to us again raising us to life with him.
So, today’s sermon indeed is about this hope, built on this expectation and promise of good news! The best news! On ελπισ. On El. On Jesus.
Amen?
Amen!
Paul was in a city called Corinth, 300+ miles away, when he wrote these encouraging words to the Thessalonians. No amount of distance could ever separate him from his hope and delivering good news to others.
It’s believed that this first letter to the Thessalonians was written in the year 50 CE. Composed just twenty or so years after Jesus’ death and about twenty years before the first Gospel of Mark was finished. This then is the first scriptural piece of writing we have of the New Testament and it is filled with the hope of El the Almighty!
In the previous chapter, Paul receives a report from Timothy about how his favorite congregation, the Thessalonians, is doing. And while the report is highly favorable, it seems that some in their number might have been struggling with hope. With ελπισ and their expectations.
See, Jesus had promised he would return, and to many that meant that he would return in their lifetimes. Mark’s gospel captures this expectation in chapter 13, where Jesus says, “this generation will not pass away before these things happen.” And so, there was some rustling amongst the congregation about just when and how this would happen.
I mean, it had been 20 years already! Some in their fellowship had already died and those who were alive were wondering how it would it all work when Jesus returned. Would we meet him down here? Up there? Is it too late for our loved ones already deceased, etc.?
It also seems that some in their membership had stopped doing their earthly and spiritual chores. Literally, “idling” (1 Thessalonians 5:14), as they likely wondered “what’s the point in doing any work at all; Jesus is returning and the world is ending anyway.”
And aren’t some folks still like that today? Prepping and preparing yet idling looking for the signs.
But clearly the world hasn’t ended, and Paul was reminding them/informing them and us, we who would idle, we who would grieve, that no matter how or when, it’s going to happen. Whether we see it with our own eyes, or after we are dead, one day we will meet Jesus in the air when we are resuscitated back to life.
So yes, my friends, today’s sermon is about hope because this hope we have all been given!
This past week I read an article titled “The Importance of Hope and Why We Need It” by Dr. Brian Lawlor, Site Director for the Global Brain Health Institute.
He writes: “We experience hope in our brain but it comes from somewhere or someone outside ourselves.”
“Hope is not optimism, which is a belief that everything will work out. Hope is much more active, a feeling and a mindset that you have to work at in order to achieve your goals, despite trying and extenuating circumstances.”
“We know that hope works for the brain and in the brain. If you experience hope in the face of adversity, your brain performs better, and you are more likely to make positive decisions regarding your health, such as adhering to medication and adopting healthier lifestyles in the face of chronic diseases. Experiencing hope dampens the anxiety circuits in the brain, and when you feel less anxious, your brain function improves.”
“Hope then can drive individual, systemic and societal change. But hope isn’t a given. You have to work at it, and connect outside yourself for it to take root and be experienced. Hope can be a powerful elixir for health, and quality of life can turn fear and stigma inside out.”
“So, whether you are facing serious illness, experiencing economic hardship, or are overwhelmed by global inequities and challenges facing society, now, more than ever, hope is badly needed to sustain us in a world that increasingly does not make sense.”
To which all of us, I think, would say, “Amen!”
My friends, today’s sermon is about hope because hope we have and hope we have been given. From someone and something outside of ourselves. From Jesus and his loving and living sacrifice.
And today with your giving, which wasn’t a given, but an active offering and working sacrifice itself, we collectively have hope for next year.
For another season of ministry. For visible moments of resurrection.
Where we at Grace can keep growing and striving.
Aiming to meet Christ, and make Him known, so that his good news, his ελπισ, may continue to lighten up this world.
Amen.
