Wingham United Church

November 9, 2025

God of the Living

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Luke 20:27-38

Well, it’s already nearly mid-November, and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but winter’s coming! In this part of the world, that, of course, means it’s going to get cold, and it is going to snow. There will be snowstorms. There will almost certainly be power outages.

          You all know this. Yet, when that first snow fall happens, there will inevitably be people among us that are not ready for it. On the first morning after a significant snowfall, people will be running around trying to remember where they put their snowbrush when they took it out of the car last spring. Mechanics everywhere will be run off their feet installing snow tires. Home Hardware will sell out of sidewalk ice melter. Our world, so happy and serene today, will spiral into a world of chaos. All because, even though we all know it’s going to happen, people did not prepare for it ahead of time.

          The apostle Paul faced a similar situation in the church of the first century, only it wasn’t a snowstorm for which he was preparing. It was Christ. In Thessaloniki, however, the problem wasn’t that people weren’t preparing for it as much as it was that people were in a state of panic because they were being told that it was already upon them. False prophets, or perhaps profiteers, were whipping the Christians into a frenzy with their assertions that the end times had already begun and Christ had harnessed up his chariot of fire and was on His way, and the people knew they were not ready.

          Paul can’t claim total innocence in this. For a long time, he had been telling the people that Christ’s return was imminent. The apocalypse was on their doorstep. He, however, has come to realize that he was mistaken. In fact, no one knows when the time will come. Jesus, himself, said so. Yet, there were warning signs one could watch for.

          Among those warning signs was the appearance of an enemy of God, a pretender, a man of lawlessness, rebellion, deceit, and destruction. Christ, it seems, will only come back when all other hope for humanity is lost, and as bad as things seemed to the Christians at that time, that had not yet come to be. There was still hope.

          The Thessalonians, and many others in that part of the world, may have thought that Caesar was that enemy. Many of the signs were there. In the centuries since, many other likely candidates have come and gone. As we honour those who gave their lives to protect our freedom and way of life, it would be hard not to make the same association with Adolf Hitler. We might even draw certain parallels with a leader or two in our present time who appear to be men of lawlessness, people who bring destruction and exalt themselves. Sound like anyone you know?

          Paul’s message, however, is as true today as it was when it was written for the Thessalonian church: there is still hope for our world to save itself. As long as we uphold what Christ has taught us, as long as we stand up for what is right and true, there is still hope. Christ will come again to make things right, but probably not today. Probably.

          It probably won’t snow today, either. But it might tomorrow, or next week. The truth is, we just never know for sure, so Paul tells us to be prepared. We prepare ourselves for winter by doing certain things to equip our vehicles and our homes, and even our wardrobes for what lies ahead. We prepare ourselves for Christ’s return by equipping our hearts and spirits, devoting our lives to living according to Christ’s teachings, and maintaining an honest, close, personal relationship with God, who loves us and by his grace give us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope.

          By doing so, we won’t end up like the Thessalonians who faced the anticipated apocalypse with fear, dread, and panic. We will have nothing to fear, for we will have prepared ourselves to receive God’s grace.

          We do this knowing that we may not live to see it. Countless generations have faced this same dilemma, yet it has not happened. However, being prepared for something we might never experience also prepares us for something every single one of us will. Sooner or later, we will all face death. How we do that depends on how well we prepare.

          Like that inevitable winter snowstorm, none of us knows when we will die, but we all know that we will. I check multiple funeral home websites every day, partially to keep aware of the pastoral needs of the communities I serve, but also to remain aware of others that I know and have perhaps lost track of over the years: old neighbours or members of congregations I have served in the past. I’m sure many of you do the same. I know that a number of years ago, when new management at CKNX decided to cancel their daily “In Memorium” listings, the uproar from their listeners soon caused it to be reinstated. It was far more important to people than they realized.

          It is the one thing every life on earth has in common. None of us get out of this life alive. Yet, none of us has any clear vision of what happens next. In our gospel reading, Jesus is challenged by a group of religious leaders, the Sadducees, who didn’t believe anything happened. In their theology, this life is all there was. Obedience to God was supposed to result in comfort, prosperity, and happiness in this life. To prove their point, they suggest what seems like a pretty ridiculous scenario. One woman who is married to each of seven brothers in turn. When they all arrive in heaven, whose wife will she be?

          It’s an interesting question. At many funerals I officiate, eulogies suggest that their dearly departed is now reunited with family members and friends from this life. They envision a husband and wife sitting together on some heavenly front porch drinking tea, (or scotch, depending on their practice in this walkabout world), or old friends getting together again for their customary Friday night euchre game, or even going for a walk in the woods with dear old Fido. I even led a funeral once when three old hunting buddies looked forward to reconnecting with their friend in that “Happy Hunting Ground”!

          Just like the Sadducees, many people who have been married more than once in this life will be interested to know how this works on the other side of death. And, surely, we all encounter people in this life that we want nothing to do with in the next! I know I do. (Present company excluded, of course.)

While the sentimental imagining of being reunited with our loved ones may be comforting at a time of grief, Jesus tells us that Heaven doesn’t work that way. The next life is not a continuation of this one. It is something completely new and different, beyond our human imaginings.

          I once had a pair of young Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door. They very enthusiastically shared a snippet of their faith with me and only seemed to get more excited when I told them I was a United Church minister. At one point, they asked me if I believed in physical resurrection, meaning that my actual body would someday rise from the grave. My response caught them off guard. I said, “I sure hope not! I am hoping for something so much better.”

           So how do we prepare ourselves for something we cannot even envision? We do so by doing the same things we do in preparation for Christ’s return. We live good lives here on earth, devoted to Christ’s teachings, and engaged with Christ’s Spirit. We stand up and resist the forces of evil, deception, lawlessness, and empire to protect the victims of power and oppression. We do our best to leave a legacy of faithfulness and service for those who follow, even while we anticipate what lies beyond. We never let go of the hope that comes with faith, and we share that hope with those around us. We live our lives so that no one has to lie at our funeral, and so that God will welcome us home, saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

          So, while our lives in this world will in no way resemble the lives we will live in the next, they are all the same to God, who sees beyond the physical, material existence at what lies beneath. That is why the way we live this life is so important. It is a revelation of true self, the part of us that will continue on. The God we worship is the God of the living, “and [we] are all alive to him,” now and forever.  

Rev. Colin Snyder, MDiv