Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, The Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost, 18 October, 2026.
Readings for this Sunday: Ex 33:12-23; Ps 99; 1 Th 1:1-10; Mt 22:15-22.
“for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy from the Holy Spirit”. (1 Th 1.5)
I once met a man who was a Christian in Egypt. He told me how, after the 1979 revolution in Iran, there were fears that the turmoil could spread to his country. He and his fellow believers worried about what would happen if an Islamic government in Egypt came to power and outlawed Christianity. What if it became dangerous even to possess a bible?
So, his church decided that each member would memorize a part of the bible, so that when they met, the scriptures would always be with them. He told me that he chose to memorize the gospel of John, and years later, he could still recite large chunks of that most difficult of the gospels. Not only did these people receive the word from the Holy Spirit, they literally took that word into themselves. You would have to feel intense love and joy from Jesus to be so faithful, even when faith is a risk.
If we as Christians were faced with such a threat to our faith and to our safety, I wonder if we would be as dedicated as that Egyptian church was? Perhaps. We should never understimate how the Holy Spirit can inspire us. But I wonder, if we were faced with persecution, would we be happy, even joyful ?
In our second lesson, we heard St Paul praise the new Christians in Thessalonica, “for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy from the Holy Spirit” (1 Th 1.5). Biblical scholars believe that the persecution Paul mentions was because these Greek Christians were no longer honouring the statues (Paul calls them idols) which were part of the official Roman religion honouring Caesar as a god. Participating in such rituals was a loyalty test, so their choosing Christ as the true God and lord must have made life unpleasant for the Thessalonian Christians.
We don’t know what made these early Christians joyful, but we can imagine. No doubt they were joyful that in a world where only a few had value, they were all equal in the sight of the the God who created them. In an empire where strength and cruelty prevailed, they knew that true strength lies in gentleness, forgiveness, and community. And I am sure that they were joyful because they were loved and forgiven by God, and because they had Jesus as lord and friend in their midst. That’s a lot to be joyful for!
Friends, all of these reasons for joy apply as much to us as they did to these first Christians. We enjoy the same love from the same God as them. We are a community as they were, a community that strives to love and respect one another as imagebearers of that God. And Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is in our midst, shaping the kingdom of heaven through our thoughts and through our actions. These are all reasons to be joyful, as I’ve said before, joy marks our life together as church,
There is so much about our parish to be thankful for, and just as Paul thanked the Thessalonians for their “work[s] of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”, so I give thanks for all that happens here, and I pray that we will continue to be a vibrant and Spirit filled church for decades to come.
This week we start a six week campaign that we call Joyful Giving. You’ll hear different voices speak to those things that give us joy as the people of God - our worship, our unique building, our many volunteers, and most importantly, our care for one another and for the people outside these walls.
We will be invited to think about what it costs to maintain this community and its ministry, and we will be encouraged to see our giving of the “Three Ts” of time, talent, and or treasure as causes of joy rather than as burdens or obligations.
Today in our gospel reading, Jesus holds a coin and says “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Mt 21.22). We know well enough how money works on earth but what are things of God that we are supposed to give back to God?
On Sunday, 1 November, All Saints Day, we’ll get one answer from the gospel reading, from Matthew’s Beatitudes. Blessed are the humble, says Jesus, blessed are those who want justice, who care for others, who love truth and mercy. Friends, if we want to know what the coins of the kingdom of heaven look like, they don’t have anyone’s face on them. The coins of the kingdom of heaven are love, and truth, are mercy, are care for the earth and for the least of those who dwell here.
As a church, we pay our costs with the coins of earth, but our value is weighed in the coinage of the kingdom of God. At the end of this campaign, those of us who wish to will all be invited to examine our household finances. Those of us who are able will be invited to realign our givings with the needs of the church and with the values of the kingdom of God. My hope and prayer is that we can see our givings, not just as dollars, but as the coinage and currency of heaven - love, mercy, faith, hope - and that our givings will be a source of joy and satisfaction to us as people of God.
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