Certain Promise, Certain Hope for Uncertain Times
Lectionary 29 (21st Sunday after Pentecost), Year C
2 Timothy 3:14:-4:5
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Grace to you and peace, from the one who is, who was, and who is to come. Amen.
In our second reading today we read excerpts of a letter from Paul
to the younger Timothy,
a co-worker with Paul in proclaiming the Gospel and building the church
in the decades following the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
It was a scary time for the early church.
We can easily romanticize the early church,
view it as some sort of frontier religion with Paul establishing Christian outposts
in a pagan world, outposts that would later thrive as centers of a vital, new religion.
But the reality was much more grim.
