Brothers and Sisters,
As of this week, our Sunday morning Bible study is underway. We’re meeting at the church, in the library, at 10:15. For the study, I specifically chose Philippians, as I believe that it’s a particularly fitting study for our congregation at this time. As I shared with the class on Sunday, Philippians was written to a congregation that was fundamentally healthy. They weren’t dealing with widespread immorality or disunity, nor were they being led astray by false teaching. The Apostle Paul wasn’t writing to them to correct them. He was writing to encourage them. Specifically, he was writing to encourage them to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
In other words, Paul wasn’t telling them to stop their foolishness, as he did in some of his epistles to other churches. He was telling them to keep going, to keep building on what the Lord had already done and was already doing in their midst, to stay the course and remain faithful. I believe that the encouragement that Paul gives the Philippian church is relevant to where Christ the Redeemer is as a congregation. We’re in a good place. By the grace of God, we’re healthy, we’re united, and we’re grounded in the gospel. That doesn’t, however, mean that we should be sitting still. Instead, we’re called, together, to press on toward the goal.
In our Philippians study, we’re considering how we do just that. I’d love to have you join us.
In Christ,
Fr. Caleb