WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

I have heard this final instruction in 1 Thessalonians 4 taken seriously many times: “Encourage one another with these words.” It is a go-to passage for funerals and memorial services, whether simply as a reading or as the key text for a short sermon or reflection for those who are assembled to grieve together. This passage is one of the Bible’s simplest descriptions of Jesus’ Second Coming, written particularly because “we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). At times, I have heard undertakers and funeral attendants comment that Adventist funerals tend to be different—and it is likely that this passage explains why. In Paul’s understanding, remembering this promise is the reason believers in Jesus “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). This passage also brings together two elements of hope that we have reflected on in earlier readings. Hope is not simply a point of light in the distance; it is a light that shines from what we believe about the future and changes our experience today, even in the depths of grief.

But the Christian hope is also based on what we believe about what has happened in our history. “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

For some of the worst days of our lives, when we gather to mourn someone who has been dear to us, Paul gives us this simple statement to read together to help us remember the hope that is based on our history and on our future.

He offers us courage that we can share with each other for our present pain of grief, and the days of mourning and missing them that lie ahead.