Paul’s letter to the Philippians has been a favorite of mine ever since I was a child. I was rerreading a portion of it this morning, my childhood long behind me, and jotting down some thoughts that maybe reframe how this letter continues to speak to me today:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! 5 Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! 6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds[e] in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:4-9
- I noted how the call to rejoice needs to be repeated? (4:4) Why is that? Perhaps because our default is to question such an act when things don’t seem or feel rejoice-worthy. The older I get the more this needs to be repeated
- Maybe rejoice-worthy is a better translation than praiseworthy in 4:8. Rejoice in Greek is chairo, and indicates something that we are, or to be someone with a particular posture and who abides in a particular way that reflects joy and trust. The Greek for praiseworthy is epainos euphemos. This digs underneath the what of what we are called to be (rejoicers) and names that particular posture as good. Thus these two words are intimately connected, Locating the source of our being in that which is true and beautuful
- To rejoice is to see that the Lord is near, nearness is an invitation to prayer, prayer is an invitation to give thanks. (4:6)
- Nouwen, Willard, Bates, Wright, Gorman, McKnight, Gaventa, Rutledge. These are just some of the names at the forefront of a conversation about the word faith that has been going on over the last 15 or so years. There has been a movement to reclaim the heart of the word pistis as trust or allegiance. Thus to pray is also an appeal to trust (as I heard Tyler Staton put it in a recent sermon). Trust is an active word. It is also a responsive word. Thus it is neither blindly rendered nor removed from the art of rejoicing. It binds us in allegiance to that which is named true and beautiful, to the one who has come near.
The Stories of my Life 