It’s the end of the world as we know it: the Thessalonian letters
I take both the letters to the church at Thessalonica together. Between them they have no more lectionary readings than the individual letters we have already looked at, and they cover much the same territory. Their key theme is how to live when you are expecting the end of the world as you know it. While living in expectation of Christ’s appearing remains a significant theme in Paul’s letters, it is at its most intense here. It also seems to be an expectation that is not fully understood by his Gentile converts in Thessalonica, who lack the grounding in Old Testament texts to fully appreciate it. Unsurprisingly, given this emphasis, the majority of readings from these letters comes in the Advent season. These letters were (at least if they are both by Paul) probably written fairly closely together. According to Acts, Paul visited Thessalonica early on his second missionary journey (Acts 17), and these letters seem to have been written fairly soon after that, making Fir...