During the month of November and again on the third Sunday of Advent, many Christian churches will use sections from the First Letter to the Thessalonians as their “Epistle for the Sunday.” This significant letter, hard to find tucked away among the shorter writings of the apostle Paul, is the earliest Christian writing in the New Testament. It is the first attempt to give advice to a Christian community in the form of a pastoral letter. Paul preached in Thessalonica sometime during the spring or summer of 50 C.E., but he encountered hostility and had to leave prematurely. Acts […]
