Week of 1 Advent, Monday

"In every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak of it." - 1 Thess. 1:8

In the Collect for the Renewal of Life, we pray to God that "having done your will with cheerfulness during the day," we may "rejoice to give you thanks" (BCP 99).

I've often thought about the power of a cheerful, faithful person to affect the world they move through. There's a quiet confidence in some believers which is a winsome example, drawing others to them as if to say, "How can I gain that peace in my own life?"

There's a similar attraction to people who do their work with skill and care. We have engaged a man to do some woodwork in our home, and he demonstrates in every action that he knows what he is about, understands what we picture for our house better than we do, and will bring his best work to our (admittedly small) projects.

When the "authorities" question Jesus in the Temple, pressing him to justify his actions, they are on the wrong tack. Talking about the source of one's confidence does not come first; living in faith, like the new believers in Thessalonika, comes first. Cheerful faith draws widening circles of closer communion; concern about authority draws lines instead.