Carry On

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 & 13-17

Remembrance Sunday/Pentecost 23, November 9, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Carry On”

To begin, I wonder if you recognize who spoke these words?

“If we wait til we’re ready, we’ll be waiting the rest of our lives.”

“Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try.”

“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”

The first is Lemony Snicket.  The second is Yoda.  The third is Henry Ford.  All popular memes, but what do they have to do with our New Testament reading this morning?  The Day of the Lord is coming, says the writer of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians.  What are you going to do about it?

This letter is one of the oldest texts in the New Testament.  It was not even twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul and other early church leaders needed to address the questions and anxieties of the new faith communities.  As persecution, conflicts, and suffering increased, they were asking: Is this the end of the world? Some of them expected Jesus to return imminently and bring peace to the earth.  Some of them hoped to be carried away to life everlasting and leave this mess behind.  And others struggled to find a way to keep the faith and persevere in doing good in spite of the state of the world.  Paul, with Silvanus and Timothy, had already visited the church in Thessalonica and taught them the basics of how to live as followers of Christ.  Now the encouragement is to get on with it rather than curl up in a ball and whimper.  What we do in this life matters. 

The questions have not gone away, have they? Every generation has come up against the forces of evil in the world.  Paul refers to the coming of a “lawless one” who will alarm, deceive, and shake our faith in the possibility of goodness.  For the first century Church, many saw the emperor Nero as the antithesis of Christ.  But the world didn’t end.  During World War II, Hitler became the face of evil. Yet, his tyranny was overcome.  Time and again, history has shown us that powers can rise which do not see good in others but think that they are like God.  This arrogance of spirit is the root of evil.  The systems that allow them to operate, through oppression, persecution, conflict, and control of resources, are sinful.  Christians are called to oppose not just persons but structures of evil.  Doing nothing is not an option.

During the Second World War, a German Lutheran pastor named Martin Niemöller encouraged faithful people to resist the ideology and programs of the Nazis.  He observed that if good people did nothing, evil would come to destroy us all. 

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

We are to prepare for the Day of the Lord by standing firm in our Scripture and our tradition.  We are to guard against lawlessness and arrogance.  But this cannot be achieved by individual piety as we look forward to the time when Jesus will put everything right.   It is to be lived out each day in our interactions with others.  We don’t have a firm date on the calendar to plan for.  So every day is a precious opportunity for good. 

In our present day, we could just as easily label an individual as the sign that the end of the world as we know it is approaching.  But it doesn’t matter who spurs us to action if the wrongdoing going on gives us the opportunity to stand up, speak out, and fight back.  What we need to be clear about is whose law we are following.  The writer of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians was framing defence of the law in terms of God’s Law, not civil authorities.  The highest commandment of all is to love God and love our neighbour as ourself.  As believers in Jesus Christ, we are being made holy through the living out of this decree.  There is no room for arrogance- of thinking that part of God’s law doesn’t apply.  We can’t pick and choose who our neighbour is: who lives nearby, or who needs help.  We can’t demonize people or groups. What we can do is fight back when the law of God’s love is violated. 

On Tuesday, Canadians will be observing a day of Remembrance for those who resisted evil in conflicts:  the Great War of 1914-1918, the Second World War from 1939-1945, the Korean Conflict, and more recent wars and peacekeeping exercises.  Many men and women died in seeking to protect not only Canada but other Allied countries from the arrogance of lawless ones.  Many more were wounded in body, mind, and spirit through the trauma of serving in the armed forces or enduring in areas of conflict.  Some chose to resist in peaceful roles.  Some resisted through sheltering refugees or providing supplies.  Some worked in jobs that kept people fed and equipped.  The wartime efforts involved massive investments in human labour and resources for concentrated periods.  But evil does not end when the war is over.  There is work to do to address systems of inequity and oppression.  There is still healing over generations.  And we are called never to forget that the sacrifices that have been made are kept valuable by the labour we do now.

God gives us the strength to persist.  “God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).  At work within us is the Spirit of Christ which helps us discern what is right and good.  The power of evil is limited, no matter how strong it appears.  The Day of the Lord is coming.  Until then, keep calm and carry on.  Amen.