In the lectionary, the book of Bible readings assigned to each day, the first lesson can be either from the Old or New Testments. (The second is always taken from one of the gospels.) After several weeks going through the first eight books in the Bible the lectionary shifts to the New Testament. St. Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica is generally assumed to be the oldest writing from the Christian era, from about 52AD. If Jesus died sometime around the year 30AD Paul’s letter is within the living memory of those who walked the roads of Galilee with him. The letter is modeled on the classical style of writing letters (usually called epistles today) that St. Paul adopted. Such letters were addressed to a local church because of a particular problem or question they were dealing with. However the cogency of Paul’s thought soon led to the letters being widely circulated to other local churches and eventually collected in the form we have them today. It is typical of St. Paul to begin his letters with a word of affirmation — We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers — always a good practice before chiding.
