Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
STORY
Women in key roles at the Vatican and Catholic universities, who are in close orbit with each other, as they have been leading an effort to raise women’s standing and visibility in church governance, creating a growing network of experts, diplomats and scholars like them around the world.
To promote this within the church a conference in Rome is being held this day, called “Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity,” at Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. The conference is focusing on promoting women in the leadership positions of the church. Encouragement will be derived from many sources, though central to this endeavor will be examining the lives and legacies of 10 female saints, who despite the challenges of their times and cultures, left a meaningful mark in the church. Among better-known canonized women are Mother Teresa and Elizabeth Ann Seton, and the lesser-known saints will be women such as Josephine Bakhita, the first Black woman to be made a saint, who championed victims of human trafficking.
The organizer of the symposium is Gabriella Gambino, a professor of bioethics and undersecretary of the Vatican Department for Laity, Family and Life. The purpose of the gathering, according to Gambino, is: “It’s about living out baptismal vocation to the fullest, adopting within the church a new paradigm that is capable of understanding the female condition and can lead to the creation of roles for women in the church, especially at the local level, where they are often neglected.”
DEVOTION
Our scriptural text for this morning is a message of encouragement. Paul just discussed that the Parousia will be sudden and unexpected. Even though believers are prepared for that day, there is a certain amount of anxiety associated with the Second Coming. Therefore, Christians are to offer one another assurance.
Like so many biblical passages, there is a message that reaches beyond the eschatological message that this passage is directed to. It is a message that can be applied to every aspect of living in a Christian community. It is the message that we are to continually encourage and support each other.
This passage aptly addressees the Women in Church conference being held today, as women are to encourage one another to fulfill their roles in the Christian community. It applies to our own Christian conference – the community of believers of believes where you and I reside.
You and I are a part of a one another group: where we receive encouragement; where we offer encouragement. A discussion of what we can do and should do to spiritually support associates is not necessary for me to outline, as we inherently know what is expected. The question is – will we do it?
Lauren Daigle is a Christian singer who has won most every award possible for her inspiring songs. A part of her evangelical mission is preforming concerts at state penitentiaries. In December 2019 she performed at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, the largest maximum-security facility in the United States. Between songs Daigle offered encouraging words to the inmates. It was her desire to help them find a new direction in life. She hoped her songs and her performance would lead some of the inmates to Christ. For those who would not accept Jesus as their savior, she hoped her songs would offer comfort.
To date her most popular album, which was released in September 2018, is Look Up Child. At the Angola concert she shared with the men these words of comfort: “He doesn’t point a finger, He doesn’t give you shame, He sits with you. I think that’s why He’s called the Savior of the world.” She then shared words of encouragement that one will encounter in her song Look Up Child: “The one thing that you can always do is look up. You can look up and see the sky. You can look up and see the kindness of God, and His extravagant love for each one of you.”
Where are You now
When darkness seems to win?
Where are You now
When the world is crumbling?
Oh I, I-I-I, I hear You say
I hear You say
Look up child, hey
Look up child, hey