"Becoming Imitators" by Rev. Jillian Hankamer 5/25/2025

A sermon for Northminster Church

Acts 17:1-19 and 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10

            Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, was known as a man of few words and an excessively dry wit. One particular story highlights the President’s enjoyment of practical jokes. During breakfast with Coolidge, a foreign dignitary was concerned about committing a faux pas, so he decided to avoid one by imitating the President’s every move. This approach worked just fine until Coolidge “ostentatiously stirred sugar and cream into his coffee, poured it into the saucer, and placed the saucer on the carpet for his cat.”^[1] The dignitary’s reaction isn’t recorded, but we can hope he saw the impish humor in the President’s coffee preparations, and the two men could have a good laugh.

            Often, when we think of the word imitation, it’s not in a positive light. My Aunt Jill, for example, is a cheese snob who refuses to eat imitation cheese, claiming that anything labeled a “cheese-food product” isn’t really food. By comparison, my lovely husband’s favorite cheese, Provel, is a St. Louis staple that makes no bones about being a “cheese-food product.” St. Louisans swear by the stuff even though when it cools, it has the consistency and taste of candle wax.

 And we’ve all seen knock-offs of more expensive products. Artwork that makes us shake our heads at how poorly reproduced it is. Cheap versions of designer purses and shoes. There’s an entire portion of the makeup and perfume industries dedicated to “dupes,” making the same product just as well for a third of the cost. There are few things funnier than a comedian who’s good at impressions. Robin Williams immediately springs to mind for me. And it’s fascinating to watch actors transform into other people.

Several years ago, I was lucky enough to spend a few days at Colonial Williamsburg with the Baptist Joint Committee as part of their Fellows Program. Easily the most interesting part of our time at Williamsburg was a conversation with the Historical Interpreter portraying young Thomas Jefferson. At one point, someone asked young Thomas a difficult question about his involvement with slavery. Rather than staying in character, the interpreter took a step back, removed his hat, relaxed his face and posture, and answered as himself. I doubt this is an approach the interpreter often takes, but it was the right and humble way to answer the question. And it allowed us to watch him resume his elegant posture, put his hat back on, and transform back into Thomas Jefferson.

In the letter to the Ephesians, the people of the church are instructed in 5:1 to “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”^[2] And here in 1 Thessalonians, we have Paul commenting on the people’s imitation of him, Silvanus, and Timothy.

This morning’s readings are the text from Acts and the verses from Thessalonians, which offer context and a direct letter to the former. Though I’m focusing on Thessalonians, it is fascinating to hear this story of Paul’s first visit to Thessalonica, during which he, Silas, and Jason are accused by the Jewish community of “turning the world upside down.”

As an aside, no one knows for sure who Jason is, as he’s only mentioned briefly here in Acts and possibly just as briefly in Romans 16. Both Catholic and Orthodox traditions venerate Jason as a saint, and he is often counted among the 70 disciples Jesus sends out in Luke 10.

The Paul we encounter in 1 Thessalonians is far less contentious and rabble-rousing. In fact, it’s clear throughout his letter that Paul loves this community as  he addresses them as “brother” and “sister” fourteen times, talks of himself as their “mother” and “father,” and in chapter 2, “compares his separation from them to that of an orphan separated from its family.”^[3] 

Written sometime between 40 CE to 50 CE, 1 Thessalonians predates Mark’s gospel by 20 years, making it the oldest Christian writing in the entire New Testament. As such, this letter “is the first proclamation of the gospel, the good news in written form.”^[4] Unlike later New Testament texts, 1 Thessalonians does not include quotations from the Hebrew Bible, as it was written to a mostly Gentile community, Paul’s interactions with the Jewish community ending quite badly, as we hear in Acts 17.

That’s why Paul makes it clear that these believers have been chosen by God in verse 4. Unlike Jewish converts to Christianity, Gentile folks are new to the concept of being chosen by God. Paul follows this loving affirmation up with another: the message of God came to the people through the power of the Holy Spirit, “with full conviction.” In other words, God approves of this community and just as they turned toward the Eternal One by accepting Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy’s teaching, God accepts and reaches out to the community through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As modern readers, we well know that questions about belonging will be asked throughout the rest of the New Testament. Questions about belonging and who’s in and who’s out are at the heart of the debate about circumcision. But here, at the beginning of the Jesus movement, Paul makes it clear to this community that’s so precious to him, that they belong.

They belong because God chooses them. They belong because they’ve persevered with joy despite persecution. They belong because they’ve become imitators of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. And in doing so, they have established themselves as an example to other communities. But Paul makes it clear that the community is not an example because of their excellent theology or conversion of new believers. The Thessalonians aren’t an example because of their high-tech services or mob of young families. They aren’t an example because they live in perfect harmony and never have conflict within the community.

The Thessalonians are an example because they’re kind, hospitable, and seek to serve God.

Claimed by the Eternal Parent, these Gentile believers have found belonging in their new identity as Christ-followers. Empowered by that identity and the example of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, they have spread the Good News of Christ through the simple, but vitally important choice to be kind, to practice hospitality, and to persevere in faithful service.

My friends, the first part of the Good News this morning is that we are the inheritors of the Thessalonians’ example. If God were to write us a letter, She would fill it with the same message of choosing, the same unshakeable confirmation that we are accepted and are Her people simply because of the relationships we have with God and with each other.

But I wonder…

I wonder how we’d measure up to the Thessalonians’ example of kindness, hospitality, and faithfulness. We all know the Church has a well-deserved reputation for exclusivity and judgment, which, call me biased, I think we do a pretty good job of dispelling here at Northminster. But we are people who like our traditions. We are people who get comfortable with routine. We have our disagreements and are far from perfect.

But you know as well as I do that people and churches who aren’t willing to change or evolve atrophy. They become irrelevant. Sometimes they do more harm than good. So, what do we do to start from a place of kindness when we’re tired? How do we continue to offer the kind of hospitality that makes people do a double-take when they find out we’re a Baptist church? How do we remain faithful when it feels like the world is falling apart?

That’s the second half of this morning’s Good News, for in those moments we are to become imitators. We are to take on the example of Jesus and live it out as best we can. We are to be like those faithful folks who came before us until their example becomes instinctual. Here at Northminster, this looks like imitating our founding members, so many of whom sit in the sanctuary today, and who made the decision to step away from the established church they knew to take a chance on a new place that would be accepting of all people. Thank God they did.  Here at Northminster, this looks like imitating DH Clark’s love for music and Turner Wilson and Cathy Webb’s willingness to enrich our worship with their beautiful readings of scripture.

 It looks like Mara Loeb’s commitment to the migrant community and Susan Curry, Beth Mayfield, JK Kimble-Keen, Tiffany Smith, and Ann Aro’s commitment to our children and youth. It looks like Hannah Clark’s constant efforts to keep our building functional and Peggy Burns’ willingness to prepare communion for our community every week. It looks like all of our leaders, past and present, give of their time and talents to organize commissions and keep our church running. It looks like Renee Decker, our church secretary, works so hard for all of us. It looks like all of you parents who manage to get your kids to church on a Sunday morning alive, dressed, and even remotely on time. It looks like Brandy Kimble-Keen, who goes grocery shopping for youth events despite her van full of kids in town, and then cooks delicious meals with her whole heart. It looks like Dibble….- a matriarch of the faith who dedicated so much to this good place and who we should all aspire to grow up and be.

In case you’re in any doubt, my friends, these people I’ve mentioned and everyone who’s part of our community have something to offer. Something worth imitating. After all, that’s why God gives us communities: so that we might become imitators of Christ and imitators of each other.

With that in mind, your homework this week is to reach out to three people in our church and tell them what you admire about them. What gifts you give thanks for in them. If you’re not a member or friend of Northminster, the assignment still applies. Reach out to a friend or family member or co-worker and let them know how they’ve imitated Christ for you. In this way, we can be imitators of each other and therefore imitators of Jesus. In this way, we can remember that each and every one of us is chosen by God.

^[1] Jack Smith, “Expanding on a Man of Few Words,” January 21, 1988 from The Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-21-vw-37238-story.html

^[2] All scripture references are from the NRSV unless otherwise noted.

^[3] The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocropha, “1 Thessalonians Introduction” by Raymond F. Collins, pg. 2115.

^[4] Ibid.