Every parent knows one thing: when your teenager suddenly starts complimenting dinner or volunteering to take out the trash, something is up.

How bad was the grade?
Which fender got dented?
You want to go to the movies with whom?

But wait a minute: we adults practice this same good news/bad transparency tactic as well. Super-nanny Mary Poppins counseled that “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, in a most delightful way.” Or in more mountain culture terms, it’s called warming the water before you drown the cat.

It is this same sort of good news/bad news scenario that Paul offers today in his letter to the Thessalonians. Having been forced to leave that fledgling Christian community before he really wanted to, Paul is genuinely relieved and greatly pleased to hear from Timo…