Re-kindle
the Gift of God
2
Timothy 1:3-7
October
2, 2016
Mark
S. Bollwinkel
In the New Testament letters of the early church Timothy
is described as the Apostle Paul’s representative, emissary and colleague. He travels with Paul throughout his journeys,
will spend time with him in prison and when Paul can’t get away to make a
meeting he sends his trusted friend Timothy whom Paul calls “my true child in
the faith” (I Tim 1:2). Paul uses this
phrase because Timothy was very young.
He may also have been bashful and lacking in self-confidence. When Paul was in Ephesus Corinth 16:10 -11).
In our text this morning Paul opens
his letter to Timothy trying to encourage his young friend’s faith and
courage. To do so he reminds him of his
roots. Specifically, Paul reminds him of
the faith and courage of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. These are the only two references of these
women by name in the Bible.
They were both converts to Christianity from
Judaism. Although Jewish they both had
gentile names reflecting the cosmopolitan region of Galatia in which they lived. That area was known for a diversity of people
from a variety of cultures and religious backgrounds. Since
she married a gentile and did not have her son circumcised (Acts 16:1-3), both
in violation of strong Jewish traditions, Eunice had to have been ambivalent
about her religious heritage.
Nevertheless, something in Lois’ and Eunice’s
experience of Jesus of Nazareth and conversion to his way of life so transforms
their lives that a male writer in a time when women were considered second
class citizens at best, mere property at worst, cites them by name as examples
of courage and faith. Where their religion had once been passive and confused
they acted with passion and purpose in their new faith.
To “rekindle the gift of God” within him, Paul
reminds Timothy that he has been nurtured by such saints as Lois and
Eunice. Now it is up to him to live in
the “spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline”.
The primary task of Church of the
Wayfarer United Methodist church is to do everything in our power to foster
personal spirituality and social responsibility; we call that mission “Reaching
Up, Reaching In and Reaching Out”. My
job as a pastor is to challenge each one of us, and especially myself, to
“rekindle the gift of God” within us. To
stretch our thinking, to engage our passion, to risk our comfort zones, to dare
again to change and grow as individuals and as a church together. In part that means to reach beyond the
routine of our religious expectations and be open to God’s calling for our
future and our world. And then to act
on it; not just pay it lip service.
Personally that may mean an attempt
to reconcile with that brother or sister you haven’t spoken to for years. It may mean getting help for the marriage
you dare not even speak about. It may
mean reconsidering that job you hate.
It may mean putting off college for a few years until you know what you
want to do there besides fulfilling the pressures and expectations of your
parents.
As a church, it may mean offering worship
experiences based on the needs of those who aren’t here. It may mean moving beyond making donations to
the poor and homeless on the Monterey Peninsula and asking why there are poor
among us in the first place.
Personal spirituality is an empty
exercise in narcissism if there is no commitment to make it our way of
living. And social responsibility is
empty self-righteousness if it does not come from the heart. In the end true religion is not found in our
dogma and ritual but in how we live.
What actions can we take to
“rekindle the gift of God” within us? Like Timothy most of us probably aren’t even
ready to answer such a question. That
is why Paul reminds him of Lois and Eunice.
What they did to gain such acclaim is left mostly to
our imagination but in one little verse we may get a hint. Lois and Eunice were the ones who taught
Timothy to read the scriptures of the Old Testament which would lay the
foundation for his own faith in Jesus (II Tim 3:15 ). These two
women were not strangers to the Bible. They
had the passion to teach others about what they found in God.
If we would like to do more than ‘go through the
motions’ of religious life and tap into the “spirit of power and of love and of
self-discipline” we need get to know the Bible as a spiritual resource for our
lives. We can discover that in prayer
and meditations we can encounter God’s dream for our lives. We can take some time to nurture our own
dreams for our lives and this wonderful church.
Today we join with Protestant
churches around the world on World Communion Sunday. As we do so we remember that we are part of
the global Body of Christ, God’s hands and feet in the world. We strive to live inspired by the words of
St. Francis, to be a people “where there is hatred, sowing love…where there is
misery, God’s pardon…where there is doubt, true faith in the One God…” We remember his compassion for all of God’s
living things, even animals and birds of the air. As our pets so often offer us their
unconditional love, Christians strive to be agents of God’s unconditional love
for the world.
As we take Holy Communion this morning together,
remember those who have shaped your faith.
Did you have a “Lois” or “Eunice” to show you the way? Name in your hearts those whose courage and
grace inspire you even today.
And pause for
a moment to consider how many are counting on you and me. Will they remember our names long after we
are gone because we “Reached Up, Reached In and Reached Out”?
Amen.
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