20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C October 6, 2013
Episcopal Church of the Ascension The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess
Faith Received, Nurtured, and Lived Out in Relationship
I. Introduction. The parable of the mustard seed is one of the best known of Jesus’ teachings. The Apostles had just asked Jesus to “increase their faith.” In response, he told them that if they had just a small amount of faith, as represented by the tiny mustard seed, they could move mountains. His exact words are that by merely speaking in faith they could uproot a mulberry tree, with all its deep roots, and plant it in the sea. Jesus used the example of a very small seed from the mustard plant, which was actually considered a weed, to exemplify his point about the power of faith. A wonderful image. Jesus was saying to them, and is saying to us, don’t worry about getting more faith, take action, relying upon the faith you already have. That’s all I’m going to say about the mustard seed now. Instead, by drawing on today’s reading from 2 Timothy, I want to come at this idea of faith in a slightly different way.
II. Paul’s story. It is believed that Paul had a very close relationship with Timothy and was writing this epistle from prison where he was alone and clearly cognizant that he was likely to be executed soon. He was certain that he would never see Timothy face to face again in this life. Paul had great affection for Timothy and clearly wanted to encourage him in his faith, thus preparing him for the time when he, Timothy’s mentor, would be gone. This story is poignant and personal. Because there was very little time left, we can assume that Paul’s final words carried a great deal of weight and meaning to Timothy. One of the first things Paul does in this letter is to affirm the sincere faith that he believes Timothy has. Now I want you to notice something in this letter that I believe is powerfully important. Timothy’s faith had “first lived in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.” Timothy’s faith obviously had not developed in a vacuum. It was a natural outcome of the faithful examples set by two generations of women in his family. How many generations of faithful women have blessed you in your life?
Like Timothy, I can also personally count two generations of faithful women. And it was the women in my life who often had my back. One of my grandfathers died before I was born, and the other abandoned his family. But, I can clearly remember the faith of both of my grandmothers, rooted in the tradition of the Methodist Church and never wavering. I know what each of their favorite hymns was, and I know that they prayed for me constantly. I also had a mother who loved me for years in spite of myself and always saw the good possibilities rather than the negative patterns. I’ll share a humorous but telling moment with you – at my mother’s viewing, two friends of hers came up to the casket and quietly said, “I heard she had a really tough time with her son.” Parenthetically, she had only one son – me! The second woman said in response, “Yes, I heard that too, he was quite a bad boy, but I think he turned out OK. Not sure about that, but I think so.” I smiled because they had no idea that I was close by – and because they were right –about almost everything but whether I would turn out OK. The jury is still out on that. But here’s the key idea I want to stress this morning. Mothers and grandmothers, never give up, never stop praying; always remember that it is the faith in you that the Holy Spirit can use to bring your children and grandchildren to faith.
III. One generation to another. Also notice in the text that Timothy’s faith grew from another source and that was his relationship with Paul, a man one generation older than himself. “For this reason,” Paul writes, “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you by the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us (notice that the word Paul used is us, not you) – God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. The faith that Timothy first saw in his mother and grandmother was re-enforced in his spiritual experiences with Paul. This is so very important for us to comprehend as a community. We have tremendous cross-generational resources here at Church of the Ascension. We have men and women from every living generation right here this morning, worshipping together and listening to the words of the Holy Spirit.
Some of you might remember Sr. Rosina, who preached at my installation service. She has since returned to her home in Ghana to continue her ministry by mentoring women preparing for ordination and starting new churches. One of her observations about Ascension was the large number of middle-aged and older men in this congregation, men who worked together on so many projects, and how rare that was in other churches. She was very impressed with the resource we have in these men at Ascension. And she was right. I would emphasize that there is a similar resource in our women, also are involved in many projects, prayer, and study groups. Why is this important? Because when we remind one another to “rekindle” our faith, we teach, affirm, and model our faith relationally across generations. By sharing the gift of faith that God has given us with others, we become an empowered faith community.
IV. Power, love, and self-discipline. I truly believe that trying to cultivate the power of the Spirit alone is very difficult, if not downright impossible. It has to be done in relationships within families and communities. Herein, I believe, lies the exciting cutting edge for us at Church of the Ascension. My observation is that we are quite good at relationship building and sustaining. By and large we really like each other and get alone very well. Our next step is to become even more intentional about how together we grow in spiritual power, love, and self-discipline. Can we become more and more intentional about “rekindling” the spiritual power in our community? This is far less intimidating than many of us imagine. I would suggest that we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to further energize Ascension. This church can move mountain after mountain if we really take hold of the power of our faith in Christ.
And what about love? That is so much love here. I sensed it the first Sunday I walked into this chancel. But what if we stretched the limits of that love even further? What if each one of us reached out to someone near us in this service and connected more deeply than we usually do? What if we looked around and tried to think of the people who usually sit near us, but aren’t here today or perhaps haven’t been here for several weeks? Then what if we called them to see if they need us in some way.
And then, self-discipline. That’s the tough one for me. Tell me I have to do something and my motivation takes a nosedive. But you know what helps me pray and read Scripture regularly? When I’m doing it in relationship with others. It could be with Peg before I leave in the morning. It could be with other clergy. And it could be in small groups that are praying and studying Scripture. My self-discipline in spiritual practices is strengthened when I am engaging in those practices with others.
V. Conclusion. We are blessed. We are loving, we have a range of ideas and outlooks across and within generations, and we have the sacrament of the Eucharist where Christ meets and empowers us each week. I will conclude by making an offer about which I’m very serious. I would welcome any one here who is searching for a place in this community where they can rekindle the gift of faith to come to see me or one of the other clergy. We will do everything that we can to help you make connections with others with whom your faith can be shared and supported. There are many more mountains that we can move together when our connections are strong and Christ-centered at Church of the Ascension. Amen.
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