Passing On the Faith

Here are some thoughts about this Sunday's second reading. What do you see here? Let's talk about it via email or in the comment section of the blog post. This was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. 

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
  ²To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

  ³I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
  ⁸Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, ⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, ¹²and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. ¹³Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Do you know anybody like Timothy; whose faith has such a history—faith that has run through the family from grandmother to mother to child? I know a few. One such family, I became acquainted with at seminary while taking out Amity and her predecessor, Abby. Joel was out with his dogs and we chatted. From his demeanor, I didn’t know and didn’t find out until later that he was the son of one of the professors whose family had a long history of service at the seminary. His uncle and other family members, as well as his father, had been professors. Joel is now a pastor. Throughout the family is a strong faith without inordinate pride because of their connections to the seminary.

Not all of us come from that kind of family, but rather came to faith later in life, like I did. I was a teenager and the faith mentors I looked to were outside of my family. The laying on of hands mentioned in this passage has always been very meaningful to me—from the time I was a teenager at a weekly charismatic prayer group in Rochester, where we regularly laid hands on those in need of prayer. We do that when we pray for the sick and on Maundy Thursday as well. Baptism and confirmation are other occasions for the laying on of hands.

Laying on of hands is part of the ordination service for pastors and deacons. Former was such power and a sense of the Holy Spirit working through her. It is something I will never forget.

We need to constantly remind ourselves to rekindle the gifts given us in baptism by the laying on of hands: particularly the gift of faith, which we have been freely given.

Stir up in [us] the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. Amen.  (ELW Leaders Desk Edition, p. 599).

Picture