A Spirit of Power, Love, and Self-Discipline
II Timothy 1:3-7
I 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. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I 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. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
I love this passage celebrating the family of Timothy and his heritage of faith handed down by his mother and grandmother. I was blessed with a similar heritage. My whole life my family was involved in the life of the churches we attended and the faith we shared. We had family devotionals every evening after supper and then were read Bible stories as part of our “tucking in” practice every night. I had no idea that this was not a universal family practice.
But when I was a teen, that illusion was shattered. And it really needed to be. I am so proud of the youth of St Andrew UMC and how they support and care for one another. My youth group at Kennesaw First Baptist was essentially none existent. Often I would be the only one to show up on Sunday evenings for what was supposed to be a youth Bible study. So I began asking my folks to let me stop going. That wasn’t going to happen.
Instead my Mom had a friend who raved about the Sunday night youth group that met at Roswell Street Baptist Church. So she insisted that I attend. I went, not knowing a single soul there. As we sat in a circle that evening, the youth pastor sat down next to me on my left with more than a dozen youth in the circle. Since I was new, he requested that those attending introduce themselves and give a witness as to how they had “found Jesus”. He started to his left, so I was relieved that I would be going last.
I was not prepared, being young and naive, for what I heard. I had grown up in a number of churches and denominations since my father’s work in the USAF took us to new communities every 6-12 months. So the only children I had been exposed to were schoolmates, those living in my neighborhood or attending the same church. Heavy on the church. The rule was that if the lights were on in the church, the McGrath family would be there. And when you are young you tend to think that what is true for your family circle is true for every family on the planet. This evening, I was in for a rude awakening.
As they went around the circle, each young person gave their name, but not everyone gave a “witness” as to how they had come to love Jesus. The first one spoke of having to have lived a life of sin that involved smoking cigarettes. The second of a life brought down by alcohol. The third by drug addiction.The fourth by crime and gang involvement. By the time they got to the fifth person, his recounting of his sexual activities was just about all my 16-year old innocent mind could take. All I could think was, “Who are these people and what am I doing in the same room with them?”
Then all eyes turned to me. It may seem strange, but I was almost ashamed that I didn’t have some horror story of sin to share. So I apologized and told them, “I have been raised in the church. I have never not believed in God and Jesus Christ and the Bible and I still do. But I’m happy that we’re all here together.”
It took me a few days for all that to sink in. But it was good for me to hear the great variety of ways that Christ brings people into His Loving families of faith. As I grew in faith and in the life experiences I have had, my faith has been tested and too often found wanting. But I also have come to know that there is no depth to which we can sink…no distance we can move away from Christ from which we can escape the loving care of God’s Holy Spirit…no fear or darkness into which we may dive that God cannot bring Light. And in all those times, the faith of my fathers and mothers as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ that have repeatedly inspired and renewed my faith.
We here at St Andrew UMC have that faith to share. Bless you one and all as we serve one another and Christ’s Church in Love and Faith. “For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you..”
Jim McGrath
