This sermon was preached on Rally Day, the day we dedicate Sunday School teachers, youth leaders, Children's Chapel leaders, hand out Bibles/books to our children (this was adjusted due to Covid), and preview our fall programming at the church.
“Baptize Again” 2 Timothy 1: 3-7; SAPC, Denton; September 12, 2021; Rally Day
3 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. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 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. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Move 1: In the first presbytery where I served in KY, I was part of the presbytery’s first Commissioned Lay Pastor committee. the committee recruited ruling elders to take classes we taught on theology, the Bible, church polity, an worship, so that they could then be commissioned to serve churches without pastors.
I’m not sure how I ended up on the committee, or how I was picked to teach Reformed theology, but there I was, driving over the Eastern KY once a month to teach Reformed theology to four ruling elders.
I had notes from my recent theology classes at seminary; they had notes from their many years of church leadership.
It turned out to be a great experience for me. I learned a lot from them. Not sure how much Reformed theology they learned.
I will never forget the class on the sacraments. We began with baptism.
I made what I thought was a fairly routine comment” “you are only baptized once in the Presbyterian tradition. We do not baptize twice.”
There was stunned silence.
One of the elders filled the silence: “you mean my son who I had baptized as an infant won’t get to be baptized again when he joins the church this year?”
“No,” I quickly replied. “God has acted in baptism once, and God does not need to do it again.” My quick response did not comprehend the depth of his concern.
“they didn’t tell me that when i agreed to have him baptized as an infant. he needs to be baptized for himself so he can claim his own faith.”
Thus began a long, challenging conversation about baptism - both the theology behind it and the practice of it.
We do not baptize twice in the Presbyterian tradition.
But, it does not mean we do not take growing in our discipleship seriously.
This morning we kick off our year of full-scale activities - Sunday school starts up in earnest next week; Super Wednesday begins this week; we tell you about all the offerings we have here at St. Andrew to entice you to be a part of some of them.
But do not miss the point - our activities are how we live out the commitment we make when we stand at the baptism of our babies and say we will stand with them, we will nurture them, we will guide them so that one day they may profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
In fact, we will not stop our nurture and guidance even after someone professes their faith.
We will continue to offer opportunities for Bible study, for learning about the Christian faith, for small groups, for all ages - all in an effort to help each of us grow in our discipleship, to claim and commit to Jesus Christ again and again.
Move 2: We read a portion of the 2nd Letter to Timothy. This letter is one of what are known as the “pastoral letters.” they are named pastoral letters because they deal with leadership and pastoral oversight in the early church.
the early church heavily invested in how to help people understand what it meant to believe in the resurrected Christ and how to help people grow in their discipleship.
Such is our task.
We read in this letter a bit about how Timothy’s faith has developed, how he has grown in his discipleship, though the example of the nurture of those who surround him in his life.
Ih this example, his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice have shared their faith with him, taught him the stories of the faith, and now he is embarking on his work of taking the faith to other churches and communities.
We not know the specifics of what Lois and Eunice did. But we can imagine:
we can imagine Lois and Eunice were like a mentor for one of our confirmands who reads the daily Bible readings assigned to the confirmands and then can discuss those readings with the confirmands.
We can imagine Lois and Eunice were like a SS teacher, who on a weekly basis tells a Bible story or provides a science project or art project or mission idea to explore and expand about a Bible story, making the story come alive for those who gather on Zoom or in the room to learn about God’s Word. their work would make Bible Billy happy.
We can imagine Lois and Eunice were like the choir directors who teach music and songs that give voice to our Bible stories and theological concepts in a fun, musical way.
We can imagine Lois and Eunice were like our Children’s Chapel volunteers who share a different Bible story each week and teach our children about worshipping God.
Timothy’s faith development was not just a random event. it happened under the guidance and witness of Lois and Eunice.
On Rally Day, we celebrate the intentional way in which St. Andrew helps us grow in our discipleship; to commit and claim again and again our faith in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: Peanuts cartoon: Linus: big sigh
Lucy: Stop that stupid sighing.
Linus: There's nothing wrong with sighing.
Lucy: There is if it bugs someone.
Linus: It’s Scriptural.
Lucy: It’s what?
Linus: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. Romans Eighth Chapter.
Lucy: I don’t know…I’m either going to have to slug him, or start going back to Sunday School”
I vote for Sunday School, or a Bible study, or choir, or a Super Wednesday class.
No comments:
Post a Comment