Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
May 10, 2009
Passing on A Legacy of Faith
(2 Timothy 1:1-7)
" I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…” "
(1 Timothy 1:5)
Ministers are often in a dilemma on Mother's Day. For one thing, Mother's Day is not on the liturgical calendar. Mother's Day is not an official church festival like Christmas or Easter. There are no texts in the lectionary for Mother's Day. In fact, officially, the church ignores it, which probably is not a good idea, since the reality is that lots of people are in church today because it's Mother's Day.
I ran across a piece this week entitled, “Things Mom Would Never Say” that I thought worth sharing. They included the following:
- "How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
- "Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too."
- "Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look much more cheery."
- "Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"
- "Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day."
- "Well, if Sally's mamma says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
- "The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
- "Don't bother wearing a jacket -- the wind-chill is bound to improve."
- "I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve."
Over my years with you, I have shared Mother's Day messages on various mothers of the Bible and I have tried to glean from each their lives characteristics with which mothers today could relate. In doing this, we've covered a lot of territory.
To be a mother has never been an easy job. As one person put it, “If it was going to be easy, it would never have started with something called labor!”
Anna Jarvis was the woman who began the official observance of Mother's Day here in the United States. After her mother died, Anna wanted all mothers to be remembered. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother's Day a national holiday. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.
Well, when I began thinking about my message for this year's Mother's Day and, perhaps, because I've been spending so much time on the life of the Apostle Paul, I was prompted to revisit his Second Letter to Timothy, because of the fact that in that letter, he makes mention of Timothy's mother, Eunice. Paul refers to the faith handed down to Timothy from his mother and his grandmother, Lois. And what more relevant subject could there be for today than passing on a legacy of faith.
Paul was writing to Timothy to encourage him in his own faith. In doing this, he calls to mind Timothy's mother, reminding him of her faith – a faith that Timothy obviously watched his mother live out in her life.
We really don't know much about Eunice, other than the fact that she was a mother and that she was a believer in Jesus Christ. But knowing those two things speaks volumes.
Eunice was a mother – a parent. Now, not everyone is a parent, but all of us have been around parents. And one thing about parenting is that you do a lot of that very publically.
Parents are interesting creatures. You don't start out as a parent, of course. You start out as a person and then you become a parent. The transition begins with pregnancy. In preparation for your entry into parenthood, you read books and you go to childbirth classes. And, along the way, you convince yourselves from the beginning that you will be good parents. The child is born and, suddenly, your life changes.
For one thing, you say goodbye to spontaneity. No more hopping in the car, spur-of-the-moment, to go out to dinner, to a show or to the shopping mall. These all require preparations. You have to make sure you bring along with you extra diapers, baby wipes, baby bottles, pacifiers, etc. Your conversations with others evolve into discussing pediatricians and daycare and preschools and “She did the cutest thing this morning…” or “How on earth did he hurt himself on that?”
The people we used to be recedes into the past. As parents, we work hard to make sure that our children are taken care of and that they are loved, happy and kept safe. We pour ourselves into ensuring that our children have a bright future.
Along the way, however, we discover that no matter how much we learn about parenting, or how skilled we are or what practices we maintain, there comes a time when we realize that we cannot ensure the future for our children. We cannot always protect them or advise them or insulate them from the harshness of the world. We cannot save them from injuries, whether they are skinned knees, broken hearts or even having their faith shaken.
Yes, being a parent and, especially, being a mother is hard work. Loving and caring parents never stop trying to learn how to be better parents.
Eunice, the mother of Timothy, was a parent. She endured all the hard work and daily chores and trying moments that were a part of her role. The Bible doesn't tell us this, but we know she experienced exhaustion, frustration and tears. Every mother does. But through it all, she persevered. In time and by her efforts, she raised Timothy to adulthood. Yes, Eunice was a mother.
The second thing we know about Eunice was that she was a believer in Jesus Christ. Remember the words that Paul wrote to Timothy, “ I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…” (1 Timothy 1:5).
There is so much parents have to teach their children. We parents want our children to learn to sing and go to dance class and play ball and learn a musical instrument. We want them to learn their colors and the alphabet and we want them to benefit from all the recreational and extracurricular opportunities that are available in our community, because we know that all of these are important.
But there is also something else. It is important for our children to know what we believe. Timothy's faith first lived in Eunice.
Whenever a child is baptized, we ask the parents, “Do you promise with the aid of God's Holy Spirit, to bring your child up to be Christ's disciple, to obey his word and to show his love?”
Parents have a responsibility to nurture their children in their Christian faith!
I get so frustrated whenever I hear parents say that they are going to let their children decide on their own about their religious preference? Whenever I hear that, I want to ask the parents, “Are you also going to let your children decide about personal hygiene – taking baths or showers, brushing their teeth or eating vegetables? And then I want to tell them: your children are going to make their own decisions on these matters anyway. Your job is to nurture them the best way you know how – both spiritually and physically.
I grew up in the church. Granted, my father was a pastor. But I went to church at least every Sunday. I knew the hallways as well as the heart-ways. Once I graduated from high school and left home, I was on my own.
Like Timothy, the faith that first lived in my parents now lives in me – not perfectly, not without its shortcomings and failures but is ingrained so as to be a part of who I am and will be for the rest of my life. The truth is for most all of us, that the faith we have first lived in someone else.
Ann Lamott, in her book Traveling Mercies writes about taking her son Sam to church. “The main reason is that I want to give him what I found in the world, which is to say a path and a little light to see by. Most of the people I know who have what I want – which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude and joy – are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray and who practice their faith” (Lamott, Traveling Mercies , [1999], p. 100).
Our children need to know what we believe. We need to tell them and show them.
I know we're all busy. We meet ourselves coming and going. Yet our window of opportunity is so small.
Bring your children to Sunday school and to worship. Bring them to LOGOS. Talk with them. Share your faith. Let them know your heart!
Timothy became Paul's right-hand man. Neither Paul nor his mother, Eunice, nor Timothy's grandmother, Lois, could ensure what Timothy would believe. But they could make certain that Timothy knew what they believed.
And that is the start every mother – every parent -- needs to make with his or her children!
