2 Timothy 1:1-14 A
Living Faith Tradition
Today we have been talking
about tradition.
Whenever I hear that word, I
immediately think of that song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof,
where the Jewish Papa sings
“Tradition! Tradition!”
Every church has
traditions. Today we are surrounded by
them.
There’s the tradition of
communion that we are highlighting for World Communion Sunday.
The breads we ate today
symbolized some of old and new traditions.
In the letter to Timothy that
we just heard, we hear of the tradition of the Christian faith.
And of course sometime this
afternoon, we are going to be immersed in the tradition of our Pumpkin Patch
here in our church.
In today’s letter from Paul
to Timothy, he is talking about a living faith tradition -
the tradition that has been
kept alive and handed down now through 3 generations.
In this letter to Timothy,
Paul speaks of Lois and Eunice, grandmother and mother of Timothy.
Faith first lived in them, he
says, and has been handed down to Timothy.
This brief reference to these
two women immediately reminded me of Bev and Paul Simpson, here in our own
congregation, (who have given me permission to talk about them!)
They faithfully bring their great-
granddaughter Bianca to church each Sunday.
Bev has told me that her own
grandmother was a great influence on forming her faith -
she taught Sunday School, and
she gave her a chance to go to church as a girl.
This handed-down faith is
influencing Bianca.
She is the little girl who I
met shortly after I came last winter, when she kept checking “wants to be a
member” on the guest register. And then
after she was baptized on Easter,
she kept asking for a
nametag, saying, I won’t really feel like I belong till I have one.”
Our faith is a handed down
faith. Someone once said that in every
generation,
our faith is in danger of
dying unless we pass it along to the next generation.
In the church, we are
surrounded by these living faith traditions.
But today, since it is World Communion Sunday,
it seems appropriate to look
at one particular living faith tradition - communion.
What I have discovered about
people in Disciples churches is that we treasure our communion time.
Just this week, in our
Tuesday night Bible study, we were discussing worship.
I asked them to a recall a
worship service or event that was particularly meaningful to them.
I had barely asked the
question when at least 6 people chimed in and said “Communion.”
And for good reason. Communion
is a living tradition that has been handed down to us by the early
church. Listen to these words that we
hear each Sunday during our communion service.
They are from Paul’s letter
to the Corinthian church as he instructed them on their worship together:
“For I received from the Lord
what I also handed on to you, that
the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and
when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
“This is my body that is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way he took the
cup also, after super, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink
the cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes.” 1 Cor
Communion is a handed down
tradition. And it is a living faith
tradition that is so rich with meaning
that it is impossible to
fully understand it in any one worship service. Many Christian traditions have a formal
liturgy that embodies many of these meanings.
We Disciples prefer to pray at the Table in what is known as the “free
church” tradition. And while some
churches say everything there is to say about communion when they have communion once/month or
once/quarter, since we have communion
every week, you’ll hear these meanings
and themes of communion spread out over several weeks.
But today, because it is
World Communion Sunday I want to share with you some of the meanings behind the
good treasure of communion - the tradition that Paul received from the Lord,
and has handed down to all of us.
There is an insert in your
bulletin that we’ll be using for this part of today’s message.
There are also pens available
in the rows I encourage you to get this
insert out and fill in the blanks
as we walk through this
teaching.
The Lord’s Supper teaches us
about
·
God’s self-giving
(our God is a gracious and giving God, full of steadfast love)
·
God’s love made
visible (in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ)
There are biblical images
that help us understand the meanings of the Lord’s Supper and they form the
acrostic “SUPPER.” You can see this on
the insert you have in your bulletin, which also includes scripture references
for each word
S - Sacrifice
The Lord’s Supper is a
reminder that Christ’s body was broken and his blood shed on our behalf. It
also reminds us of Christ’s entire life of service and sacrifice.
U - Unity of believers
The Lord’s Supper is always a
community event.
We are part of the family of
God, gathered around the Table,
and united as brothers and
sisters in Christ.
P - Presence of Christ
The early church did not
debate the theological nuances
of the presence of Christ and
what exactly that meant. That didn’t come till centuries later.
They simply affirmed,
celebrated, and enjoyed Christ’s presence with them
in the breaking of the bread
and the sharing of the cup.
It is a joyful celebration of
Christ’s presence.
P - Promise of
The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste
of the coming
When we observe communion we
anticipate the day
when believers from every
time and place will finally gather together,
celebrating the final triumph
of Jesus Christ at the promised heavenly banquet.
E - Eucharist (Thanksgiving)
All the Gospel accounts
record that Jesus gave thanks before serving the meal.
The early church called the
Lord’s Supper the Eucharist which means to give thanks.
We come to this table with
joyful thanksgiving.
R- Remembrance of the Gospel
When Jesus instituted the
Lord’s super he commanded that we do so
“in remembrance” of him.
But it is more than a simple
remembering of Jesus.
Each time we share at the
Table,
we recall the entire Gospel -
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. [1]
Communion is one of our most
treasured living faith traditions. But
what keeps our faith alive?
Going back to today’s
scripture reading, Paul teaches us even more about a living faith.
A living faith tradition has to be rekindled through the Holy Spirit. And that means there needs to be a spark
there to begin with. There are some
people that seem to have natural spark,
a natural optimism, a belief
in possibilities. This belief in
possibilities can make all the difference.
There’s a story where many
years ago, a shoe company sent one of its sales representatives
to a far away country to open
a business there. After a few months,
the rep sent back this message:
“I’m coming back home. Nobody wears shoes here.”
A few months later, the same
company sent another sales representative to the same far away country, to try
again to open up a business. After a few
months, this sales rep sent a note back to the home office: “Send more order forms. Everyone needs shoes here.”
This second salesperson saw
the opportunity - not the difficulty - in the situation.
Success came because there
was spark that helped make it happen.
But let’s be very clear about
what it takes to have a living faith
tradition. It’s more than our own
energy. It is the power of God’s spirit
among us. Paul specifically
describes this. He tells us what it looks like.
It is not a spirit of cowardice. It is a spirit of power and love and
self-discipline. Every church has this.
We are the Body of Christ. We are
promised this power. We have this right
here -
with many of our ministries,
including our Pumpkin Patch.
Okay, let me explain. All of
you who have been around a while are too close to the situation to see how
amazing it is. But I’m new and I am looking
in on this as a newcomer. Here’s what I
see:
Right now, we are averaging
anywhere between 60 and 90 in worship.
There are 80 members in our
church - I’ve counted them. Today, we
are going to unload and set up somewhere between 300 and 3000 pumpkins - (no
one has really told me how many for sure.)
Now we are going to have some
help. About 20 or so extra pairs of
hands will come today
from churches and other
organizations that are part of the weekend Unite Project. But there’s more.
After today we are able to
pull off a 24 day period of selling pumpkins from
Do you realize what an amazing feat this is?
What a demonstration of power
and love and self-discipline? I stand in
awe!
Pentecost is not some
irrelevant event that happened one time and got recorded in the Bible.
Pentecost happens again and again whenever we believe
the power of God’s spirit moving among us can do
anything!
We here at PCCC have a living
faith tradition, which we have seen
represented today on the communion table
with such a variety of
breads. Some of it comes from our ancient Hebrew roots.
Some of it comes from our
Scottish background. Some of it is where
we are located right now in this region of the country, at this particular time
in history. And some of it is uniquely
our own.
But what is true about our
living faith tradition is that we must realize just what a treasure it is.
But it’s not just a treasure
to us here. We here at PCCC have a
distinctive witness that is needed
beyond our church, out into
Peachtree Corners, and Norcross, and
But let me tell you what else
we have. All of you who have been around for awhile are
too close to see how amazing it is. We
have what it takes: a spirit of power
and love and self-discipline.
And God will take that and do
the rest. Amen!
[1] Martin Thielen, Ancient
Modern Worship: A Practical Guide to Blending Worship Styles (
p. 101-102, 112,
114