Devotion of 19 July 2018, in the eNews of First Christian Church of Hampton VA. We learn a lot from our families, even the complicated ones, and the stories we share knit us close and teach us what matters. That is a lot like church too!
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SECOND LETTER OF TIMOTHY 1:3-7 (New Revised Standard Version)
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.
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Word from the Pastor
My great-uncle Fred was a tall, sim, quiet man. My dad loved Fred, so every summer when our family would head back to Miami, Florida for a week to reconnect with the Millers and the Thomsons (they all settled there right after World War I), one day was always with Fred.
A gentle spirit with a wry sense of humor, I wish I had had more time with Fred. He had the best stories. Never married, he served in France as a postal clerk and then went for the Post Office after the war. But his passion? It was baseball. I have team photos of him and his mates in the 1910s all the way into the 1950s; I gave my brother his mitt and our Dad’s custom bat. After my great-grandfather suddenly died, the family had moved to St. Louis for two years, overlapping both with the World’s Fair and the World Series both held there in 1904, and just a couple blocks from the place the family rented. One story I remember was how Fred and my grandfather got in trouble with their mom after not going to a minor league game, but the Cardinals. You see, the minor league game cost a dime, while the major league cost a quarter. Big money then!
Sometimes family and friends share stories, stories that only after so much time has passed we realize the treasure they are alongside the tinge of regret we did not ask more back then…. The story convey not just events, but meaningfulness. I was thinking about that yesterday when my Mom’s cousin, whom I never knew, stumbled across our church website when doing genealogy and searching for my Mom’s kids. She had not seen Mom since right after World War II. Who would have thought our church website would be the thing that brought us together – myself and a second cousin who have never met and live on opposite sides of the US?
It has reminded me of all those childhood trips during summer months that we made, my Dad making sure we were connected to our extended families. It’s probably why I still find summer – not the festive holidays during winter – as when I feel that pull to reconnect or discover anew.
As we each pass through these longer days, days of sweet tea, baseball, perhaps family gatherings for some, my encouragement is for each of us to take time to ponder Paul’s word to Timothy, “to rekindle the gift of God that is within you” [II Timothy 1:6]. In the seemingly “ordinary” moments, may experience that rekindling of which Paul speaks. It may be on a Sunday when we gather, or in a phone call, letter, a drive-by, or maybe a quiet prayer. May each of us use the summer to find encouragement for our lives and to be a spirit of encouragement, and maybe even find the blessing of treasurer memories that bring joy and peace.
©2018 by Vinson W. Miller, Hampton VA.
Sea & Anchor 