"Generations"

Pastor Laura Guy

May 28, 2006

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We acknowledged that Memorial Day weekend is a time for us to pause and remember both the sacrifice of those who have served in the armed forces, and the lives of our family members who have died. Many of us will visit cemeteries or other significant places this weekend, or we may at least pause and reflect on the the people we love who have died.
We noticed that the Bible cares a lot about people's ancestors, too. There are several places in the Bible where we find long lists of genealogies - including two lists for Jesus in Matthew and Luke.
We saw that the Apostle Paul also cared a lot about ancestors. In 2 Tim 1:3-7, Paul mentions ancestors twice - first his own and then Timothy's. Paul talks about the faith of his own ancestors as being in a direct line to his own. He is honoring their faith as Jews, and crediting them for passing on the faith to him.
We read how Paul also honored the faith of Timothy's grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. This means that when Paul met Timothy, he met a man who was already a third-generation Christian.
We used our imaginations to speculate about how Lois, Eunice and Timothy came to know Jesus. Perhaps Lois had a personal encounter with Jesus. Maybe he had healed her or fed her with the loaves and fishes. Eunice, being a second generation Christian, might have rejected her mother's faith at first (we know that she married a man who was not Jewish and not Christian). But eventually Eunice choose to follow Christ herself, too. Timothy was likely raised in the faith his whole life. His mother and grandmother were such shining examples of the faithful life, that he grew up loving Jesus and loving the life of faith.
We realized that each of us has our own path to Jesus, too. Some of us are "first generation" Christians who meet Jesus on our own. Some of us are "second generation" Christians who reject our parents' faith at first, but then realize that it is the only thing that will give us meaning in our lives. And some of us who were raised in the church are like Timothy, "third generation" Christians who have never known a time in our lives when Jesus wasn't present. But every path to Jesus is a good one.
We thought about what we will leave behind for future generations. How will we be remembered? How will our choices affect our children, grandchildren and even great-great grandchildren we might never know?
We heard Rhonda McMahon sing the song Generations.
We celebrated communion by pausing to remember Jesus, the host of the table.