Who has shaped your story?
“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.” – 2 Timothy 1: 5
When we read or hear Scripture’s story, we never listen in a vacuum. We bring our stories with us in our hearing. This weekend the question on the storyboard in the fellowship hall changes to have us reflect on one aspect of that. The question(s) will be: Who is someone who has significantly shaped your faith? What about them shaped your faith?
Whenever I read Paul’s letter to Timothy where he mentions the faith alive in grandma Lois and mother Eunice, a flood of folks who have shaped my faith send my mind wandering/reflecting. To share one:
I had a self-adopted church grandmother named Verna. Verna was all of five feet tall. All of my childhood memories of her, she is grandma-aged with grey and white permed hair on top of her head. Sunday after Sunday, Verna was the first person I went to find in the large sanctuary. She sat on the same side of the church every week in the 4th pew back, so I always knew where to go to get a Sunday hug.
I was in kindergarten (if memory serves me right) when I learned that Verna’s husband, Ray, had been living with blood cancer for quite some time. I remember being heartbroken and sad for Verna. And I also knew faith-shaped her always. So, as to encourage and support her, I had gotten out of the gumball machine, a 50-cent plastic crucifix. I think the bottom of the cross was a whistle, if you can picture it. One Sunday at church, I pressed this cross into the palm of Verna’s soft, but wrinkled hand and reminder her to, “Hang on to Jesus”. Ray passed away later that week.
About 13 years later, as I left Helena to move to the big city of Spokane, Washington for undergrad, Verna stopped by our house with a velvet bag and a handwritten note. Inside was that 50-cent cross. She reminded me of the day I’d given it to her, and charged me, as I ventured out on my own, to do the same: Hold onto Jesus.
We all have folks like Eunice, Lois, or Verna that have shaped our faith. I’ll be curious to read who those people are for you. Remembering, that they are not the heroes of the story, but preachers who have pointed us to Jesus. A living faith that holds onto us through thick and thin.
