2 Timothy 1:1-14

October 4, 1998

All around the world today, Christians of every shape and form are gathering around the table of the Lord. Some are meeting in lovely sanctuaries like this one, others in little storefronts along a main street somewhere. Some of our sisters and brothers gather in secret places where they find respite from governments that hold our faith as something subversive and against the law. Some risk their lives to come to the table today.

This is Worldwide Communion Sunday, a day set apart when Christians from North and South, East and West, make room for one more - make room for each other - at the table that symbolizes the banquet Christ is preparing for those who love him.

To me, it is a miraculous moment.

I was sitting there on Scout Sunday, with a whole bunch of Cub Scouts and their parents, in a front pew at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church. My good friend, Roger Gagne - Monsignor Gagne - the pastor of St. Marks - was leading the service traditionally held in his church one year and at mine the next. It was a beautiful worship time, expressing the majestic liturgy of the Roman Catholic tradition. But through it all, I could see the humorous sparkle in my friend Roger's eye as he watched those of us who were Protestants desperately trying to figure out when to kneel, when to stand, when to sit down. Often, just as we sat, the Catholics all stood up; and when we all stood, the Catholics kneeled. I could see that Roger was enjoying every minute of our liturgical clumsiness. I think he purposefully placed us in the front rows, just to yank my chain!

Well, it was a joyous time, worshipping together as Christian sisters and brothers. Truly the Holy Spirit was at work in St. Mark's that day, and the power of the service seemed to heighten as the moment finally came when Communion was served and the bread was broken and the wine was poured.

It was in that moment that Roger looked over at me. And I looked at him. The sparkle in his eye was gone, and the smile on my face was stilled. The joy of our brotherhood in Christ, you see, was muffled by the realization that we could not participate in the Communion Sacrament together. You see, there are rules....

That's why I think this day is so miraculous. Despite our inability to be as inclusive as the love of God within the church - and shame on us for that - Worldwide Communion Sunday just may be God's way of helping us break those rules that divide. For today, we gather at a table larger than the ones sitting in the front of our sanctuaries. And as we come to that table that is larger than our own, we have a beautiful opportunity to see not the divisions that separate us, but the gift that makes us one.

When Sandy and I moved to Tellico Village from Massachusetts, it was a time of great transition for us. Peter was in his senior year in college. Bethany was beginning her freshman year. We had a house full of family possessions - things that had come our way over the course of the years. Some, we had to move here to Tennessee because Sandy and I needed them for the new household. Others - especially things that belonged to the kids - needed to be saved and stored. Most of these things were moved up to our cottage on Highland Lake in New Hampshire. The place was packed to the walls with piles and piles and piles of family stuff. It looked like Wal-Mart at the start of the Christmas season!

Well, our family went off to our varied endeavors - Peter and Beth to school - Sandy and I to Tellico. And it wasn't until the following summer that we all came together again - with our stuff - at our place on the lake in New Hampshire.

Something quite remarkable had happened over the course of that year. What had been mere possessions needing to be boxed, moved and stored a year earlier, had now become forgotten treasure. Rare gifts to be dusted and inspected, explored, remembered and used again. What a beautiful sight it was to watch Peter rediscover his Little League baseball bat. It brought back memories to him of his childhood, and his friends, and the experiences he had playing ball. Just as marvelous was Bethany's reintroduction to her Barbie Doll collection. She reminded me of how I used to perform wedding ceremonies for Barbie and Ken, and so there in her bedroom at camp, we went through the exercise one more time. What a beautiful time we had!

There is something powerful about forgotten gifts rediscovered.

In today's Scripture Lesson from Second Timothy, we are shown that Christians also must learn to rediscover forgotten gifts. In fact, one of the most healing and liberating things that can happen in your life is to dust off gifts that God has given you, but that life - for one reason or another - has made you put into storage.

St. Paul, in writing to his young protege Timothy, simply says: "I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you."

Those of you who study the Bible know that Timothy was just a youngster. But he was a young person who had grown up in a family of faith. The love of Jesus had first lived in his grandmother Lois, and later, in his mother, Eunice. In fact, one of the little pieces of trivia that you can read between the lines in this letter is that Timothy may well be the first third-generation Christian!

And early in his life, Timothy was called to ministry. But you know how it is when you're young and you bring your new ideas and your idealistic enthusiasm to the life of the church. So often young people are put off and put down and largely ignored. Like my friend Peter, a young financial executive with a major steel manufacturer. Peter saw ways to invest the church's money in more productive investments than simple savings accounts. He gave a splendid presentation to the church Board of the benefits the church could receive. The only response to Peter's thoughtful presentation came from George - the guy who'd been on the Board since - oh, probably since before he was born. George said, "You try to touch that money and I'll sue you!"

Well, that was the end of that idea. And that was pretty much the end of Peter, too. And that was sad, because he was a man rich in gifts from God.

Timothy had been rebuffed as well. And like most of us, the only response he could make was to package up his gift and put it in cold storage. But now - some time later - St. Paul is offering Timothy a powerful, possibly life-changing, piece of advice.

Are there gifts in your life that you have set aside, or put on hold, or let go of?

I think of a friend of mine, a young man who was sexually abused by a parish priest when he was a youngster. The church did nothing to solve the problem. In fact, most of the things the church did just made it worse. Churches can be terribly destructive places, you know. And to this young man, the church was God, and for many, many years, he hated God for what the church had done to him.

Many of us have gone through heartbreaking times in our lives, too. Times when, because of immense personal hurt and disappointment, we've taken the gift of faith that came to us at some point in our lives, and hidden it away in some deep quarter of our hearts. We just couldn't deal with it anymore. And so we put it away. In fact, you may be sitting here today as one of those dear people who want so much to have God in your life, but because of something that happened long ago, you needed to file that gift of faith away. And now you're not even sure what it looks or feels like anymore.

Today is an opportunity to rekindle the gift of God that is within you.

For me, that means being willing to take it in your hands again and dust it off. It means looking at that old gift in the new light of who you are now. It means asking God to breathe His Spirit on the embers.

For my friend, the young man who'd been abused as a child, this meant, first of all, trying to pray again. I imagine his first prayers were probably something like, "God I'm still not sure about you, but I want to know if you're really there." And it meant going back to church, although it was to a different one which turned out to be not at all like the old one. And it meant reading the Scripture, and finding in the stories of Jesus, a picture of God he'd never seen before. And it meant becoming part of a small group where the people sit and honestly talk about their personal faith journeys.

And somewhere along the way of trying to rekindle the gift of God, the breath of God's Spirit blew across those embers of my friend's long-dormant faith, and today it burns more brightly than ever!

Are there forgotten gifts in your life that need to be remembered and rekindled?

Over the years, I've known precious people who've put away their love because they've been betrayed by another. They are reluctant to love again because they don't to be hurt again. I've met others who, at one time or another, heard a calling to go and do something significant in terms of helping other people, but family and career got in the way. Right here today, there may be some like my friends Tom and Helen Wright whose young son died of an unknown heart problem, and they've borne the guilt of feeling that they should somehow have known and been able to save their son. They have such a great need to forgive themselves for being human beings, but there's something that keeps pushing them away from the gift. Others of us may have a friendship in our lives that started out as a wonderful gift, but something happened. The friendship has been put away, on a shelf somewhere. Maybe today it's time to rekindle it. And there are no doubt among us today writers, and artists, and musicians, and others to whom God has given great gifts to bless others, but the gifts have been tucked away to follow other pursuits.

What forgotten gifts are you remembering today?

Listen to the simple message of God's Word:

As you come to the Table today on Worldwide Communion Sunday, it is a fitting time to remember forgotten gifts. Bring your personal prayers for rekindled gifts of all kinds. And bring with you as well a prayer that the gift of unity and inclusiveness will be rekindled in churches all over the world. For we are the sons and the daughters of the living God.

And we have gifts to share!