October 7, 2007
Rev. Dr. Pamela Keckler

When I was engaged to be married in 1970 my grandparents invited me over to their house to choose one of their glass baskets from their collection of antiques. I was secretly hoping for the little pink and green basket with the curvy glass handle that I could hold in my hand. I arrived at their home and went to the display table to choose my treasure. But it wasn’t there. In its place were “bride’s baskets” of all shapes and sizes which I didn’t like nor want. Grandma could see my disappointment and asked what was wrong. I told her the basket I really wanted, and she said, “But these other baskets are worth twice as much as that little one.” I told her I still wanted it. She told me I could have it later. She wasn’t ready to part with it quite yet. So I chose a plate and bowl that I still have but never really liked. A year after my grandmother died, I remember opening my Christmas gift from my mother, and as I unwrapped it, I saw my favorite pink and green basket, passed on to me from my grandmother to my mother to me. A real treasure.

Do you have a treasure that means something to you? A treasure is defined as:
Wealth/riches stored or accumulated; valuable things; any thing or person greatly valued or highly prized; to treat as precious; to cherish

I have many more treasures:

• A note from a member from my first church out of seminary – filled with mostly elderly people instead of the youth I thought would be there. Harold wrote this: “Pam, you were good—very good, and surprised a lot of folks who thought you just wouldn’t work out in our “older” congregation. We love you for it. You are a communicator and we’ve talked about what that requires. Never forget.   (Harold taught me how to use the microphone and project my voice. He worked with me every Sunday for 3 months.)

• A sports article or two or three from my son, Kevin who loved sports and loved to write about Purdue Boilermakers. Or the newspaper clipping of his volunteer firefighting.

• A handwritten Mother’s Day card and note from my daughter, Amy before she left for college, thanking me for just being her mom.

• The brochure that came in the mail and pushed me into a doctorate program at McCormick Theological Seminary that said: “It’s a new world. Are the old ways still working?”

• A letter from my Dad who shared these quotes:

-- “It’s not what I do or what I’ve done or even am planning to do that’s important. It’s my attitude in these areas of my life…”
-- “Become the vehicle so we can see more what God is really like. Then we can show to others what God is like in their own life.”
    
I’m making new treasures with three little granddaughters. My favorite is a sheet of paper with scribbled crayon markings and stickers that are all in one corner of the page, clumped together by two year old Keira this summer.

Have you ever wondered about other peoples’ treasures and the stories behind them?
Each day I pass an apartment by a stop light and inevitably always have to stop. I look over at the window of this home and see it completely covered and crowded with trophies. I wonder what awards these pieces signify in this person’s life – a bowling tournament, a softball game, speech winner…what is your treasure?

Today’s scripture lesson, written from a prison setting is a letter from a teacher to a student, Timothy, a young leader in the Christian community. It is a personal message as well as a communal message to the church, but indeed a message for us all.
By the time this letter was written (probably the first part of the 2nd century) one generation of early Christians had passed and the church was now struggling with issues of what teaching was right. 

With great affection the author writes, “To Timothy, my beloved child” and tells him that he is remembered daily in prayer. Wouldn’t you like to receive a letter like that from someone? The author exhorts Timothy to “remember where you came from…your mother and your grandmother and what they taught you.” Remember your faith, from generation to generation. Timothy is reminded of a sincere faith—a faith that lived first in his grandmother, Lois and his mother Eunice and now lives in him.
As Timothy did, we learn the faith from our parents and others and are sustained by the prayers of one another, like when we promise to support the babies and children and youth/adults who are baptized here. Faith is nurtured in human relationships from generation to generation.

I was a lucky little girl. My dad’s mother lived with our family for several years and taught me to love good food on the farm that we produced ourselves. She taught me a faith that was stronger than anything I could ever imagine. I just trusted her and loved her. My parents followed her journey and joined Grandma’s church. We practically lived there each week but we knew what we believed and we knew how to live.

What if I had not had that experience but instead had lived with my other grandparents, the ones who didn’t find church that important? The ones who were kind and loving but thought our family definitely spent way too much time worshiping? How would my idea of God and my faith changed?

Psalm 90 describes it in the first verse: O God you have been our dwelling place in all generations. As Timothy did, we too learn the faith from parents/grandparents/great grandparents/teachers/friends and we are sustained by the prayers of others.

We’ve come from various traditions here at GCC but many of you have found a home, a welcome, a place to grow personally and spiritually. If you don’t feel attached to anyone in your past through faith traditions or religion, know that’s okay. You can start it now. You can rekindle that little spark from someone in this room or who you bump into in a small group, at the soup kitchen, at a conflict workshop. If you don’t feel that connection to your extended family or friends, then start your own treasure you can pass on. Rekindle the gift of God that is within you and share it with those you love. Guard the good treasure that’s entrusted to you, the treasure of faith.

The faith lived in others can now live in us. It is alive and growing, hopefully. Even if there is only a spark of faith there, we are told to “rekindle it”. Rekindle the gift of God that we received in baptism, a spirit of power and love. Rekindle the gift of God that we received from a friend or neighbor when they believed in us. Rekindle the gift of God when you’re not sure if you can.  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind.” If no other verse ever speaks to you personally, perhaps this is one that can have meaning to your life.

Marcus Borg in The Heart of Christianity talks about faith as trust rather than as right belief in our heads. It’s a “Heart Thing”, and Paul’s whole letter is a heart thing.

Faith gets battered and bruised by life and by the experiences of both myself and others. Sometimes my faith becomes a little rough around the edges, a little dented here and there and I have to take out my match and rekindle it, as I protect my faith, treasure it and protect it. Give it time to grow. Then I share it.

So this morning, let’s see ourselves gathered around the table as one group, one family, one cluster of believers of all types, that despite all our differences, we can find community in the gifts we’ve received from those who have gone before us. All the saints we miss and loved. To have a belief that we can find community with one another, sharing across the globe with pita bread and grape juice, with coconut juice, with tortillas and rice.

Let us rejoice and celebrate the good treasure that’s been given to us and then pass it on.

Amen.