On Sunday our parish will celebrate a patronal festival. Our parish church is named after St Timothy, "apostolic man". Some details of his life can be gathered from the letters addressed to him in the New Testament.
Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26.
from here
Among some Anglican clergy there is a notion of celebrating and nurturing the particular virtue of the saint or feast day of one's ordination. I was ordained on St Andrew's day, and as if by some great coincidental or providential connection of the "communion of saints", I find myself drawn to the example of evangelism modeled in the "first missionary".
When the saints are gathered together in a parish, I find it helpful to think upon the grace and virtues given to St Timothy, and ask how we can follow his example. In the second letter to Timothy, we see Paul writing:
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.
First, does our parish give joy to those who see us? Paul longed to see Timothy, so that he "may be filled with joy." I pray that our little parish might have the same effect on those who come here - when they see us may they be filled with joy. Second, there is that image of faith being passed on and nurtured from generation to generation. From grandmother to mother to son. That image should inspire in us the desire to hand on the faith to the next generation. As well, it serves as a reminder that the church has within it Christians of all ages, and our ministries need to encourage discipleship in the Sunday school through to the retirement home. It is an image of all ages. And I believe it to be the mark of a healthy church that it includes and takes seriously the spiritual needs and growth of every age group.
We also remember that it is in the first letter to Timothy that we see advice from Paul regarding offices in the church - bishop and deacon (1 Timothy 3). But before Paul gives his list of qualifications for the offices, he gives Timothy two reminders: mercy and prayer. Twice in the first chapter, Paul uses the phrase "I received mercy". And then Paul spends some number of words encouraging Timothy and his congregation to pray. Paul hopes that "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone." I think the "everyone" is an important word.
So let me propose a thought or two as many of us begin to think about our episcopal election. Can we be the kind of diocese that reflects the virtue of joy? That when our new bishop arrives (from far or near), they might say with Paul that coming to us fills them with joy. And can we conduct ourselves first and foremost with those virtues of "mercy" and "prayer" which precede Paul's instructions about church offices? As I watch the conduct of politicians south of the border, I wonder what the difference in witness might be between the way the "world" conducts an election, and the way the church conducts an election. Let us try to cultivate an atmosphere of "mercy and prayer", thus fulfilling Paul's desire (which surely came from Christ) that we might heed his call:
Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. (2 Timothy 1:14)
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