7EasterB, Sullivan Park Care
Center, May 17, 2015 by Annette Fricke
Grandma, the
organist for the church in Fairfield, was confirmed in the year 1904 in the
German language in Hendricks, Minnesota. The church she was a member of still
stands and was renamed Trinity. She did not talk about her early life to me
except to say that I shouldn’t be too eager to grow up and get married. She said she made her husband wait. That was an accurate statement because she
did not wed my grandfather until she was thirty-one and a half years old. They lived in adjacent counties, one in
Minnesota and the other in South Dakota. At some point, they came to this area
and were married in 1923 in Spokane.
I mention
her confirmation because this is the time of year when those confirmations took
place. Confirmation is a profession of
faith, similar to what is termed “believer’s baptism.” Unfortunately, it is also approximately the time
for people to graduate from school. The
concepts of confirmation and graduation seem to get confused along the way. Several
in the church do not see the need to continue to attend any sort of Sunday
School or Bible Study which quite possibly result in an arrested spiritual development
in their maturity as Christians. As to
whether or not these same non-Bible Study attendees read their Bibles or pray
is not known to me. I have not taken a survey or verified such behavior. I suspect not, because most of them also no
longer attend church. Memberships and
attendance have both dropped in our churches today, especially among the young.
The prevailing attitude is that one can be spiritual without the church even
though the church remains the way to follow Jesus as a guide and provider of
fellowship among believers as well as an inspiration and actual action of
living out that faith. Our gospel lesson for today is an important one in that
it points out Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and models for us a lifetime
practice of praying for our ministry and the ministry of others, one that is
strengthened by prayer. The Psalm for
today focuses on the need to continue the study of the teachings of the Bible. Praying
and studying is in no way childish. It
is our anchor in life, a life that is rarely smooth sailing, frequently beset with
stressors and changes.
Among my grandmother’s remaining items
is some organ music she actually played.
Of what survives is a piece specifically written for Confirmation. There is only one verse to it, which makes me
believe that it was part of the actual ceremony, perhaps a choir anthem since
it is written much higher than a hymn, not a congregational hymn. I have no idea as to author or composer
because all that is on the sheet are the initials “MD” at the bottom of the
page. The words are these: “Lord, look
down upon Thy children, Gathered here before Thee now. Pour on them Thy richest blessing, Let them
not forget their vow. At Thine altar,
Lord, they promise Steadfast to remain in faith. Help them, rather than to leave Thee, Suffer
all things, even death. Thou hast
promised those who love Thee, And in faith endure the strife, Thou would’st
give to them salvation, And, at last, the crown of life.” It is similar to another confirmation hymn,
leaving out the return by grace when one has fallen away. People do fall away
and sometimes we feel the darkness of a prayer life that seems empty and
hollow. Some people continue to worry about past sins, forgetting that God is
always receptive to our pleas for mercy.
I suggest that the verse from a third hymn best expresses the idea with
these words, “And through the years thy wondrous grace Has followed all the
way; Thy love has never let us go, Though we are prone to stray.” Regardless, the intent is to sum up the
Christian journey of faith, a journey that continues throughout our lives, in
no way is it a graduation or a completion.
We continue to need God’s grace and support to grow towards maturation
in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian as well as discernment
to guide our actions.
This leads me to our first lesson
from the book of Acts. It is the
beginning of the church after Jesus has ascended into heaven. The disciples find the need to replace
Judas. Judas, to say the very least, has
proven to be unfaithful to Jesus and Jesus’ teaching. Although we might actually be appalled at the
way Matthias was chosen as Judas’ replacement, by casting lots, the rest makes
sense in choosing leaders of the church even today. They looked for qualifications and they prayed
about it. It is still common practice
when choosing church leaders to pray for discernment. Despite our own experience of and misgivings
about prayer in our own prayer lives, this remains the community standard. Prayer still has meaning as a connection to
and communion with God and all that God has given and continues to give. God’s presence is made known to us in
prayer. Some strong Christian leaders
see it very clearly as a means of God’s grace.
Prayer should never become a burdensome chore or obligation as much as
it is an invitation to enter into God’s realm.
It is where we meet God, as much as we are able in our own limited way
of knowing and perceiving as human beings.
The silences in corporate prayer are not meant to be awkward because the
one leading the prayer doesn’t know what to say, but your chance to say a
prayer for certain situations or people that are just as important to God as
any pre-written prayer.
And finally, I would like to say
this. Notice that Matthias is never
mentioned again in the Biblical text or anywhere else. It is as if he just melted into the
background. He is similar to Andrew who
is overshadowed by his much more popular and dynamic personality, Peter. Don’t let that kind of detail scare you or
make you think that you are less-valued by God.
Remember that we are all God’s children, all made of the same
substance. We are all loved to love
those around us in whatever way we can.
We are called to tell about the love of God to all around us, to plant
the seeds from God who propels us forward in our lives, who causes the seeds to
grow in due season. Just as God is
patient with us, so we too need to be patient with others, yet remain available
to encourage and support the children of the world as they go forth into the
world, a world that can be very challenging, a stumbling block to their faith.
Matthias is just a name and a record
of being an apostle. We know nothing
about him after that. He probably never
established a congregation or became a great preacher. My grandmother also wasn’t very important in
the world. She only raised two children
and only had seven grandchildren. But
she passed on the gift of music to Mom who played the trumpet in high school
concerts, to me who became part of a cathedral choir, to my nephew who won a music
scholarship for college. My grandmother wasn’t much to the world, but she
planted the seeds of music that continue to spread the gospel.
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