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When I Was a Child - The Rev. Barbara Ballenger
Listen to this week's sermon from LIFT Worship from the Rev. Barbara Ballenger for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, January 30, 2022
Learn more about LIFT, Living in Faith Together, at stmartinec.org/lift
Today's Readings:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Psalm 71:1-6 Luke 4:21-30Readings were taken from God's Word, My Voice: A Children's Lectionary
Oh my goodness, if you are tuning in from home find a comfy spot on the couch or a chair and let's just reflect and think about what we heard today in our in scripture. Now, when I was a child I learned to pray from the people all around me. They taught me things like the Our Father, and they took me to church on Sunday, especially my mom and dad and my two sisters Anna and Jennifer. They taught me the songs that we sung at church and they taught me to pray at night, and when I was really little I would kneel down next to my bed and they would listen to my prayers. "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. Bless mom and dad and Anna Jennifer and our cat." When I got a little order and learned to read we would talk about Bible stories and when I had questions, my sisters especially would help me ask and answer those questions about God because they had had some of the very same questions and had gotten there just a little bit ahead of me.
When I was a child I learned to hope and dream from people who had hopes and dreams for me. They would ask me things like, "What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want for your birthday? What do you want for dinner?" They would ask me things like, "Tell me about the pictures you just drew. Tell me about the poem you write." They were interested in my hopes and dreams.
When I was a child I learned to love from the people who loved me: my mom and my dad and my sisters. And I loved them, and my pets and my friends who sometimes weren't so easy to like and, I loved walking in the woods and looking for rocks with my dad. I loved making things, I loved writing poems, I loved playing the guitar which I learned when I was in 5th grade. And I loved singing songs.
When I was a child I prayed like a child and I hoped like a child and I loved like a child. And I still do all those things, but not quite the way I did then, as a child. And so I learned to pray for more things, and recognize God in even deeper ways. My faith grew with me and in me. And I learned to love more and more people and more and more deeply and my love grew with me. And I learned to hope and to dream of more and more things and some dreams came true and others did not.
I think my family would say that as I learned in faith and hope and love, their faith and hope and love grew from mine, so we helped one another grow in God's love and that's why truth and all of those things endure - faith and hope and love. So if you're a young person tuning in right now, I wonder if that's true for you. I wonder who has taught you how to pray, or what to hope for, or how to love, And I wonder what you pray for, and I wonder what your dreams are, and I wonder who and what you live. And if you are an adult tuning in and listening now, I wonder if you can remember those early times and who taught you to pray, who helped you to dream, who did you love, who taught you about love? And I wonder now, all grown up, what you pray for, what you hope for, who you love, because these things endure. They stay with us and they grow with us because they are the proof that God is with us.
And so maybe a little later today you ought to talk about these things at home or with those you know or those that you're with. What are you praying for? What are you hoping for? What and who do you love and where is God in all of these things? God is there for all that lasts, and will take us on and on together because God is the source of our faith and our hope and our love. And that, my friends, is pretty good news. Amen.
Permission to podcast/stream music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187 and CCLI with license #21234241 and #21234234. All rights reserved.
Video, photographs, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org
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By St. Martin-in-the-FieldsListen to this week's sermon from LIFT Worship from the Rev. Barbara Ballenger for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, January 30, 2022
Learn more about LIFT, Living in Faith Together, at stmartinec.org/lift
Today's Readings:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Psalm 71:1-6 Luke 4:21-30Readings were taken from God's Word, My Voice: A Children's Lectionary
Oh my goodness, if you are tuning in from home find a comfy spot on the couch or a chair and let's just reflect and think about what we heard today in our in scripture. Now, when I was a child I learned to pray from the people all around me. They taught me things like the Our Father, and they took me to church on Sunday, especially my mom and dad and my two sisters Anna and Jennifer. They taught me the songs that we sung at church and they taught me to pray at night, and when I was really little I would kneel down next to my bed and they would listen to my prayers. "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. Bless mom and dad and Anna Jennifer and our cat." When I got a little order and learned to read we would talk about Bible stories and when I had questions, my sisters especially would help me ask and answer those questions about God because they had had some of the very same questions and had gotten there just a little bit ahead of me.
When I was a child I learned to hope and dream from people who had hopes and dreams for me. They would ask me things like, "What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want for your birthday? What do you want for dinner?" They would ask me things like, "Tell me about the pictures you just drew. Tell me about the poem you write." They were interested in my hopes and dreams.
When I was a child I learned to love from the people who loved me: my mom and my dad and my sisters. And I loved them, and my pets and my friends who sometimes weren't so easy to like and, I loved walking in the woods and looking for rocks with my dad. I loved making things, I loved writing poems, I loved playing the guitar which I learned when I was in 5th grade. And I loved singing songs.
When I was a child I prayed like a child and I hoped like a child and I loved like a child. And I still do all those things, but not quite the way I did then, as a child. And so I learned to pray for more things, and recognize God in even deeper ways. My faith grew with me and in me. And I learned to love more and more people and more and more deeply and my love grew with me. And I learned to hope and to dream of more and more things and some dreams came true and others did not.
I think my family would say that as I learned in faith and hope and love, their faith and hope and love grew from mine, so we helped one another grow in God's love and that's why truth and all of those things endure - faith and hope and love. So if you're a young person tuning in right now, I wonder if that's true for you. I wonder who has taught you how to pray, or what to hope for, or how to love, And I wonder what you pray for, and I wonder what your dreams are, and I wonder who and what you live. And if you are an adult tuning in and listening now, I wonder if you can remember those early times and who taught you to pray, who helped you to dream, who did you love, who taught you about love? And I wonder now, all grown up, what you pray for, what you hope for, who you love, because these things endure. They stay with us and they grow with us because they are the proof that God is with us.
And so maybe a little later today you ought to talk about these things at home or with those you know or those that you're with. What are you praying for? What are you hoping for? What and who do you love and where is God in all of these things? God is there for all that lasts, and will take us on and on together because God is the source of our faith and our hope and our love. And that, my friends, is pretty good news. Amen.
Permission to podcast/stream music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187 and CCLI with license #21234241 and #21234234. All rights reserved.
Video, photographs, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org