A Legacy of Grace | 5/10/26
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When you think about the people who shaped your faith or your character, whose influence stands out most strongly to you, and why
Have you ever underestimated the impact your own words, prayers, or example might have on someone else?
What does it mean to you that faith is described as powerful, loving, and self-disciplined rather than timid or fearful
Can you think of a time when someone’s encouragement or belief in you helped rekindle a gift or calling within you?
In what ways do you see women, mothers, grandmothers, or spiritual mentors shaping communities of faith today, even when their contributions may go unnoticed?
Transcript:
Have you ever noticed how many stories about a mother’s faith can be found in the Bible? I mean, across the pages, starting right in the very first book, story after story of the influence of a mother’s love and a mother’s faith. In Genesis, one of the stories we read about is that of Hagar, a woman who protected her child and trusted in the provisions of a God who met them in the wilderness when they had been cast out.
In First Samuel, we hear the story of Hannah, a woman who had prayed for children and had not had any. And then, when she finally does get pregnant, and she gives birth to Samuel, she entrusts him to the temple and to God, that he might become one of God’s ministers to the people.
Then we get to the Gospels, and we hear the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how she had such incredible faith as a teenager to offer herself fully and to say, “Here I am, Lord. Let it be with me as you have said.”
In the book of Acts, we read, among others, about Lydia, a woman who heard the good news preached by the Apostle Paul, and how she and her whole house were baptized as a result of that encounter and became an important part of the early church’s witness.
And then there’s the pair of women who we meet in Second Timothy today. Now, if you’re not reading carefully, you could skim right over them without noticing, which may be a good reminder to us this morning to pay closer attention to the women and the mothers who are around us and among us. Too often, their gifts and their contributions go unnoticed, underappreciated. So listen closely this morning for the mothers who show up in today’s reading.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus:
To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did, when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, 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. For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
This is the Word of God for the people of God, and God’s people say, “Thanks be to God.”
Would you pray with me?
Come, Holy Spirit, and breathe life into the words that I speak, that they might carry a word from you into our hearts and lives this morning. Amen.
Did you catch it? Did you hear those names in the scripture reading this morning? Before there was Timothy, there was Lois and Eunice. And without Lois and Eunice, there would be no Timothy. It is brief. It is quick. But the legacy of these two women is forever cemented in just one verse in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. It’s just a brief mention, but their impact on the early church is undeniable.
You see, as we read through the book of Acts and through Paul’s letters in the New Testament, Timothy is mentioned more than any other companion of Paul’s in his life and ministry. Paul had mentored him as a disciple. He had seen him as his own son. He had guided him and offered words of wisdom in two letters that we still have today as a part of the New Testament.
Timothy had become one of his trusted traveling companions, which we know from the book of Acts and Paul’s letters, how Timothy was with him on many of his journeys, starting and continuing to nurture communities of faith. And we know that Paul trusted him so much that there were times when he would send Timothy as an ambassador back to those communities to check in with them and to continue to nurture their faith as disciples.
The seeds of faith that blossomed under Paul’s guidance were first nurtured by Lois and Eunice, his grandmother and his mother. Indeed, without Lois and Eunice, there would be no Timothy.
Fast forward many generations, and there’s another wonderful story of a woman who impacted profoundly her children and the faith that was sparked in them that then had an enormous impact on others. Just as Lois and Eunice surely had a profound impact on the growth of the early church through their influence on Timothy, so did Susanna Wesley undeniably have an impact on the early Methodist movement through the passing on of her faith to her children, particularly John and Charles.
Susanna is rightly referred to as the Mother of Methodism because of her impact. She was born Susanna Annesley in the year 1669. She was the youngest of either 24 or 25 children. It’s understandable that they might lose count after that many, right? Imagine that. And in the late 17th century, Susanna, along with her siblings, was given the rare opportunity — the girls — to receive an education. It was important to her father and her mother that they have that opportunity.
She was encouraged to read widely and to think for herself. Imagine that 350 years ago.
She married Samuel Wesley in 1688 at the age of 19. And then Susanna gave birth to 19 children herself. Ten of them survived past early childhood. She was rigorously committed to the education of all of her children, having been impacted by the influence of her own parents. So she, too, taught both the boys and the girls to whom she gave birth and that she raised, including nurturing them in the Christian faith.
Tomorrow, Marissa and I will board a plane, and just a day or two later, we will be standing in Epworth, in the very house where Susanna spent countless hours raising those children and nurturing not only them, but many others in that community through her influence.
As young boys, John and Charles would have witnessed Susanna not only teaching them and their siblings, but also leading Bible studies and, yes, even preaching in the early 1700s to members of the Saint Andrew’s parish where her husband, Samuel, was the priest.
You see, Samuel sometimes had a little difficulty managing money, and for a period of time, he ended up in debtor’s prison, and Susanna was left with all of the children in Epworth. And there was a community that still needed to be nurtured in the faith. And Susanna saw that need and began gathering people in her home. And when there wasn’t enough room in the home, she opened up the windows and had people gathered outside, and she preached the good news.
These highly unorthodox practices helped shape the early growth of Methodism because John, as he began to experience people finding hope and good news and comfort in the message that he was sharing as the Methodist movement was just getting started, realized there were not enough ordained preachers. Preachers couldn’t get through their education fast enough to be able to meet the need of all the communities that needed folks sharing the good news. And so he began to include lay preachers who didn’t have those full credentials.
And that commitment that he made was certainly impacted by his experience of his mother’s preaching in the home when he was a child. It helped Methodism spread rapidly and meet the need that it was seeing. He also, because of witnessing his mother’s unorthodox commitment to passing on the faith, adopted unorthodox practices himself.
This man, who had been nurtured as an Anglican priest and knew what was right and proper and had a hard time thinking outside that box, because of her influence and that of George Whitefield, made the decision to begin going out in the fields and preaching beyond the doors and the walls of the church because people who were struggling, people who were oppressed and marginalized, needed to hear that there was good news for them and that God loved them too. And so he did.
We also know that John consulted his mother, Susanna, on teaching methods. When he launched the Kingswood School in Bristol, where he would commit to — again, influenced by his mother and his grandparents — educating both the boys and the girls of the community.
We have letters that they exchanged where he sought her counsel on best practices for teaching the children about life and faith. Susanna Wesley’s legacy lives large to this day.
Here are a few quotes that might speak to her wisdom and the power of her influence:
“There are two things Susanna says to do about the gospel: believe it and behave it.”
“Help me, Lord,” she says, “to remember that religion is not to be confined to the church, nor exercised only in prayer and meditation, but that everywhere I am, I am in thy presence.”
“If you want a quality, act as if you already have it. If you want to be courageous, act as if you were, and as you act and persevere in acting, so you tend to become.”
And then this one:
“I am content to fill a little space in this world if God be glorified.”
And surely Susanna Wesley’s life glorified God.
Across the generations of the Methodist movement, there are countless other examples of mothers who have also left their mark on the church and on the world with their deep faith and courageous witness.
Some of them became teachers, doctors, missionaries, and, yes, even preachers.
You know, we had the example of Susanna, and we had the example of other lay preachers that John commissioned to preach back in the 18th century. But somewhere along the way, we forgot about the power and the importance of including women’s voices in the pulpit.
But 70 years ago this past week, on May 4, 1956, the Methodist Church chose at our General Conference of the church, to affirm the ordination of women to the preaching of the gospel, and they have helped mother us in the faith through the power of their preaching and through their commitment to pastoring communities in this world to live faithfully in response to the good news.
Today, I think also about the mothers of this church, the mothers of Trinity, who have had an impact in this community and beyond over the past 67 years now.
Mothers, both young and older, who have gathered and prayed for their children, for the church, for those who were sick and suffering, and for the world.
Mothers who have taught children here in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Stepping Stones. Mothers who have prepared meals for Sunday night youth group, mothers who have driven children and youth to camp, and have chaperoned mission trips and choir tours.
Mothers who have preached and mothers who have been called to the mission field. Mothers who have taken up Wesley’s call to do all the good they can.
You know, one source of evidence of the impact of mothers in this community of faith is that wall right back there that has so many photos of people who were raised and nurtured in this community of faith, and certainly impacted by the impact of their mothers, to respond to a call into ministry and have gone out into the world to love and serve others.
I wonder this morning, who are the mothers that have profoundly impacted your life and your faith? I want to invite you to take just a moment to do something this morning, and we won’t do it one at a time. We’ll just do it all together and let the sound of their names fill this room.
Would you just lift up the names of mothers who have had an impact on your life right now? Speak them out. Speak them out. And if you’re online with us, feel free to drop a name in the comments as well so that we can honor those, also.
We have so many collectively, don’t we? We have so many examples for whom to give thanks.
And the legacy of the faith of the mothers who have gone before us has now been entrusted to us. How are we carrying their legacy forward? Are we bringing good news to others?
Paul reminds Timothy in his letter this morning, and reminds us that this faith that we have inherited is not one that is timid or cowardly. It is a faith that is powerful, loving, and self-disciplined. And it is a faith that has the potential to change the lives of others.
One more quote from Susanna:
“One loving heart set on God can influence generations.”
So today, friends, let us give thanks for the mothers, and may the character of our witness and our faith make them proud and give glory to God. Amen.
