Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
2000 Chestnut Street
Camp Hill, PA  17011
Phone:  717.737.8635
Fax:  717.730.9297
Email:  trinluth@trinitycamphill.org

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This page was last updated on:
September 28, 2008

Staff Notes 

HOW YOU HAVE GROWN!
By Pastor Nancy R. Easton

It never fails to amaze me—one week, I offer the bread at communion to a young person in our congregation.  The next week, I offer the bread to them again, and they are about two inches taller than they were the last time I fed them.  “Growing like weeds! My, how you have grown!” I say to them at worship’s end.  By the time they hit senior high school, I am looking up, up, up at them, and reaching up, up, up to place bread in their hands. 

While I realize it doesn’t take much for someone to be taller than I, it still fascinates me to see how quickly young people grow when that adolescent spurt occurs.  The growth is visible, the change noticeable, practically from day to day.  Makes me think about the growing that is less visible and less noticeable to the naked eye, but real growth nonetheless.  In particular, our growth in faith. 

So often we assume our growth in faith is similar to the growth a child experiences as they mature into a young adult, as if faith-growing takes place only during the ages of 1-17 years.  Or, as if faith-growing takes place only when someone is actively engaged in academia.  Not so!  We have the possibility and potential of seeing our faith and trust in God increase throughout our earthly lives.  I can speak to my own experience.  I know I’ve grown and matured in my Christian faith journey.  But I’d have to say that more growth and maturity has taken place in the years following my seminary education than in my years of seminary education.   Living out our Christian faith in our daily lives, reflecting on how that faith impacts what we say and do in our little corner of the world—that’s where faith has opportunity to grow.

But not without nourishment or nurturing.  We must be ever intentional about feeding our faith.  That nourishment can come in many forms.  For some of us, a classroom setting (Bible studies and Sunday School, for example) is the place where learning promotes growth.  For others of us, it is in a more active forum, such as a service project where, with our hands and feet, we are doing Christ’s works of compassion.  In the process of that serving, our faith is strengthened.  For still others, it is in the quiet time of prayer and meditation, listening for God’s voice and discerning His will, where a mature faith can take root.  And, of course, so many of us find gathering in worship as food for the soul.

Whichever type of nourishment suits you, the point is that, without being fed regularly, our faith stagnates and can grow shaky and tenuous.  When that happens, we are less willing to follow Christ’s lead and more distracted by the world’s cares.  We are less confident in God’s promises and more dependent on our own seeming abilities.  We end up thinking we walk our life’s journey alone, instead of walking in the guidance and strength of our Lord.

Let us instead be like that father in Mark’s Gospel who brought to Jesus his son, suffering from an unclean spirit, and implored Jesus to heal him.  The father said to Jesus these words:  “I believe; help my unbelief.”  (Mark 9:24b)  That father expressed the truth of our faith—that it needs always to be growing, and only with God’s help can it do so.  Let each of us seek the nourishment we need for such increase of truth in our great God. 

And, frankly, when our faith does grow, I think it will be visible to the naked eye.  Especially when that faith motivates us to love and servanthood and generosity.  In that case, as I feed you the bread of Holy Communion, I will certainly be thinking to myself, “My, how you have grown!”

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