Lection: 2 Timothy 3-4

October 19, 2025

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5
Luke 18:1-8

“Like a Tenacious Widow”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the young church leader, Timothy, since we’ve had a series of Scripture passages from the Apostle Paul’s 1st and 2nd letters to Timothy among our lectionary readings this Fall. I was wondering how young Timothy was, and what his ministry might have looked like, so I did a little research to find out more about him.

A few weeks ago, we noted that Timothy learned his faith from his mother and his grandmother. They would have been Jewish women who became Christians in the early years of the Jesus movement. Timothy was born and raised in Lystra, a city in Asia Minor that included both Jewish and Greek cultures. Interestingly, Timothy’s father was a Gentile – a Greek man who likely didn’t become a Christian.

Timothy was probably about 20 years old when he started working with Paul in the ministry of the early church around the year 50 CE. He accompanied Paul and Silas on their missionary journeys, delivered some of Paul’s letters to various churches, and he eventually became the first bishop of the Church in Ephesus.

By the time Paul was writing letters to Timothy from … Read more »

October 20, 2013

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

“Oh, How We Love the Bible!”

In a couple of weeks, we will begin another church membership class here at St. Andrew’s. We try to have one of these classes at least once a year so that newer folks in our church community may have an opportunity to learn about the Presbyterian Church in Canada, about St. Andrew’s in particular, and to consider making the commitment to church membership in our congregation. The class often includes teens and young adults who are preparing to profess their faith and join the church for the first time. It also includes adults of all ages from a variety of Christian and other backgrounds who have found their way into this Presbyterian Church of ours.

Although we cover some of the basics of what it means to be a Christian in general, one of the key topics is very specifically what it means to be a Presbyterian Christian. I wonder if anyone has asked you that question: “What IS a Presbyterian?” I get asked that all the time, along with some variations on the theme: “What’s the difference between the Presbyterian and United Churches? What’s the difference between the Presbyterian and Catholic … Read more »