05/03/2026 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14.
EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8hHnbs5Dk
HARPSWELL TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma6C0GzLeyg

Learning and Growth

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, the milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that God is good.” — 1 Peter 2:2-3.

I want to offer some general comments about how learning happens in infants and in children. You and I know there are exceptions. (Slight pause.) For a newborn stimuli is usually experienced as moments of learning. A baby learns something about the world with each hug, each touch of a hand, each human contact.

Learning happens when music is heard— Beethoven’s Fifth to Taylor Swift— when squeals of joy, shouts of anger, whispers of consolation are heard— when the sharp smell of an onion or the sweetness of chocolate is in the air— when the static image of a painting or harried movement on a TV screen is seen. Learning abounds in multiple ways.

As time goes by a child identifies and structures the data. One step at a time, a each youngster develops their own methods, their own ways of learning.

Here’s an example. When I was in Grade School no one knew what dyslexia even was. That proves I’m old. But I was dyslexic so I did not do well. By the time I was in High School I had developed my own work around systems. (Slight pause.)

To assist children as they learn adults can offer help, be observers and mentors, as we witness a child’s development. It can be amazing to us how much children assimilate what’s out there and how prodigious the difference is between what a one year old and a fourteen year old absorbs from the environment.

At one point my mother accused me of (quote:) “Not taking time to smell the roses.” Then she realized I was smelling the roses so fast it made her head spin.

By the time we are forty-five— some of us here are older than that, right?— by the time we are forty-five do we stop experiencing the stimuli which surrounds us? No. Have we learned all there is to learn? No— at least I hope not. I certainly have not. Mature folks may be set in how we process the world but we should always find new ways to learn in our quest for understanding. (Slight pause.)

An Episcopal priest friend openly admits she did not become a Christian until after she was ordained for ten years. She says her understanding of Christianity up until that point was merely cultural.

I describe much of what we see in American culture as cultural Christianity. But it’s clearly not Christianity. For centuries the West assumed Christianity was a bedrock of our culture and was learned from the culture. That assumption was never accurate. It was totally false.

An understanding of the Christian faith does not spring forth naturally from any human culture. Given that, I need to stress becoming and being a Christian is learned. It takes time and work to learn what I think is a vital set of assertions and practices.

These are the narratives, music, theology, traditions, the history of the faith. So having someone who is one of the aforementioned observers and mentors, someone who has internalized the competencies, nuances and attendant narratives— music, theology, traditions, history of the faith— having someone like that is invaluable.

This is a reality. Cultural Christianity— what we learn about Christianity from only the culture— is shallow because it lacks requisite knowledge. It’s also naïve to say the forming of Christians has ever been easy, automatic, flawless. After all, it’s said Jesus spent three years with the disciples and they still had a hard time understanding.

This is also a reality. Learning Christianity means discovering a way of life that often defies the culture. An example: the culture says family life is important. For the culture that’s often defined as blood relations and (quote:) “the nuclear family.”

The Christian claim is we are family to one another, made family in Christ, no exceptions. Unlike the secular culture, this Christian family is one from which no one, no individual is excluded or marginalized. Each person is valued. (Slight pause.)

So, what might it be like to learn Christianity as if we were children, as if we knew nothing and needed to take our first steps? I think seeing Christianity as a way of life is the first step on this journey of learning and growth and it is a journey that never ends.

On this journey there is some basic information to be acquired— the history of Israel, Biblical literacy, the history of the church, the ancient creeds. It’s wise to know about the great schism between the Eastern and Western Church in the Eleventh Century, be familiar with how Protestant Revolution of the Sixteenth Century influenced modern thought. All this might help us understand Christianity as a way of life.

In short, unless we Christians have some knowledge of the history, traditions, theology and work of the church universal, how can we, the local church, provide a space in which others might grow? That comes back to can Christians grow without mentors?

Mentors know the bedrock learnings of Christian formation is not found cultural Christianity. So it is helpful to have mentors as a part of the learning process.

For us, in offering the church as a space to learn what is incumbent is that the church provides to the community around us a space to grow and a vision for that growth. I think unless we have prepared ourselves with tools for growth, we, the church, will not be able to offer any vision for growth.

And I think learning and understanding basics can empower us to offer a Christian vision for the aforementioned growth. When First Peter tells us (quote) “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation….” it’s presenting us with a challenge, a challenge to learn how to be continually faithful, to continually grow.

Any parent knows you must learn to crawl before you learn to walk and one metaphor we have for God is God as parent. As a parent, God would have us grow in all ways and continue to grow until we cannot just walk but run.

So, let us strive to be faithful, strive to be informed by the history and traditions of our faith, be open to acquiring tools for growth, open to growth. We , thereby, can be ready to present a vision for physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth both inside these doors and beyond these doors to the world around us. And in terms of our Congregational tradition we also need to understand we are, each of us, called to be mentors. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
05/03/2026

ENDPIECE – It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Two things: some might say to me, ‘Gee, that list of what you call basic tools, church history, Biblical literacy, all that learning stuff seems really, really daunting.’ No. That’s easy. Being a Christian who has no tools— that’s hard— very, very hard. Next, one Thought for Meditation was from the author Maya Angelou. She also famously said she’s surprised when someone tells her they’re a Christian. Her reaction is, ‘Doesn’t that take a lifetime to accomplish?’”

BENEDICTION: Jesus assures us we will be empowered to do great works. We are, in fact, representatives of Christ, as we share the gifts God has granted us. And may the love of God the creator which is real, the Peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding and the companionship of the Holy Spirit which is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God and in the care of God this day and forever more. Amen.