The Playdough Sermon (2nd Timothy)
The Playdough Sermon
2nd Timothy
10.19.2025
By: Melody Briggs
Lord, please continue to open our hearts and minds to be used as an instrument of peace, vessels of grace and lights of unwavering love that continually breaks through darkness.
I would like to thank you all for this opportunity of growth today. Sharing in my understanding, and passions discerned from 2nd Timothy.
Believed to be a letter The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy not only as his mentor and friend, but also from a nurturing father figure type role within Timothy’s spiritual development.
Paul's words of wisdom speak from a very nurturing and loving place. And speak volumes to the changing of seasons we all might experience within our own walks or journeys of faith.
This letter reads.. as it continues on speaks and leans into the valued connection Paul had with Timothy as he has watched and walked alongside him transition not only his understanding and teachings, but also to his depth of transition as he has grown from a welcomed child of God much like we all do into now young adulthood and the continued transition of becoming a man. Leading to the end of the passage where all the knowledge and understanding Paul hopes that Timothy will continue to nurture and fulfill within his own heart as he ages and grows into the testament of his faith.
2nd Timothy roughly states…
Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it.
Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it.
From childhood you have known the sacred …
you have been instructed through faith.
And inspired by God. (hmmm)
As children we tend to learn from and experience life from the firmly believed values and teachings of those that love and nurture our upbringings/rearing, as well as our faith and the faith-based practices of those closest to us whether at home or within our communities. Thus, molding and shaping us as we meander… learn. And grow.
Is there a time that you can think back to some of those values… experiences, rearing’s…teachings… and or faith-based practices ….
Something so deeply swelled within you that has tended to stay with you since childhood?
Taking you back in time to those child-like curiosities of the world around us…
Experiences and nuances that tend to still engulf our senses.
My most memorable time of sense filled wonder and awe in the world that I can relate to or grasp from my past… starts roughly around five years of age. Is there an age or memory that has caught your attention?
I was often filled with a wide sense of wonder at that age… a real-life explorer so to speak. Every day was unknown … not knowing if it was banana pancake day or not… And I tended to be amazed and inspired by events like tea parties. Outings... Blanket forts… as well as environments that often felt magical or inspired by a spirit, God like vastness. Leaves swirling all around you in the fall… Rain puddles calling my name through the crisp air just to splash and leap upon… primary church songs about letting my light shine and hiding it under bushels... As well as other songs where we were dancing like crazed warriors.
You all have been provided with a small playdough. At this time, I would like for you if you feel so called to open it… and as you do… maybe you will take the time to open your senses within this moment…
And as you sit there you might start to
To smell it…
To roll some of it across your fingertips. And feel the reminisce of a child like wonder. As you experience its texture. The memories that may be coming to mind…
Now if you will take some or all of the dough and roll it into a ball or a shape…. Possibly rubbing it between your palms into a tube or a worm…. And as you do take time to notice
To Feel.
To Explore. And as you do… think back to maybe some of the values… teachings… and faith-based practices you witnessed as a child.
As you do, I would like to continue on with Paul's letter.
As Paul has described within this letter we as children often need
Reproof
Correction
Training
Reproof:
Reproof biblically is known to be value guided from acts of love. That can identify errors but ultimately promote wisdom and understanding. of consistent teachings, practices… and shared experiences helping to guide within us a sense of purpose.
Correction:
A purposeful and loving process to guide. Reform... Remold us … into a direction and or lean into behaviors of God's will. The meat and potatoes aligning us and our teachable moldable faith driven spirits.
Training:
Deliberate and disciplined practices that often lead to sustainable change and growth. Rooted in truths and the stretching of capacity to be a foundational force through all seasons.
Not only do we need these values as children, but we also need these throughout different seasons of life and within our experiences that challenge not only us but our capacity to seek the truth… to navigate corrections … and define our purpose as well as the vastness and darkness of emotions such as Grief. Shame. Guilt... And Debilitating Fear… The training of not only our minds but also our hearts as we learn to lean into the molding of ourselves, our environments, and the experiences of the world around us.
If you are still molding your playdough… How does it feel now?
Has the smell changed?
Or deepened... maybe?
Is the texture more malleable?
warmer to the touch?
Or are you starting to have sensory overwhelm and possibly needing or wanting a wet wipe due to the chalky texture now coating your palms?
Much like the deepening of the second half of the letter ...Paul leans into the evolution of change that often occurs on not only our journeys of faith. But also, life as we age, evolve, change, remold, and ultimately grow. Paul continues to extend his invitation to be insightfully aware of our need to be open and aware of our minds and hearts amidst our life's seasons.
They are the values and or lessons of:
Convince
Rebuke
Encourage
Convince:
Convince biblically involves relation to the personal experiences, discernments, or the invocation of the Holy Spirit within the openness of the listener and the external actions of the believer. Believers in this context reference those who are gentle in spirit, respectful, and often pray for change and or understanding. Convince the ability to relate with all senses.
Rebuke:
Rebuke is an expression to at times sharply course correct… often with purpose and a way to reflect and bring about repentance and restoration. Utilizing love as a motivator for change.
Encourage:
Support driven given with confidence and a genuine heart. A building up of our scaffolding so to speak either internally and or with the guidance of communal support living as a reminder of God’s truth and grace.
Now as you check into your senses. Your surroundings… your heart and your mind … as it may have wondered…
into thought...
Possibly the openness of curiosity ...
or even more questions…
My hope is that just as Paul has written to Timothy from his heart that you also have had the opportunity within our setting today to tap into your internal wisdom. knowledge ... and change not only in the shaping and molding of your playdough but also to the growth in your own journeys and seasons of change.
When I took time earlier this week to connect to my growth, repurpose, corrections, and remolding if you will … I found myself wanting to lead into the convictions and truth of repair.
This letter from Paul to Timothy feels as if Paul was also speaking to my journey and molding not only from my child like faith of bravely singing songs of biblical warriors or the enveloping softness of worshiping within a community. But deeply to the depth of change I have encountered, and insightful truths I have uncovered and rediscovered as I have transitioned in growth within my current season but also into my changes in adulthood. Oftentimes within our journeys of faith and life we tend to want to skip to the complexities of resolve and or repair. I know I do! It feels good. It's rewarding... It's proof of life's validity. So much so that standing firmly in our truths of knowledge, training, and correction can continue to guide us…
But maybe just maybe Paul’s insights were valid and can speak to us now as relatable insights and a reminder that Repair is possibly the universal truth of the biblical word Encourage: the scaffolding of the internal and the external as a welcoming guiding light for us to lean into the welcoming arms of God’s Love … and Grace in the midst of a convincing world in the middle of a remolding.
So, I hope today is for all of you to continue to connect in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it. From what you have lived through in the seasons of change… and Encouragement of God’s love and hope that fills all of you as you sit here to be instruments of peace ...lights of unwavering love… amidst the changing and remolding of seasons.