Pumping self-serve gasoline is usually not a death-defying act. But it sure feels that way here in the DC area.

Over the past few weeks, we've been terrorized by a sniper who has shot 11 people (possibly 12 today), killing 9. Several people have been gunned down while filling their gas tanks. Suddenly, the most mundane of tasks has become tinged with terror, and self?serve customers can be seen looking around nervously, suddenly suspicious of their surroundings.

Evil has come to Exxon.

Many of us now feel a bond with residents of Israel and other countries where terrorists strike randomly and all-too-frequently. When we walk out of a store and across a parking lot, we worry that we'll become the next victim. When we send our children to the bus stop in the morning, we wonder if we'll see them again. Sure, there is always going to be danger to children from accidents and illnesses, but sniper attacks are particularly powerful reminders of the fragility of life.

As some of you know, the youngest victim, a 13-year-old boy, was shot in my hometown of Bowie, Maryland. The sniper carefully aimed his weapon from a wooded park where I played as a child. For each of us, in our own way, this all hits very close to home.

So how should we respond? One reaction is to adopt a completely defensive posture, as schools around here have been forced to do, an approach that has included the cancellation of all outdoor activities. On a personal level, we may be tempted to take a similar approach -- to keep our children indoors, teach them to avoid strangers, and instruct them to be suspicious of everyone around them.

But this is hardly a faithful approach to life. We learn in today's Scripture lesson that the church of the Thessalonians was persecuted, as we are being persecuted today, and the apostle Paul commended them for their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10). The faith of these Thessalonian Christians was active, not passive … hopeful, not fearful … grown-up, not immature.

We've got to get beyond a babyish faith.

One problem today is that we haven't done well with lifetime Christian Education. Think of the children who go to Sunday School until they are confirmed, and then never show up for Christian Education again. Or the young men and women who grow up attending services with their families, but then become invisible -- reappearing only at Christmas, or for brief periods after personal crises. According to sociologist Dean Hoge of Catholic University, seventy-five percent of Presbyterians drop out of active church membership after confirmation, a number that would be matched by most mainstream Protestant denominations.

Seventy-five percent. That's a stunning statistic. You've got to wonder: Why isn't our faith as strong as it used to be?

Maybe teenagers today consider Sunday School to be "babyish." Perhaps the growth of the wage-earning work force has drained the old Sunday School volunteer pool. It could be that some adults have come to think of church as being useful at an earlier age, but now no longer relevant. They don't see it as being a source of strength and assurance in a terrifying time.

This was not a problem for Paul, according to his letter to the Thessalonians. He gave thanks to God for all of the Thessalonians, remembering before God their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:2-3). These committed Christians received the word of God with joy -- with Spirit-inspired joy -- and not just in happy times, says Paul, but "in spite of persecution" (v. 6). They took the word of the Lord to Macedonia and Achaia and other regions as well, and they became known for their willingness to turn to away from idols in order "to serve a living and true God" (vv. 8-9). Their God was not a dead idol, but was alive and well and active … a God who could see them through pain and suffering, persecution and rejection, physical injury and even death itself.

So, what was their secret? How did they grow beyond a babyish faith and become vital, active, adult servants of a living and true God?

In a phrase: Good role models.

Paul takes credit for being a good example when he reminds them that he, Silvanus, and Timothy brought them the message of the gospel "not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." You remember, he tells them, just "what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake" (v. 5) … what kind of GREAT persons we proved to be.

Modesty was never the apostle Paul's strong suit.

But this good role modeling did not end with Paul and his colleagues. No, in this letter, Paul reports that you -- the Thessalonians -- "became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia" (vv. 6-7).

The key to the Thessalonian success was this: They followed mature Christian role models, and then became good examples themselves. They grew into people who could stand up to persecution, people who could face a dangerous world knowing that God was with them. Because they moved from being imitators to examples, they progressed beyond a babyish spirituality to the possession of genuinely mature faith.

Role modeling is every bit as essential now as it was then, and it is up to the adult members of this congregation to rise to the challenge. The time has come for you to show our children and young people what it means to stand up for good in the midst of evil; to confront the challenges of the day "in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" (v. 5). You older members have lived through the threat that was presented to us by Nazi Germany; others endured the tension of the Cold War and the very real danger of nuclear holocaust.

This is a time not to cower in fear, but to show real Christian courage.

Some of you will have a chance to work one-on-one with our teenagers when Carrie Yearick asks you to act as mentors to members of our Confirmation Class. This will give younger and older Christians the chance to talk, study, worship and perform service projects together, and then move together into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a committed, faithful follower of Christ today.

This approach moves us beyond a babyish faith, and toward a much more mature Christian commitment. It also reminds us that our faith is never complete, but is constantly in the process of growing and maturing, as we face new challenges together. Spiritual maturity is not finished at age 13 -- the age in which Christian confirmations and Jewish bar mitzvahs tend to occur -- if anything, it is only beginning. Because of this, I love the suggestion for lifelong development made by Rabbi Philip Pohl of Olney, Maryland. He suggests that after the bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah is performed for Jewish boys and girls at age 13, then the process be repeated -- he would like similar celebrations to be held at 13-year intervals throughout all of life.

Yes, that's right: Not just at age 13, but at ages 26, 39, 52 and 65. A renewal of faith, every 13 years.

What a marvelous model for lifelong faith development! Just think of the opportunities for spiritual growth. With the help of mature role models, our members could be reconfirmed as they start their careers at age 26 ... as they hit their mid-life crises at 39 ... as they experience the empty nest at 52 ... and as they move into retirement at 65. Each stage brings new challenges and opportunities for faithful living, as well as for sharing in the ministry of the congregation. This would eliminate the current fiction that we are somehow equipped at age 13 to take on the religious resources needed to deal with the many difficult issues of life, from snipers to human sexuality to career chaos. Lifelong faith development would also bring us closer to the example of the early church, in which the Thessalonians became imitators of Paul and the Lord, and then became an example to all the believers in their region.

Would Presbyterians today support such a system? It's hard to say. Most people tend to avoid adult education and they put little pressure on their children to continue Sunday School after confirmation. But Rabbi Pohl says that there is precedent for a mature reaffirmation of commitment, at least in the Jewish community. If a man lives to age 83 -- the biblical life expectancy of 70 years, plus an additional 13 -- he is given the opportunity to reenact his bar mitzvah. This celebration is a powerful expression of commitment to faithful living -- a testimony that faith can deepen and new life can be found, even in old age.

Chances are, in most congregations there are a good number of adults who would like to reaffirm their faith: Sociologist Dean Hoge reports that 49 percent of Presbyterians who drop out return to church by age 37.

We need to keep in mind that faith is caught, not taught -- passed on only by coming into contact with people who believe. That's why we all require the role modeling of people like Paul, Silvanus, Timothy and the Thessalonians, as well as the examples of countless saints that we encounter over the course of our lifetimes, saints who can help us to show Christian courage in the middle of terrifying times. There is no stage in life in which any of us is exempt from the necessity of maturing in our faith, and there is no stage in which we don't need ongoing mentoring.

This activity is not just for Sunday-school kids, you see. Christian commitment needs to mature through all of life, long after we've said bye-bye to a babyish faith. Amen.

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