"In Christ, we have also obtained an inheritance," begins this week's reading. We are an inherited congregation with an inherited faith, passed down from generation to generation. We are the sum total of everything that came before us in the Christian faith. We often don't think of faith as something we inherited, or as the 'congregation' itself as something we inherited. But, it really is.
This month we will explore all the perhaps unspoken thing we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Things we all are aware of, on some level, but don't give a lot of credence to, in our generic thanksgiving lists. We begin this week with 'inheritance.' We give thanks for Grandma's feather bed, passed down from generation to generation.
Remember the John Denver song. "It was nine feet high and six feet wide and soft as a downy chick. It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, it took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick." That feather bed imagery conjures up for many of us all the many things our grandmas had in their houses, some of which perhaps we have in our houses today.
All of us have inherited something from our families. Perhaps it is an actual physical artifact or a lot of them. Perhaps it is a way of living or a belief system. I have a ring that belonged to my grandmother. When my grandmother died, my mom showed me two of Granny's rings while they were cleaning out her house, and told me to pick one. I asked her for the story behind each before I picked. You see, the inheritance we get is not just stuff, it is the memory, the connection to a life that came before us and joined with us at some point along the way.
In Ephesians, we read of that inheritance from Christ as the Holy Spirit... which redeems us and marks us as God's own people. We inherit our redemption in Christ. We inherit our faith from those who believed in Christ before us. We inherit the gospel and are entrusted to carry that good news forward to those who will inherit it from us.
It is not unlike the items from Granny's house that we inherited. Both require you to care enough about the meaning and intent behind the inheritance to claim it, hold it as your own, and carry it forward into tomorrow. What have you inherited? Why is it meaningful for you? I would love to have you share some of those aloud this Sunday. Or you can send me an email or comment below.
Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment