Beloved of God,

Legacy is our focus for this month; the legacy we have received from God in Jesus—an identity, a purpose, and a destiny—and the legacies we have received and given from/to family members, friends, teachers, classmates, and too many others to mention.

If we imagine ourselves as the proverbial “onion” and peel away the many layers which constitute our selves, we would find that a huge percentage of who we are and how we carry ourselves in the world comes to us as a legacy from others.   Certainly this is true of our physical selves—we carry the DNA of our biological parents and embody attributes that can be traced through previous generations for millennia.

Those of us who have had the opportunity to visit the LUCY exhibit at the Seattle Science Center experienced an illustration of the long and winding trail that leads backward in time 3.2 million years to LUCY (called Dinkenesh – Wonderful One, by the Ethiopians) and other non-human progenitors of our species homo sapien.  The human story is rich and complex one, and even as new discoveries add to those layers, they raise new questions about human origins.

The Scriptures proclaim a theological, rather than a scientific, view of human origins.  According to the second creation account (Gen 2) we are “God-breathed” beings with God-given vocations to boot—tending the garden, naming the world’s inhabitants, living in right relationship with our Creator and others.

The fact that things got messed up in chapter three reminds us that legacy is a two-edged (at least!) sword.  Legacies that have led us toward lives of joy and vigor are part of the “light” side of that heritage; while legacies that have led us toward lives of fear and failure are part of the “shadow” side of that heritage.

Many of the things that make us who we are were given to us long before you had a choice.  And yet, as each of us engages those gifts, attributes, and liabilities daily, we set the stage for what our legacy will become for the next generation.

Understanding one’s legacy—both received and given—is most powerful when it is particular, and that is why I have so appreciated the testimonies of the writers who contributed to our LEGACY DEVOTIONAL.  We each have stories to tell.  Stories of gifts received and stories of what we want to leave for coming generations.  A great “cloud of witnesses” surrounds us.  What a shame—indeed, a failure beyond words—it would be if we did not find it within ourselves to commend to others the faith that is in us.

A legacy is created because a person discovers a way of life that is so compelling that it must indeed be shared. When we share the abundant life that we have found in Jesus Christ, legacies abound and bless those who receive them.

One of the most mysterious ways that we grow in faith and in our calling is to grow in giving. It is a paradox; the more we give, the more we receive. As Christians, we need to give in order to reflect our creation in the image of God, whose giving never ends.

The vision we are embracing and living into as a congregation is full of challenges.  The context of the current economic crisis and rising unemployment adds additional dimensions to those challenges.  But because the legacy we have received in Christ Jesus is one which chooses faith over fear and light over darkness, we can continue shaping our legacy even while we are continually shaped and reshaped by the waters of renewal and the bread of new birth.

I hope you will join us February 22^nd as we celebrate Legacies we have received, and the God whose “giving knows no ending.”

Blessings to you,

Pastor Erik