The Legacy We Leave Behind

After a week of meetings in Grand Junction, Robin and I travelled to southwest Colorado. Our route took us through Moab where we took in some of the amazing scenery. At one spot, we saw a bunch of petroglyphs etched on a single big rock: there was bighorn sheep, feet, centipedes, a birthing scene, horse and rider and birds. The variety of images were etched at different dates: anywhere from 1 AD to 1880!

What is it about we humans that cause us to want to leave our mark somewhere? Petroglyphs, graffiti, a stone fence, children, a building, a piece of art or book—the drive to leave something that will live long after we are gone is strong. 

Our life is but a small speck in the great expanse of time that humans have existed. 

James 4:14 reminds us of that fact: “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

What is the legacy you will leave once your brief time on earth is done? Will you be remembered by the material things you left behind, or by the lives you touched and changed? We all live in social circles: families, neighborhoods, work teams, church groups. What mark are you leaving? Do you love others in ways that help them live into their best selves? Do you work to break down the divisions between people? Are you working side by side with others so justice can be realized for those without it? Are you offering tenderness and compassion in places where harshness and apathy seem to have the upper hand?

Perhaps you will never leave behind an etching on a rock that someone will gaze upon hundreds of years later. But may the seed of love you plant in someone’s heart bear fruit for generations. 

Leaving a Mark

Earlier this summer, as I was touring the church camps within the Mountain Sky Area, I drove through Nine Mile Canyon in Utah. It is known as “the world’s longest art gallery” due the thousands of ancient petroglyphs left by the Fremont culture and Ute people. Some of the images tell stories, others are of individual people or animals. It is a beautiful, haunting place to visit.

Ever since the beginning of time, humans have tried to leave their mark in the world. Whether through the scratching of pictures on stone, the etching of initials on a tree, or graffiti on the side of the building, there is something in us that compels us to say, “I WAS HERE!”

Last week I worshipped in my home church. Sitting in that familiar place that raised me in the faith, I was flooded by so many memories—Christmas Eve candlelight services, when we’d sing “Silent Night” a cappella as the light of Christ was passed throughout the colonial church to light our individual candles, giggles shared with high school friends in the choir loft during worship, the felt boards in Sunday School that told various Bible Stories, youth group meetings where we shared communion together in the dark, musty basement of the church…

But more than that, I thought of the people who had lived out their faith commitment by mentoring others, in particularly children and youth like me. I thought of Sunday School teachers (some of whom are still there!), youth group leaders, choir directors, and pastors. Some have joined the Church Triumphant, yet I can picture them as clearly as if we just saw each other. The impact they left on my life—and the life of countless others—lives on. Even though their earthly journey is over, they were HERE and made a difference that continues in the lives of those of us they nurtured and mentored.

What mark will you leave behind? Will there be more than a marking stone at your grave to let the world know you were here? Are you being intentional about what you will leave behind in the lives you currently touch? How are you helping them shape their future?

2 Timothy 2:2 reminds us “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men and women who will be able to teach others also.”

Mentor others in the faith that has grounded and guided you. It will be your living legacy as those you touch live it out and share it with others as well.

Potlucks and the Body of Christ

I write this from Montana. The cabinet met in Great Falls earlier this week where we also spent time with United Methodists from around that area. Tonight, I am in Missoula, where I just came from a potluck with United Methodists from around this area.

We United Methodists do potlucks really, really well, and this one was no exception. Our potlucks reflect the miracle of the loaves and fishes: no matter how many of us come together, the dishes seem to multiply so there is always enough lasagna and potato salad and desserts and deviled eggs (okay, maybe not enough deviled eggs!). You never go hungry at a United Methodist potluck.

The laughter at this potluck flowed as freely as the lemonade. Parishioners from the various churches renewed old friendships and made new friends. When we gather together to break bread at table, Christ shows up and knits us together as his Body.

This week in United Methodism will be studied by generations in the future. It is a week when there was much weeping and grieving for our beloved church, as the voting results of the constitutional amendments were revealed, and two constitutional amendments regarding gender equality and the full inclusion of people into the life of the church, regardless of “race, color, gender, national origin, ability, age, marital status or economic condition" were voted down. It was a painful statement of our brokenness as a church when we couldn’t even affirm Galatians 3:28 (“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”), which shows the width and breadth of Christ’s body, that extends beyond nationality and race, class, gender, age, ability, and status to make us one.

Then came the news that Amendment One (on gender equality) was voted on with the wrong wording, invalidating the results and requiring a revote of that specific amendment. While we have the chance to right a wrong, the fact is the second amendment still failed, crushing the spirits of so many.

I am proud of Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain Conferences, which voted overwhelmingly in favor of both amendments. I am proud that we are an area formed by actions of Wyoming, the Equality State, first territory to grant women’s suffrage and the first state to allow women to vote, serve on juries and hold public office. But Wyoming was not alone: Between 1869 and 1896, only four states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho) granted women the right to vote. Montanan Jeannette Rankin was the first woman ever elected to federal office in the US.

In the midst of celebrating the gender equality we find in our region, we still have a long way to go—both within our church and in society—to ensure that all persons are valued, respected, and treated equally. May we not rest until Galatians 3:28 is truly realized.

I turn back to the evening’s potluck. May all our gatherings be centered around a table. May we sit expectantly for Christ to show up. When we live that way, we see one another not as strangers but kin and as kin, we seek the best for each other. It means speaking out when one in our midst experiences injustice. It means standing up to right wrongs. It means challenging powers and principalities that seek to diminish and harm someone’s dignity.

We’ve got work to do, dear ones. Tomorrow, kneel down and drink deeply from the well of our faith. Then, may we arise from our knees, roll up our sleeves, and do the work that God requires of us, the work of Love.