Greetings …
It is a joy to be back among you again … not as among you as I hoped when I took leave and thought we might soon be able to worship together in our building … but back to being held in the warmth of this caring community. While a tightening of restrictions sees us unable to meet together, I have certainly felt the love of you all in the welcome back emails, text messages and phone calls. It seems as though we have missed one another.
I can report that while my time away wasn’t as originally planned, it was still a good time to rejuvenate. There was no trip to Sydney but there was the unexpected opportunity to have a few days away in country Victoria with Tony and Elizabeth. We enjoyed our explorations of different towns, climbed lookout towers to see far and wide, walked in the footsteps of miners while exploring old mine workings, enjoyed card games at night and rummaged through different cemeteries finding the resting places of ancestors long gone.
Standing looking at an unmarked patch of ground in one of the cemeteries, I was struck by the thought that without any headstone or plaque most people would not know anyone was buried there. There was no name – nothing to mark the life that had been lived. What also struck me though, was the realisation that even if those buried had been named, it would not tell us much about the legacy that the individuals had left. I know that legacy because I can see how it impacts those living five generations on, but others may not.
That’s the thing isn’t it … the legacy of those who have gone before us shapes us. It is true for
families and also true for us as people of faith. Those who have gone before and shared their
love, doubts, talents, questions, fears, revelations, conversations and stories with us have left a valuable legacy. When people look back on these historic times I wonder how they will reflect on the legacy that we have left. What might that legacy be? What message do we want to leave through our words and actions?
My hope is that we might be remembered as those who have worked for justice, have loved extravagantly and have continued to walk in the hope that we find in God.
Blessings – Heather.