This picture sums up the legacy my Grandmother left in me. In this picture you can see that she is riding on a camel and the picture was taken on a trip she took to the Holy Land when she was in her late 70’s. Now what you need to know about my Grandmother is that she didn’t like to fly, but she flew half way across the world because she wanted to experience first hand the history of the Holy Land. While faith was important to my Grandmother, what I love about this picture is that it reminds me that it was later in her life that she began to explore the person of Jesus. I remember talking to her about the Shroud of Turin and she was fascinated thinking that it could have been the burial cloth of Jesus. I think going to the Holy Land helped take her faith in God and trust in Jesus to a new place – and that happened in her 70’s and she overcome her fear of flying to be able to experience it.
Part of the legacy of my Grandmother’s life is that she shows me it is never too late to build a stronger relationship with God, but the picture reveals even more of her legacy because she is riding on a camel. My Grandmother didn’t just leave a legacy of faith; she left a legacy of how important it is to live a full and active life. From riding a camel to helicopter rides into Hawaiian Volcanoes, my Grandmother rose above many of her fears to experience all she could in life. She was not going to let things pass her by. Even though she didn’t like to fly, she wanted to see new places and experience new things. That desire to experience all of life was also see in her love of learning. During a time when many women didn’t go to college, she graduated from Vassar College with a degree in math and horticulture. Part of the legacy she left behind was a passion to learn and to experience all there was to experience in life.
Even when she moved into a retirement center in her 80’s she continued to learn and experience new things in life. She started to volunteer in school and it was from working with elementary school children that she learned how to use a computer; in fact, they were the ones who taught her how to use a computer. The legacy my Grandmother left in me was to not be afraid to step out and experience new things in life and to embark on new adventures. The legacy of her life inspires me and the witness of her faith encourages me to keep building my own relationship with God and to remember that it is never too late to experience more of God’s love and grace.
What kind of legacy are we forming today in our children and grandchildren? How is the witness of our lives shaping the lives of those around us? What kind of legacy are we leaving behind in the church? These are important question because God calls all of us to leave behind a strong legacy. The last recorded words of Jesus before he was taken up into heaven are found in Acts 1. Jesus says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So we will be a witness to Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn’t invite us to be a witness, he says we will be one; it is a statement of fact. In one way or another we will be a witness to Jesus; the question is what kind of witness will we be?
In Hebrews 12 we heard that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and the lives of these people inspire us to run the race of faith with perseverance and strength. Now the witnesses that the author of Hebrews talks about are the great men and women of faith from Israel’s past that he had just outlined in Hebrews 11, and as we reflect on their lives we begin to see the kind of legacy we need to be cultivating today. The first section of Hebrews 11 (v. 1-28) contains the names and the stories of men like Noah, Abraham and Moses. When we think of these 3 great men of faith there is one thing that jumps out at us, each one of them was willing to leave behind a way of life that was safe and secure to follow God.
When God called Noah to build an ark he was calling him to leave behind his quiet and ordinary life. Can you imagine the ridicule that Noah must have endured when he suddenly starts building an ark in his backyard? And when people ask him, hey Noah what you doing? What are you going to do with that big boat? Can you imagine how hard it must have been for Noah to tell them that he was going to fill it with two of every animal and wait for a world wide flood to come and destroy the earth? It is not easy to be teased and misunderstood and you have to believe that Noah was teased and misunderstood. How much easier it would have been for him to just continue to go about his safe and quiet life, but he didn’t. Noah heard the call of God and he followed Him, and so did Abraham and Moses.
Both Abraham and Moses were called by God to leave the safety and security of their homes in order to follow God into a new life. God called Abraham to leave his home and his family and go to a land that god would show him. In other words, God didn’t say, here is the map that will lead you to your new home, God said, leave your home - start your journey and then I will show you where you are going. How hard it must have been to leave behind the security of what he knew to step out into the great unknown, and yet he did.
Moses was also called to leave behind safety, comfort and security to become the leader of God’s people. When God calls Moses to lead the people of Israel, Moses was living with his wife and her family in the mountains and he was quietly living the life of a shepherd. Moses had already given up all the rights and privileges of Pharaoh’s palace that he had enjoyed earlier in his life, and now God was calling him to leave behind the quiet and secure life of tending sheep to go back to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of slavery. So the legacy Moses leaves us, the witness of his life is a willingness to leave behind wealth and privilege and safety and security in order to faithfully follow God. That’s the common witness of Moses, Abraham and Noah. Their legacy is one of being willing to give up comfort and security to follow God. That’s the witness that not only surrounds us today but needs to inspire us in our own lives and faith. Are we willing to leave behind comfort and security in order to step out in faith and trust?
Now the second section of Hebrews 11 contains the names of people like Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and what these men have in common is that they were all great leaders in Israel’s history. Gideon, Barak, Jephthah and David all led armies into battle and many times they led their armies into seemingly impossible situations with only their faith and trust in God to help them be victorious. These men were asked to do the impossible by simply trusting in the power of God – and they did. .
That’s the story of Gideon. Gideon was called by God to lead the people of Israel against their enemy the Midianites. When God called Gideon the army of Israel numbered 32,000 men. So Gideon had a good sized army to go to into battle, but God said it was too big, so 22,000 men went home leaving Gideon with 10,000 men. While that was still a sizable force, God said again there were too many men, so Gideon separated them out again and this time sent 9,700 men home. Gideon now has an army of 300 men, about 1% of his original army and with those men God tells Gideon to go into battle and trust in the power of God to help them win. Gideon does and Gideon wins. The legacy of Gideon and the witness of these other men of faith is that we can find victory when we step out and attempt great things for God not because we are strong but because God is strong and God is with us.
So according to Hebrews 12 we are surrounded by this witness. The legacy given to us by these great men and women of faith is to set aside what is comfortable and embrace a life of faith that stretches us and challenges us to trust God more. But there is another witness we need to consider, look at Hebrews 12:2-3. To be strong in our faith we also need to consider the legacy given to us by Jesus and there is no better place to see that legacy than in communion.
Communion is a time where we reflect on the life of Jesus and part of what we need to do while we share in this meal is figure out how we can follow this example in our own lives. Think back to the night that Jesus celebrated the last supper with his disciples, before he broke the bread and gave the cup he first washed their feet and after he did he said, I have set for you an example, you should do as I have done. I don’t think Jesus is saying that we should wash each other’s feet, I think he is saying that we need to serve one another and be willing to humble ourselves in love and sacrifice ourselves for the needs and well being of others. That’s the legacy Jesus leaves behind when he washes feet and breaks the bread and shares the cup, and it is the legacy he leaves when he carries a cross.
The legacy of Jesus is a legacy of love, service and sacrifice and we need to consider how to make that way of life the foundation of our own lives. What will it look like for us to wash the feet of those around us? What will it look like for us to become the bread and the cup for the world today? What does it mean for us to deny ourselves and take up a cross? This is the legacy given to us by Jesus and this witness needs to give light to how we order and live our lives.
Today we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. There are those who have been part of our lives and shown us how to live, but there are also those ancient men and women of faith whose lives continue to be an example for us to follow, and then there is the legacy of Jesus that we see in this meal. Will we use all of their lives as inspiration and guidance as we consider the legacy we are creating today? In Hebrews 13:7 it says, Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Can we step out in faith like Noah, Abraham and Moses? Will we attempt great things for God like Gideon, Samson and David? Will we serve, give, sacrifice and love like Jesus? We have a great cloud of witnesses who have spoken the word of God to us, may we imitate their lives and leave behind a strong legacy of faith for all who will follow us.
