Above my desk at home hangs an old picture frame with my paternal grandfather’s family register. It lists in order his parent’s names, as well as all the children that were born to them. It shares their birthdays, as well as when and where each was married, and finally their dates of death. The last line was completed by my father when granddad died in 1990.
Granddad came from what we would call today a “blended family.” His father died when he was just a toddler, and when she remarried, her new husband wanted her to raise his children from his previous marriage. Her children were “farmed out” to other relatives, neighbors, and friends. Thirteen children in all, with my grandfather as the youngest.
At the top of the register scrawled in my granddad’s third-grade handwriting are the words, “to go to Bug and cate at my death. LD” (My dad’s nickname is “Bud”, and my mother’s nickname is “Kate”, but granddad did the best he knew how.
Family trees are a big business these days. Websites tout the latest is record searching databases and techniques, and promise that you will never really know what you will find, but that you just need to start looking.
Scripture is replete with examples of a people of faith attempting to keep their family lines in order, and preserved for the generations to come. Telling the stories of our ancestors ties us to the generations of the past in a unique and powerful way. Remembering our ancestry is an important clue in understanding our present, and helping us to move toward the future.
The same is true for the Church. We remember those who have guided us in our faith journeys as one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit. The letter to the Hebrews recounts many of the ancestors of the faith, their faithfulness, and their careful witness to the goodness of God’s abundant mercy and grace, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. To recall these folks is to retrace the steps of the love of God across the generations to the very present place in which we now stand. It is a recollection – a re-collecting – of the memories of the faithful who have brought us to the faith, and who surround us as witnesses to the power of God’s mercy. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Sunday, November 6th, we will celebrate the lives of the many Saints of the Church who have gone on before us in the past year, guiding us in The Way. Their lives have been a beacon of hope to us, as they have sought to faithfully live the calling of Jesus Christ in their lives. We honor their memory with a special memorial service including Communion. Their witness has given us a glimpse into life in the Kingdom. For this we are thankful to God.
It is a part of our family line. Our Family Tree. Join with me as we celebrate these special saints in the church on November 6th. And consider how you can “run the race that is set before you with perseverance” and be the witness of Jesus Christ to those around you.
See you in Church!
Grace and peace,
Brad
