deeply-connected life-
Past, Present, and future

May 28, 2023 • Pentecost Sunday
Readings: Genesis 12:1-3, 22:17-19 (Inclusive Bible)
 The Seven Generations Principle
Rev. Jeff Wells

[You can view the full worship video recording at: https://youtu.be/mtWEkQbU_rw]

Past

As we just heard, Abraham felt inspired – we might even say “called” – by God to leave the land of his birth and his youth and to travel far away from those he loved, to leave behind everything he knew, in order to make a new beginning in a strange and unfamiliar land. And in listening to God’s leading and following God’s inspiration, Abraham’s life, his faithfulness, his commitment came to be a blessing to many generations who followed him and even, says the scripture lesson, a blessing to all people and every nation on the face of the Earth.

I wonder if Abraham felt the burden of that invitation from God – “you will be a blessing to all people.” Did he grasp the heavy responsibility of living his life in such a way that his example would influence not only many people who lived at the same time, but so many after he was long dead? Looking at the world today, we can see how close to the truth this prediction has become. Abraham is claimed as a model of faithfulness and as a progenitor of the faith for billions of Jews, Christians, Muslims around the world. And Abraham was claimed by Jesus and those in his movement and by most early Christians, so in our community of the Church of the Village, we are deeply connected to Abraham and his story. Even if the details of it are not all literally true, the ethical and spiritual truth contained in Abraham’s story has influenced who we have become.

We all have very deep and ancient connections to the religious traditions that we have inherited. Even beyond the evolved traditions we know today, we are surely connected by threads we cannot always discern or document, to the ways of being in community and of grasping a connection to the God’s Spirit and to all that is – ways that existed before religions, before writing, before agriculture and cities.

Even when we are not conscious of it, our lives are deeply connected with those who came before us. We are also connected to the other-than-human lives that came before us, but I want to focus primarily on the human connections for our purposes today.

Our deep connections to the past are also very personal and familial. As with Abraham, our grasp of that connection comes through stories passed down to us. I am so grateful to my father for the great effort he put into writing a combination family history and personal memoir that he completed before he died at 88 years old. The stories told over and over during my childhood and preserved his book are treasures that help me to understand who he was, who my grandparents and great-grandparents were, what had shaped their lives, and how their thoughts and actions have influenced my own. The stories also gave me clues for where to look for more details of their lives.

For several years, I have been researching my own ancestors, learning about them and trying to discern how their lives have shaped my own. This summer, I plan to travel to upstate New York to visit the area near Oswego where my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th great-grandfathers lived and are buried, along with members of their families. We are all connected in this way, whether or not family stories were passed on to us; whether or not we can document the genealogical lines. We are connected to and influenced by those who came before us in our family trees – even when sometimes we would rather not be. I am grateful to know that my puritan ancestors had the courage to leave behind the lives they had built in England, to escape religious persecution, and to try to build a New Jerusalem, a City on a Hill in this supposedly “new land.” And, of course, I am very aware and saddened to know that they participated in or accepted the theft of land, forced Christianization, forced migration, and mass killings of the native peoples who inhabited Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Upstate New York, and Wisconsin. Our inheritance always includes both positive and negative aspects.

My parents were shaped in both good and not so good ways by their parents and grandparents, and those parents were shaped by their own parents and grandparents. This pattern of connection and influence stretches back as far as we can conceive.

I can’t resist sharing a story from Larry Rasmussen, a good friend of Church of the Village, who published a new book in 2022 titled, The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty’s a Sure Thing. In one letter, written when his youngest grandson, who he calls “Spud,” was turning 2 years old, he asked him, “How old are you when you are 2?” And the answer Larry offered was this: “Well, we are all stardust – stardust turned to Earth dust that then became part of our bodies – like the calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood and all sorts of other chemical compounds. The Earth is about 4-½ billion years old. And you are far older than the Earth, which is quite an accomplishment for a 2-year-old!”

Present

One modern way of thinking about the power and purpose of church is the vision of “beloved community.” Bringing the beautiful diversity of humanity together in community for the common good. Like Acts 2. Not ignoring our different backgrounds, cultures, experiences, even desires, but celebrating them. Celebrating connectedness as essential to our common wellbeing. This has always been an important part of the ethos and culture of our congregation. And, it has deep roots going back to the Israelites, through Jesus, and Josiah Royce, Martin Luther King Jr., James Lawson, John Perkins, and so many others.

Our community’s ethos has been deeply formed by the stories and teachings of Judaism, Jesus, and the early Jesus movement. Let me cite just a few examples.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

There are many examples in the Tanakh – Hebrew Bible – of stories showing the necessity of community and connection as people sought to follow God’s inspiration – and stories of what happened when they didn’t. We could say all of the writings of the Hebrew prophets are essentially about that.

And then in the Christian New Testament, we have many further examples – inspired by the Hebrew scriptures and by Jesus’ teachings. Here is a small selection:

“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
– 1 Corinthians 12:26

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor…. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.” – Romans 12:9, 15-16

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; [neither queer nor straight; neither trans nor cis], and regardless of color, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” – Galatians 3:28-29

And, again, it is deeply personal. We strive to be a community in which we genuinely and mutually love and care for one another. Hold each other up. When one suffers, we all hurt. When anyone is in need, we try to meet that need. We are a chosen family. We are deeply connected.

Future

In the same way, as we look to the uncertain future, we have to keep in mind those who will follow us and be connected, influenced, and shaped by how we have lived and acted in the world. What kind of legacy will we leave? How will we impact those who come after us? This is where the Seven Generations Principle devised by the Haudenosaunee nation comes in – and there are other versions found around the world. The same Spirit of God that inspired Abraham and those who came before and after him, that infused the life and ministry of Jesus, that same Spirit has been guiding us, and will be guiding and inspiring all who come after us.

Living under 21st century capitalism, in which massive global corporations control economies and political systems and generating profits and wealth in the short term and at all costs is the bottom line, it is hard to imagine a society in which people make decisions based on how they will impact people seven generations into the future – people they will never know or meet. Yet, it seems to me this principle has to be a foundation of the kind of human civilization that must arise if humanity is to survive and if there is to be a living Earth not just seven generations, but seventy-seven generations from now. In a small way, this is what we are trying to do in our own community of faith – to assure the future for our small community that is trying to shine a bright light for the way forward. Thanks be to God for fostering and reminding us of the deep, life-giving connections we inherit and pass on. Let us learn the hard lessons and celebrate and cherish the gifts these connections offer to us as we are continually learning, growing, acting, and becoming together in deeply-connected life.

Copyright (c) 2023 - Jeff Wells
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