In this season of life, I have watched as my hard-working parents retire after many faithful years of service. My mom retired almost 10 years ago from teaching in the Public School classroom and I am so proud of all of the lives she has influenced and shaped over her 42 years in education. In preparation for her retirement, my sisters and I got the class lists from almost 40 years of teaching and wrote each of the names of the students she had taught on a colorful slip of paper and one by one, we stapled them into a paper chain. We used that to decorate our church fellowship hall when we had her surprise retirement party years ago. Now my sisters and I are trying something similar for my dad. You may or may not know that my dad has been an architect for almost 50 years and he owns and runs his own architecture firm in Daytona Beach. My sisters and I are working on a final project that would feature over his 300 projects from his career to again celebrate his work as he nears his retirement later this year.
I started thinking about all of this over the last few days as I thought about Legacy. I spend some time talking about and encouraging a well-lived Legacy as I have assumed the Chair at Residing Hope (formerly known as the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home) and at those Director Meetings, we talk a lot about leaving a lasting legacy. For instance, we ask the Board, what kind of Legacy do we want to leave for the youth that come through our gate? How do we want to help transform the lives of the families who benefit from the care, counseling, therapy and spiritual life at Residing Hope? What kind of legacy will we leave?
As followers of Jesus, we aren’t often encouraged to think about getting recognized or having our names placed on plagues or a scholarship fund, but, bolstered by humility, we are asked by Jesus, over and over again to point people back to God. As a person who is with Jesus, becoming like Jesus and helping others to know Him, our biggest legacy will be loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. This is our Legacy. But what does that look like in action? What does a lived legacy of loving God and neighbor look like in today’s world?
Sometimes, leaving a legacy is offering a place of grace and safety for those that aren’t comfortable anywhere else. Maybe you have been called to hold sacred space for individuals that have been shunned or misguided by organized religion; who need a safe space to belong and to be loved. Maybe you have been called to leave a legacy of service to the world through justice and mercy, through feeding hunger bellies or empowering hungry minds. Maybe you have been called to leave a legacy with your wisdom as you shepherd new parents or marriages in conflict. It could be that you are called to love the youth, tutor students, protect refugees, feed the homeless or fight for more equal legislation. Or it could be that you have been called to leave a legacy of bettering our community and equipping it for changing times.
I share all of this because we are beginning our Capital Campaign as you know and you will be hearing about Legacy a lot over these next few weeks. I wanted to start the conversation to say that many of you have already begun to leave your legacy and it is holy and it is good. Not all legacy is connected to money, so much of it is connected to our relationships. I invite you and your family to talk through how you have already begun to leave a legacy for people in the name of Jesus here in Central Florida and then invite the Holy Spirit to show you how that Legacy can grow and expand through generosity in ways you may have not even yet acknowledged. As one of your pastors, I know what a generous church this is in spirit and in means and I look forward to seeing how we will work together to help others come to know and love Jesus Christ through the legacies we build on now as one body.