From the desk of Pastor Craig:
Heritage
or History?
My mother would
have been eighty-eight years old this year. My father used to say,
“She was born on Independence Day and, boy, is she independent.”
She was. And, she
wasn’t. She was the daughter of a Danish immigrant father and a
first-generation, Danish-American mother. Almost by definition as a
young immigrant at the turn of the 20th century, her
father was a risk-taker who left home, family, and friends to try
life in the United States of America. Her mother, raising a family
during the Great Depression, was anything but a risk-taker. She
taught her children to save everything and waste nothing.
And, as every
mother’s child, I carry her traits. As a regular attendee of family
reunions and a student of family systems theory [Google it - you’ll
be fascinated], I know the history of my family on both sides.
I know my history –
the facts about what and where and when things happened. But
heritage is different from history. History is what happened in the
past; heritage is what is passed on into the present and future…
something transmitted from the past into the next generation.
History, unless
you’re willing to play fast and loose with writing it, isn’t open to
choice. What happened, happened. Heritage, on the other hand, is
full of decisions. We get to decide how we are going to live out
the traits, traditions, and talents handed on to us. My mother was
a risk-taker… who was very careful and conservative. As my mother’s
child, I see myself as intellectually curious, willing to explore
non-traditional ways of thinking and believing… but cautious about
wholesale experimentation or deserting traditions.
I am my mother’s
child – a cautious risk-taker. Yes, it’s a contradiction. It’s
also true of many, many of us. It is our history. But, it is time
to choose our heritage – what part of our history will we live out
in our lives. And, it’s time to create our legacy – that part of
our own history we will bequeath to those who come after us.
I am not a brave
man. Nor do I embrace risk for the excitement of experimenting or
simply experiencing something new. But, as a student of history, I
am aware of the choices that even cautious and careful people make
when the time comes to decide.
And, I think it’s
time. Now, in our 30th year as Peace Lutheran Church,
it’s time to decide our legacy. It’s time to risk, to grow, to
start a family, to have children. For several years as Charles
County has grown, the ELCA (at my request) has been looking at the
need and feasibility of starting a new mission – either a new
congregation or a second campus of Peace – near La Plata. It feels
risky both financially and programmatically. It also feels right.
For us who have experienced the grace of God and love of friends at
Peace, we know what a gift a healthy and vibrant congregation can be
both to those who are part of it and those who benefit from its
presence and programs in the community. That is both our history
(the facts) and our heritage (our choice to live out). Now, I think
it’s time to give what we have been living.
In concrete terms,
I believe it is time for us to grow as a congregation: to double in
size over the next five years. There are certainly people living in
and moving into our neighborhood who need to hear and live the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. In some ways, I’m reluctant. I’m afraid of
losing what we have, of the risks we’ll take. But I know in whose
hands our history, our heritage, and our future lie – Jesus Christ,
our Lord.
Love,
Craig