Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song…
How do we honor the legacy that those who came before us left behind? This is a question that congregations often ask themselves – or should ask themselves.
All of the congregations that I’ve been involved with have been governed by ghosts. Whether we were sitting around a committee table, planning a congregational event, decorating for the holidays, or preparing for worship, our decisions were strongly influenced by the ghosts of leaders past.
One of the first things I learned as stepmother to three teens whose mother had died a few years earlier is that ghosts are very unreliable advisors. That’s because, when we try to make decisions the way they would want us to, we have to fill-in details that we can’t ask them about. This causes us to either cause the ghost to agree with us on every point or more often, to rigidly oppose any change.
Which brings us back to the question, how do we honor the legacy of those who came before us?
Our first instinct is to try to protect their legacy by preserving everything exactly as they left it. This turns our life and ministry together into a living history experience. This approach diminishes the contributions of those who came before us and prevents us from living fully here and now.
A better ways to honor those who came before us is to give thanks to God for their vision, their innovation, and their hard work while using our own vision, innovation and hard work to follow Jesus in our generation. This sets us free from being governed by ghosts and gives glory to God, alone.
Prayer: Lord Jesus: Thank you for all the faithful witnesses who have lived and loved and worshipped here before me. May everything I do honor their legacy by giving glory to You. AMEN