“What Will You Leave?”

Here are my thoughts for the “Back Page” of the bulletin for this coming Sunday, September 15, 2019 (14^th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C) at Fishkill UMC. Service starts at 10:15 and you are most certainly welcome to be a part of worship.

The lectionary is a collection of readings that repeats every three years.  I have used the lectionary readings for this Sunday six times over the past twenty years and yet, each week I find something different.

This week, I have a sense that we need to be looking to the next generation.  What will be giving to the next generation?  Are the words from Jeremiah written so long ago, speaking of a lifeless and barren world, destroyed by the actions, attitudes, and practices of humankind, spoken to us today?

Are we so concerned about today that we have failed to look to tomorrow?  What happens if we leave the next generation a world in which there is no air to breathe or water to drink?  What happens if people must struggle to live each day?

Time and time again, God speaks to us and let’s know that our concerns must be for others who share this world with us.  God makes it very clear that to do otherwise is a path to doom.

The Good News is that we can change this doomsday direction.  Paul is focused on his legacy, on what he is going to pass onto the next generation.  As Paul points out, God gave him a second chance and God  us that same opportunity.

What will you leave for the next generation?  Will it be a dead and lifeless world, divided by fear and hatred?  Or will be a world of life and hope?

~~ Tony Mitchell