I have been thinking a lot about legacy lately. I guess in part because of our 200 year anniversary. Last week I asked us what do we want the legacy of Huron to be? That in order to know when/ where / how we are to move forward we need to know what we want. 200 years later we are currently living the legacy of those who forged our church, what do we want for the next generations?
In praying over the Bible this week, I couldn't help but think of a passage from Kings. Kings is full of interesting things and most often forgotten tales of the Kings of the Hebrews. One of these stories that gets over look is King Joash.
King Joash took the thrown at a very young age (somewhere between 6-9). His grandmother, Athaliah, who was not a worshiper of YHWH but instead Baal took the thrown after her son the King was killed. In order to maintain her acting Queenship she murdered all other males of royalty. Perhaps her own sons! However, one of the former kings sisters (a daughter of this Queen from another mother as we would say today) save his son Joash and hid him away in the temple. After 6 years she revealed him as the King of Judah and in a frenzy Athaliah (the Queen) was killed.
The harsh reign of Queen Athaliah lead to a rejoice in Joash so the thrown and once more set the stage for the reign of King David ancestors and eventually Jesus. What would've happened if the Queen had gotten her way and all heirs were killed? Luckily God (YHWH) didn't let that happen, instead he laid it upon the heart of Joash's aunt to save him and prepare him to be King.
In our churches, we must continue to follow YHWH's will for our future. We don't know what God might have in store for us but I'm sure young Joash didn't know what one day he would be the ancestor of Jesus either. Our legacy is important. We don't want to get so caught up in our own plan / ways that we lose sight of God. BUT more importantly we have to remember that God is sometimes asking us to use our judgement to do the right thing. Doing the right thing may include going against authority, going against the establishment, taking risks and trusting God while traveling in the unknown.
Let this passage be a reminder to us that for our legacy to remain strong, God must be in charge! Let us put our faith in the divine.
