Over the last couple of months, I have officiated at a number of funerals at St. John’s. Funerals often get me thinking about legacy.  What difference did my life make?  What am I leaving behind for others?  What will I be known for?

Perhaps that was in the mind of Abram in the Old Testament passage that we will hear this coming Sunday at church.  The passage reads as follows:

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
  I am your shield,
  your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

In his response to the “word of the Lord,” Abram expresses a remarkable lack of curiosity and imagination. You see, in his old age, Abram’s primary concern is his legacy, or, to be clear, what he perceives as a lack thereof.  He and Sarai have remained childless, and he thus has no heirs, no blood relation to pass on his possessions and family name. Further, Abram doesn’t seem assured by God’s promise to be his “shield and great reward”. He is so focused on what he does not have that he can’t even begin to imagine what may be.

It is only when “the word of the Lord” responds to Abram’s unfaithful focus on an empty past legacy that Abram begins to understand. God says, 

“a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

When considering his legacy, Abram was thinking way too small. Not only does God promise a son of Abram’s own flesh, but much, much more. Indeed, God pledges the legacy of an entire nation. It is when Abram shifts his focus from a disappointing past to a divinely infused future that he is finally and forever “credited with righteousness.”

When we consider our own legacy, I wonder whether we focus on the past or the future. Do we focus on what we have done or on what God will do?  Are we constantly looking at our lives in the rear view mirror or are we straining forward to look through the windshield of our lives to catch a glimpse of what God might do?

Looking forward rather than behind takes discipline, patience, and curiosity. For some, the focus and energy is always on the past. But for the daring, imaginative and faithful few, legacy lies in the divine what-may-be.

~Art