Empty Suits (and Skins)

Perhaps it really was Billy Graham who first said, "God has no grandchildren."  It makes little difference who really said it.  It is clear in Ezekiel 18 that sin has no grandchildren either.  The prophet will not let them or us distance ourselves from sin by displacing ourselves from the event.

Nor can we claim membership at God's table on the basis of genealogy or accidents of birth.  There are no "legacy members" of the church, no matter what we might wish or pretend.  Following Jesus does not produce a genetic or tribal identity.  There is no "race" of Christians that flows from parents to children.  I may stand a better chance of being a Christian if my parents are Christians.  However, there is no indelible mark that passes from parents to children in the sheer reality of family.

At least that flow does not happen through biological reproduction.  What is passed on is not an identity we can own.  Rather what is passed on is a way of life that can only be pursued, not ever possessed, that can only be practiced and never presumed.  So following Jesus is not something which can be inherited.  It can only be learned.

The congregation I serve is a family-style congregational system.  Such a system sustains itself and grows by birth, marriage and adoption.  But even birth by itself is not enough.  Birth must be followed by nurture.  The next generation must be formed in the faith, not merely enrolled on the register.  Only in that way can a rebellious child like that first son return to the path.

And yet, there is always the danger that we will wear the label without doing the work.  We live in a time when labels are everything.  We will adopt almost any identity--sports team, clothing manufacturer, brands of beer and liquor, brands of cell phones and tablets.  We have become walking billboards in a desperate search to be someone and to belong to something.

We wear these labels as if we ourselves have won the games, designed the purses, brewed the beer, soldered the circuits.  We claim the identity without doing the work.  We are the culture of the second son in the parable.

Is it any wonder we feel so empty?  Is it any wonder we wait with terror for someone to discover that we are frauds?  We hide behind the sacrifice of others and find no greater purpose for ourselves.