Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ That word is the good news that was announced to you.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, July 16, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
It’s mayfly season here at the cabin. These fragile ephemera live less than a day, their shimmering wings carrying them through their mating rituals then covering the ground in an iridescent sheen. Few things more sharply bring home the transient nature of life.
Yesterday I was talking with my parents about my ancestor, Francis Fergus, who emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in 1770. I have a relative who has thoroughly researched the genealogy of his family in the states, but when she has gone to Ireland to try to go further back beyond Francis, she has found nothing. Too many Presbyterian churches and all their records burned over the years. No matter how long a person’s legacy might endure, eventually, it falls into obscurity and vanishes to time.
Depressing? Only if you don’t read the second part of this verse: “the word of the Lord endures forever.” Only if you don’t believe that, as a beloved child of God, you are part of God’s word, and your legacy with God is eternal. You matter, regardless of whether your church records were destroyed and no one remembers you. You are born again of an imperishable seed, and will dwell in the house of God forever. That word is the good news that is announced to you.
What do I imagine my legacy will be?