The Very Rev Albert Bogle explains how sowing seeds will allow shoots to be shaped for the future as he considers the influence of heritage.

 MANY of us will have decided to take our summer vacation at home this year.

It’s an opportunity to visit less familiar places and buildings of interest and perhaps introduce to family and friends some of the historical sites that are on our doorsteps but are simply overlooked amidst the pressures of everyday living.

Heritage is an important shaper in our lives and we all benefit when we take time to reflect upon it. There are so many stories of faith that have shaped our culture, some for the good and others from which we can learn how not to react.

Reflecting upon our personal heritage can be an important exercise in helping to understand ourselves but also enabling us to fulfil God’s calling on our lives. It is interesting to note that God called Abraham when he was well over 70 to begin a new life and in doing so to offer a different heritage to his as yet unborn children. I wonder what the triggers were that caused a man so late on in life to make such a dramatic decision? Could Abraham have been reflecting on his heritage, the gods and the traditions of his fathers? Could he have seen aspects that repulsed him, things that he could no longer live with; attitudes that he didn’t want to ever pass on to another generation? I don’t know – but I do know he was longing for something more - something better. He longed to plant a new family tree. One with branches that would be rooted in a new kind of soil – ‘Kingdom soil’

in a new kind of soil – ‘Kingdom soil’ Looking at our lives and how we have been shaped by the actions and attitudes of parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, must surely cause us all to think about the heritage we continue to shape for future generations, many of whom we will never know.

I wonder if God is calling his church, and individuals, to go on a new journey of faith to plant in ‘Kingdom soil’? This journey will involve looking at what we will take with us and what we will leave behind. It also involves who we will take with us and who we will leave behind. Will we carry with us the ragbag of clothes stained with the hurts and struggles of past generations? Clothes that we will wear and will continue to let shape our outlook and the outlook of a new generation? Mindsets of people no longer with us but influencing our thoughts and actions? Or will we seek a new design, new clothes to shape the terrain of our new journey? New clothes designed for planting! Jesus used a different metaphor when talking about change but he was making the same point when he talked about new wineskins for new wine.

Coming out of lockdown, ‘Looking ahead.’ Has become a theme picked up by the media and all kinds of institutions and communities. (But communities are made up of individuals who do the looking ahead. Let’s pray we look ahead with wise heads.)

The current promotion to plant a tree to commemorate the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign in 2022 is all about encouraging people to build and plant for the future –a future many of us may not see. For years I had the privilege of walking to church along a tree lined terrace of mature trees. I often thought of the people who planted these magnificent trees they knew they’d never see – the fully grown trees in all their grandeur but they planted them.

I wonder if God is calling his church, and individuals, to go on a new journey of faith to plant in ‘Kingdom soil’. This journey will involve looking at what we will take with us and what we will leave behind.

Planting a new family tree in a land that has still to be reached continues to be the challenge facing all of us who are people of faith. Supplying the soil of the Kingdom is not our responsibility that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Praying ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ that, surely, is our responsibility.

As we visit our local heritage site this summer perhaps with that younger family member we might just uncover ‘Kingdom soil” and an opportunity to plant or perhaps shape a new shoot.