Leaving a Legacy

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in Northbrook’s Women’s Ministry retreat with fifty other women. The beloved former senior pastor, Rev. Laurie Moeller, led the retreat on the theme of legacy.
 
Being surrounded by 50 other Christian women of different ages and stages of life, singing together, sharing together, praying and breaking bread together was encouraging. I’m grateful to Leigh Anne Launius and the leadership team, which included Beth Houlton and Amy Turner, along with their friend Stephanie Gall, who led us in music.
 
One thing we did on the retreat was write down the names of three people who had impacted our life of faith—for whom their legacy of faith helped shape our own.
 
I’d like to invite you to do the same. Take a moment, right now. Pause and think about who was instrumental in helping you take the great leap of faith, whose words and witness, along with the nudging of the Holy Spirit, led you to become a follower of Jesus and grow in his grace. Now name them out loud before God, giving thanks for them.
I had a hard time naming just three! So many Christians have impacted my life by modeling the words and way of Christ: Mr. Cook who welcomed me to the church nursery and made me feel loved and cherished, Rev. Nysewander who never said a bad word about anyone, and Ms. Dorothy who visited the homebound and mowed the church cemetery into her eighties. I could go on and on, as I’m sure you could, too.
 
I have a friend who never married and has outlived all her immediate family. She has no children of her own, but taught toddlers in Sunday school for 25 years and now oversees, with another friend, an afterschool enrichment program at her church for 20 elementary age children. She has built a rich legacy that will impact generations to come.
 
There’s a song by Nicole Nordeman we sang on the retreat entitled “Legacy.” The words of the chorus are:
 
I want to leave a legacy,
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to you enough?
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy.
 
Who, when you have finished your course in faith, will speak your name because you helped them pick up and carry the mantle of faith? In other words, who have you passed the baton to?
 
Don’t worry about how many people there are, just focus on one person at a time. That’s how Jesus did it and just look at the legacy he passed on to us.
 
See you Sunday!

Rev. Jennifer Andone
​Senior Pastor