The Summer Olympics are being played in 2008. The Track & Field relay races differ from other events in a significant way. In order to win (i.e. get a medal) each athlete must depend upon the performance of others! Participants in the first three “legs” must successfully pass the baton in a confined space—and having done so—after years of commitment, training, and sacrifice watch anxiously and helplessly. The athlete(s) running the “anchor” can only win for the team if the previous “legs” were effective.
Passing the baton is a part of life. Parents and teachers show us the way and then let go of the baton—passing it to us to do our part in our time before we pass it on to the next generation. The baton is passed in corporate leadership succession, in civic clubs, and in church congregations who pass the baton to their spiritual heirs. We rely on the work and the faith of those who came before us.
The Bible provides a history of spiritual succession. Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Moses to Joshua. Elijah to Elisha. Paul to Timothy. These successions have survived for centuries beyond the pages of history and still are alive and vital, in spite of flawed leadership and stubborn laity.
Then there’s the spiritual succession that applies to us. It is recorded in Matthew 28:19, when Jesus passed the baton to you and me. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” I like the way Teresa of Avila said it: “Christ has no body on earth but yours; no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ can look with compassion upon the world. Christ has no body on earth but yours.”
Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church is the heir of faithful servants of the Lord who decided to make disciples of Christ on the corner of 10th Street and 5th Avenue in Huntington. For generations, the people of Johnson Memorial of celebrated joys and lifted each other up in sorrows; they have enjoyed good times and endured difficult times. Now is our time.
Next month marks a clergy transition as new pastors begin their appointments to the ministries of Johnson Memorial. The mantle is being passed, so to speak, from clergy to clergy. Is the future of Johnson Memorial in Jack Lipphardt’s hands? No, it is in God’s hands. And Christ has no hands on earth but yours and mine.
Anonymous
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