Pastoral Ponderings—1860
In my little bits of down time here and there, what I’ve been doing “for fun” these days is exploring the history of our old farmhouse, starting with being an amateur archaeologist looking at old nails and construction techniques (if hand hewn timber and wood-peg construction doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what would!), and now exploring historical records. I was thrilled just recently to find a federal census map of the area showing our house—official documentation of its being here at least as early as 1860!
Some of you reading this will readily recognize how exciting that is, while others of you are scratching your heads and wondering, “so what?” As I recognize that some of you wonder about my excitement, it leads me to ask the same question of myself, of why this might be important to me. Odd, isn’t it, to get excited about someone else’s history?
Throughout the New Testament, the scriptures proclaim in several ways that as we come to Christ, we become adopted into becoming children of God and “heirs according to the promise”. That we have become children of God is foundational to my faith, but that part about “heirs,” or more so, being adopted in as “joint heirs” with Christ kind of went over my head. But now being entrusted with this piece of history in our 19th c. farmhouse, I feel I have become a “joint heir” with the McCorkle family who started building this farm almost 200 years ago, bringing me into a better understanding of these scriptures about being adopted into the family of God.
A pastor I worked years ago was telling me about his love for his son, despite the son’s well-deserved time in prison—STILL loving the son, despite what he had done, because he was his son. As we have been adopted into God’s family, we are still beloved, despite the messes we’ve made of our lives, and as “heirs of the promise” of God’s transforming power, that history we have with God is foundational to who we are.
Our history matters! And if it takes being made joint heirs with the McCorkles in this farm to remind me of the importance of being joint heirs with Christ, then maybe my love of history is paying off! What makes it real to you—or what MIGHT make it real to you to know deep down into the history of your soul, that YOU are truly beloved as a joint heir with Jesus, as a true child of God, of all the promises of God’s transforming love that He has to offer?
Exploring what it means to be such an heir—Pastor Jim