Dear Members and Friends of Faith Des Peres,
Have you ever had to pick up and carry the mantle of someone else’s legacy? I have. In fact, every pastor I know has. We pick up and carry the mantles of every pastor who has preceded us. Here at Faith Des Peres, that’s a lot of mantles because we have two churches in our history (Des Peres Presbyterian and Faith Presbyterian) and Des Peres’s history goes back to 1833! While I don’t find the weight of those mantles as heavy as I did back when I was called to serve as your pastor, there are days when the mantle seems more present than others. Of course, pastors aren’t the only people who have to carry the mantle of someone else. Parents pass on things to their children; professors to students; mentor to mentee.
I’ve been thinking about mantles because this week we’re going to hear a story we rarely here, the one about the prophet Elijah passing the mantle to his protégé Elisha. Elijah’s mantle was heavy since he was one of the greats of the Bible and all. Elisha wasn’t sure he could carry it. He was scared, felt inadequate, and even asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit just to make sure he could carry on without him. But in the end, he carried it.
All this talk about mantles and legacies and transitions has got me thinking about Faith Des Peres and where the church is in its lifecycle. Whose mantle are we carrying? How are we preparing to pass the mantle to the next generation of members? How can we empower people to pick up new mantles? I’m going to talk about all of this on Sunday! I hope you’ll come on Sunday. There’s lots of good news to share. And yes, there’s work to be done, too. But fear not, as the Bible always says. We don’t do this work alone. God is with us.
I hope to see you Sunday.
Blessings, Annie