“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”  (William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun, 1951) 

We all know our lives are, to a significant degree, the trajectories of our actions and decisions in younger days.  In a reflective or maudlin mood, we might muse on what might have been if we had made one or two decisions differently, even though we know there is no point in playing “what if.”  The arc of life was inflected long ago.

It is also true that our lives are also deeply influenced by the actions and decisions of our forebears.  We are all discovering the influence of our genetic heritage as it affects our health.  We are also increasingly aware of family dynamics that influence lives from generation to generation.  We dare not forget that social and cultural movements made hundreds, even thousands of years ago, also shape our lives.  We are heirs to Socrates and Plato, Augustine and Aquinas, Locke and Luther.  These great thinkers helped shape the landscape we inhabit.  Their voices echo through our lives even if you’ve never read them and never wish to.  Their ideas are part of the inheritance of Western civilization.

Our paths through life are also shaped by acts and attitudes of heartless cruelty and hatred by our predecessors.  The land we inhabit was settled in part by acts of genocide against native peoples who were regarded as less than human.  A good portion of our budding nation’s wealth was secured through the ownership of people who were likewise regarded as less than fully human.  Our forebears, who believed as deeply as we that God created humankind in the divine image were able to do these things. 

We still feel the consequences of their actions.  We live in a morally consequent universe; that’s a fundamental spiritual law.  It’s what Habakkuk was referring to when he spoke this word of God’s judgement:

“Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed, and found a city on iniquity.” (2:12)

Our efforts to build a just and peaceful world have to account for the past which is still living.  What we do or fail to do today will likewise be felt far beyond the span of our lifetimes.

Prayer: God of Abraham and Sarah, you have walked with all our ancestors in their faithfulness and their waywardness.  Walk with us, we pray, and lead us to build a lasting city built on justice and peace.  Amen.