We follow in the footsteps of many people. Life may well be what we make of it, but we all receive a legacy when we are born. As Scripture says,we enter cities we did not build. We harbor the illusion that we are the first people to go through something, or we are the only ones going through something. One of the positive features of support groups, is that we hear our stories reflected in the stories that intersect with our own experience. Our decision as we form our own identity in the late teens into the twenties is making decisions about following in the footsteps of our parents, at least what to keep and what to reject. Oppositional identity will take us only so far. We learn to become what we want to be.

 

In religion this is true as well. Most of us enter churches built by others. more importantly, we receive the faith because others have faithfully passed it down over the years. Church order gives us a frame to pass it down without having to re-invent the wheel every service. In the popular book of some years ago, Habits of the Heart, a young woman speaks of her own individual belief system. her name was Sheila, and she calls it sheilaism. religion means to bind together in Latin. Religion binds us to those who have gone before us, and they are linked to us.

 

Sometimes we want to follow in someone's footsteps, or we want to learn new steps all on our own. We are part of the Biblical story. we follow in their footsteps. When we encounter the Scripture we can find ourselves in  its accounts. We discover parts of ourselves in the characters. So often, we feel as if we carry too much of the load all by ourselves. I like the image of the cloud of witnesses, as we can perceive, with the eyes of faith, a group of fellow Christians praying for us, cheering us on, encouraging us. An invisible arena gathers around us.

 

Too often, we look at social life, even church life, as a machine. the organic image favored by the bible this afternoon is a garden, or more accurately, a vineyard. i won;t pretend to act as if I know much about viticulture, but I have noticed that grape vines will grow well in poor soil. Sometimes, the footsteps we follow are mistaken; they go down the wrong trail. Most Americas follow the footsteps of the early 19th century that emphasizes individual salvation. That is fine, but it pushes out the community dimension of the faith. Tha works in two ways, we are in this together; we share in a common life, a common garden. Also, our church garden is placed right in the middle of a larger garden, our community, a community taking on the size of a global conservatory. Individual life cannot be divorced from the world outside. The series of woes in Isaiah is to open eyes that we make it difficult for others to follow in the footsteps of making a better life. Individual effort is not all there is to it. It is as if we expect all the plants to flourish equally when some are denied water and fertilizer, and others get more than they need. Weeds threaten the garden, but the surprise is that we, made in the image and likeness of God, offer poor fruit so often.

 

We cut footpaths for others to follow in the garden. We plant seeds in the garden for others to tend. When someone follows in your footsteps, where will that path lead?