Faith, Ancestry and Heritage

We all have a story to our name, a family tree, a lineage.  This is our ancestry or genealogy.    
My married last name is Schulmerich. My last name prior to choosing to take on the last Schulmerich, was Colt.  I have never been that excited or interested in the family history of the name Colt.  Probably because my dad made it up as his chosen name.  So my family name Colt, begins and ends with my dad.
 
Growing up I didn’t have grandparents, uncles, aunts, or cousins.   My family was primarily myself and my mom…and my chosen family.   The people of my church home, Richmond Beach Congregational Church Untied Church of Christ, were my chosen family.  Basically, I am Staci, of RBCC.   I never been concerned with my formal ancestry because I very much lived and do live in the present with the people in my life who are my chosen family.   These present-day ancestors have given my something much more that chosen ancestry.  They have given and passed on a heritage to me.
 
Ancestry can simply be defined as the decent or the lineage of a person. All beings on this earth have their own ancestry. When we trace back the history, we can think of our ancestors who are great grandparents, and we are descendants of their ancestry. On the other hand, heritage is the inherited customs, traditions, beliefs, monuments, and artifacts from our ancestors. Heritage includes both physical objects and intangible things. The key difference between ancestry and heritage is that the ancestry is the lineage of the people while the heritage is the inheritance passed on from one’s ancestry. 
 
In my case, just like any other family, my chosen family of RBCC UCC ancestors have passed on many things to me…
I know where the good dishes are kept.
I know the best hiding places. (Which is why I can always find a youth who goes missing in the building because I probably hid there when I was a youth))
I know where the corner stone is and the time capsule that lies in it.
I can sing the ‘All Are Welcome Come In’ song. (The youth can too and have on mission trips!)
I can point to where my scrawled name is under the layers of paint of the old youth room.
I know why there are checkered aprons. (That the youth wear when making Easter Pancakes!)
I know there are church basketball trophies in the kitchen. (Although I don’t know why yet?)
I remember the day we officially became an Open and Affirming Congregation.
I light candles for prayer and at midnight on Christmas Eve where ever I am.
 
My chosen family taught me and raised me with traditions and ritual and stories and history and memory and faith.  I pass these things down to our youth and my family.  Then that evolves and changes and gets passed down to their chosen family. 
 
Our Advent theme of From Generation to Generation is all about Ancestry and Heritage:
Like a tapestry woven throughout time, the Christmas story weaves us in. We remember how God has shown up in our past and even now continues the work of collective liberation as We behold the presence of God in humanity today.
 
Jesus of Nazareth or more formally Yeshua ben Joseph of Nazareth (Yeshua translates to Joshua in English) or Jesus for short, certainly has an ancestry. You can read all of the generations of names if that is important to you.  This can be found in the first chapter of Matthew and begins with Abraham or in the Gospel of Luke which begins with Adam.  Yup…of course they differ, and they differ on purpose and the reason for that is explained by RBCC UCC Interim Pastor Jill Bierwirth in her sermon found here: https://youtu.be/Qf3Zj8iBv-I
 
The story I’m interested and gravitate to is Jesus’ chosen family and heritage. Jesus also had a chosen family of disciples, of marginalized, unclean, poor, lonely, forgotten, cast aside, and cast out people. Jesus chose humanity as his family.  Jesus had a Jewish heritage that came with its own memory, tradition, ritual, stories, and faith.  With his chosen family, much like others, this heritage was passed down to new generations and then that evolved and changed and was passed down to their chosen families.   Now, here we are in present day passing down this evolved heritage as chosen family.  
 
As we begin Advent, remember your chosen family.  Advent is a time when we prepare to share our heritage in story, the passing down of our faith’s Birthing Story.  In the sharing our heritage, we allow room for many more generations of faithful, loving, giving, justice seeking family and for the evolution of our faith and how it’s passed down.