For Promise and Provision, Much Gratitude

August 4, 2009
 
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
 
During our recent trip to Washington, D.C., we visited the National Archives, which houses the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  These now-faded parchments once bore the fresh iron-gall ink used by our founders to harness the power of words and capture the hopes of a fledgling nation.  They risked their reputations, and their lives, to carve a future for their descendants that they would not claim for themselves.  Now, these documents stand as lasting symbols of courage and selflessness, built on the promise of a future greater than the present.
 
That same promise inspired a young, single Filipino man forty-one years ago to make a sacrifice of his own, for the benefit of his offspring.  My father, Maghirang deVega, left an established and comfortable career as a high school physics teacher in the Philippines, with the belief that when he eventually married and started a family, he wanted his children to have the best chance at the best possible future.  
 
Finding no work in San Diego, he cobbled together his remaining dollars to buy a one-way Greyhound bus ticket to Key West, Florida, where he heard whispers of a job opening. With barely enough money for bus stop vending machines, he pursued this dream for his children, only to find disappointment when those job prospects never materialized.  A few weeks later and essentially penniless, he traveled north to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he interviewed and received employment at a small, start-up chemical engineering plant.  Years later, he married my mother, became a citizen of this country, and, in 1973, gave birth to me.  Decades later, my father still works for the same company that first fulfilled that promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
 
As I stood in the grand rotunda of the National Archives, remembering both the founding fathers and my own father, I realized this simple truth:  in my heritage is my inheritance.  The great gifts I enjoy today – freedom, privilege, and opportunity – are borne from a long history of individuals who gauged their own success by the future they would bestow, not the life they would consume.  They believed in a promise they might not themselves see realized.  And in that moment, I felt an emotional convergence of humility and gratitude.
 
Leaving the rotunda, I looked into the cherubic faces of my own charge, two little girls who would someday weigh the impact of their own father’s influence.  Today, as I stand in the shadow of ancestral giants, I discover in my girls the faint traces of my own silhouette.  They will someday inherit a heritage of my making, and the enduring movement of promise and hope will continue.
 
It is likely no coincidence that on the heels of this deeply meaningful vacation, our scripture reading for this Sunday is the last words of David to his son Solomon.  As his long and illustrious life drew to a close, he chose his last words carefully:  
 
When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying:  “I am about to go the way of all the earth.  Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.”
 
This great hero of the Israelite people, the shepherd laureate, the giant-slayer, the warrior king, considered all his life’s trophies and came to one conclusion.  All of his past achievements paled in comparison to the greatest gifts he could leave to his descendants:  faithfulness, courage, and a hopeful future. This heritage would be their greatest inheritance.
 
This Sunday, join us as we bring to conclusion our worship series on the life of David with a sermon titled, “Looking to the Future.”  It is true: someday, we will all “go the way of all the earth.”  For those who will come after us, through a church that will endure beyond our years, what legacy will we leave behind?
 
Grace and Peace,
 
Magrey   

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA  51012
Ph:  712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org


1 Kings 6:1-4, 10-12
1  When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying:  
2  “I am about to go the way of all the earth.  Be strong, be courageous,
3  and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.
4  Then the Lord will establish his word that he spoke concerning me:  ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’
10  Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David.
11 The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.  
12  So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.



JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT ST. PAUL’S
The Staff-Parish Relations Committee is searching for a new administrative assistant whose responsibilities would include both secretarial and congregational care duties.  If you are interested, please contact John Chalstrom, or visit the church website for the job description.  In addition, we are seeking individuals to serve as paid nursery care providers during our Sunday morning worship services.  For more information, contact Magrey in the church office.  We give great thanks to God for Jeanne Jones, Linzi Bierman, and Velma Martin for their service to the church over the years.