Life Is Too Short....not To Leave A Legacy.

SERMON SERIES: "Life Is Too Short..."

Text: Joshua 4:20-24

20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua

pitch in Gilgal. 21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying,

When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying,

What mean these stones? 22 Then ye shall let your children know,

saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 23 For the LORD

your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were

passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried

up from before us, until we were gone over: 24 That all the people of

the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye

might fear the LORD your God for everb.

SUBJECT: "LIFE IS TOO SHORT NOT TO LEAVE A LEGACY"

The African-American culture is different from every other culture in

this nation of ours. We have different ways about us. We view

things differently. We respond to things differently. We evaluate

situations with a different perspective.

There is a part of our African-American culture that is sadly dying

and fading away. It is how we communicate and deal with our legacy.

Specifically, how we pass down information from one generation to

another.

We are more removed from each other unlike any other generation.

Although we have more methods of communication than any generation in

history - cell phones, PDAs, blackberry devices, e-mail, instant

messaging, newspaper, radios, television, satellites, Global

positioning services - we don't communicate well with each other in

our homes. Some people know more about people they meet on AOL than

the do at H-O-M-E.

However, as African-American, our historical narrative was passed

down from generation to generation not by large volumes of books -

but we passed down our history through communication. WE are oral

historians. We didn't write books - we didn't own printing presses -

so, we talked about Big Mama, Aunt Sookie, Miss Jones, Grandma Sally,

Uncle Luther - and the names of our past were kept alive from

generation to generation because we passed it down.

We didn't pass down written records. Sometimes it would be nothing

more than a tattered picture, a funeral program, or maybe a birth

certificate - but we talked with our children. This generation has

uncles that they have never heard of. This generation has aunts that

they have never heard of. This generation has grandparents that they

never heard of. They don't know why their hair is so coarse. They

don't know why their skin is so fair or so dark. They don't know why

they're so tall. They don't know why they're so "big boned." We

passed down the legacy - but not anymore.

However, the largest legacy we left was that of the relationship of

our parents with the Lord. Grandmamma and "them" never hid their

walk with the Lord. Granddaddy and "them" never were ashamed about

their relationship with God. Those old folk not only were visible in

church - but you could feel a special presence being around them.

They took their walk with God seriously. Mind you, they weren't

great theologians, but they knew God. They didn't know eschatology,

but they knew the Holy Ghost. They didn't know soteriology, but they

knew they were born again. They didn't know zoelogy, but they knew

that they needed to live the life they talked about.

We've stopped communicating and passing down some principles. It's

sad. Our children have become victims of different religious

cultures - because we didn't insist on some things with our children

like our parents insisted upon our lives.

They insisted that we go to church.

They insisted that we sung in the choir.

They insisted that we went to Sunday school.

They insisted that we went to BTU and YPWW.

They insisted that we went to Prayer Meeting.

They insisted that we learned our Golden Bible Verse.

They insisted that we went to Associations.

They insisted that we went to Conventions.

They insisted that we went to Church - morning, noon and night.

They insisted that we read our Bibles before we went to bed.

They insisted that we got on our knees and prayed before we climbed

into bed.

However, there has been a disconnect - a deconstruct - that occurred

between grandmamma and them and us and them - our children are not

like we were:

They don't have the zeal for the Lord that we had.

They don't shout like we use to shout.

They don't sing like we use to sing.

They don't get before God like we use to.

They don't dance in church like we use to.

They don't wave their hands like we use to.