Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

Menu for This Section

• Pastor's Pulse
• View from the Loft

Pastor's Pulse

by Paul Leggett, Pastor

The Future is Rooted in the Past

January 2011

“… we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord,
and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” — Psalm 78:4

As we begin a new year we need to remember that the future is rooted in the past.  The lessons and experiences of that past, both good and bad, form the basis for the future that is before us. The philosopher George Santayana has a famous quote that those who do not study the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes.  On the other hand there are great lessons to be gleaned from the past.  The psalmist talks of the importance of telling the coming generation “the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might.”  Each new generation in Christ is part of a heritage of faith that spans not only years but centuries.  We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).  As each of us has received training and encouragement in the faith, we in turn need to be training and encouraging someone in the “coming generation” (cf. I Timothy 1:2).

This past year Grace Church has lost a number of members who have gone to be with the Lord. The first of these who passed away a year ago was Raymond McGruther at the age of almost 95. I grew up knowing the McGruther family. I went all through Sunday School and youth group on up to Princeton Seminary with his youngest son, Doug, who was my age. We spent overnights at each other’s homes. His middle son, Bill, used to drive me to church senior high meetings and later gave me rides to Syracuse University where we both attended. His oldest son, Bob, went into the ministry and recently served as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell. I knew all three brothers.

For me, Ray McGruther, was “Mr. McGruther,” along with his wife, Agnes (“Mrs. McGruther”), essentially friends of my parents. Yet Ray McGruther was a spiritual father to me. He was a Sunday School teacher and Youth Leader. He was a model of Christian discipleship. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He made Christianity fun. Yet over the years in all those classes and meetings, as well as being in his home, he, along with several others of his generation, represented the reality of Christian faith for me. Recently I was going through some personal files and found a card I received for my ordination from “Mr. and Mrs. McGruther.” Ray was an important part of the path that led to my call to the ministry.

During my years here where, in a major role reversal, I was Ray’s pastor, he was a constant source of encouragement and support (and would always commiserate with me when Syracuse had a bad game). He fulfilled the role of telling “the coming generation.” Each of us needs to do the same. We need to be telling someone in the coming generation of “the glorious deeds of the Lord.”