Ahead of Sunday's service, I've been reminding myself of my family tree, tracing back only 3 or 4 generations, across the UK and into northern Europe. Various cousins have done some serious digging and have promised to send me trees many times, I've never chased them up.
I've done this before,many times, knowing fine well that the branch that leads to me stops with me... I am a 'leaf' or a 'full stop' or, even a 'dead end'.
From the first family tree drawn up at school when I was right at the bottom, nothing has changed for me. And I'd never really thought about that until now, when, on my tiny branch I am simultaneously the oldest and youngest still alive (on the basis that my siblings have their own branches already extending one or two generations forward).
There came a deep realisation that no-one will ever track backwards via me, it will be via my siblings. Again, I already knew this, it just hadn't really registered.
Slightly odd feelings... but useful in thinking about where our 'ultimate' identity lies which is as children (adopted or otherwise) of the living God, with siblings connected not by blood but by grace... which is roughly Sunday's starting point, so if you've read this you can snooze through the first bit!!