From the Rector

Dear Everybody, hello again.

Tony Blair, among others, has raised the question of his “legacy”.  What will he leave behind him? 

One part of his legacy has been, interestingly, to keep a tight lid on the financial legacy that people can leave to their children, even in the light of rising house prices.  But there are many people for whom this limit is not relevant.  There is an increasing gap between the haves and have-nots, which he may have hoped this policy would slow down.  Time will tell.

One thing that we get from Jewish tradition is the idea of the “ethical will”.  You make a financial will to pass on your assets, and an ethical will to pass on your ethics, the wealth of wisdom you have acquired during your life.  Nobody dies without leaving something of themselves behind, but an ethical will is more formal.  You never know if you will get to say those last words; it’s just in case.  You can write it like any document, even making it sound like a legal will.

Of course, this can end up as being “don’t do what I do, do what I say”.  An unethical person can leave wonderful sounding words behind them.  Our deeds are a legacy too.

Christians are often described as “heirs” or “inheritors” in the Bible.  That is because someone died, and we believe that as a result we acquired some of what he had.  It is a tradition that doesn’t say that we have to do all the work ourselves; the work has been done by someone else, and it’s we who benefit.

How will other people benefit by your life and by your departing?  We can give legacies or donations to charity, give some financial security to our loved ones, and be seen and remembered as an example.

God bless you                                       David Head