In some of the work I have been doing recently, I have had occasion to reflect on how much of who I am, or for that matter who any one of us is, comes from our family of origin. First, there are the physical attributes. I have my dad’s coloring, my mom’s nose and ears (thanks a lot, mom!), my dad’s eyes, and so on. I am taller than both of my parents, so who knows… But there’s so much more than physicality. Our attitudes, our mores, our perspective on the world, our likes and dislikes are all fueled by our family experiences. Sometimes we emulate what we grew up—“Our family always votes Republican,” sometimes we move away from it—“I’m the only card-carrying Democrat in our family,” and sometime we reject the whole concept—“I never vote.” How any one of us develops is strongly influenced by those family belief systems in one of those three ways, from our attitudes about money, to food, or to conflict. While some of these things can be negative, many of these attributes are very positive parts of one’s life. A sense of responsibility, generosity, love of art, books, music, sports, and faith are often nurtured in our family settings. All of us have attributes from our families for which we are grateful and which we hope to pass on to future generations. The first Sunday in November is All Saints’ Sunday, a day when we look back to remember the saints among us who have passed away in the last year. But it is also a day for a much larger remembrance; we remember all the saints, our Christian “family of origin,” and celebrate how much of who we are has come to us from them. We use words in worship today that have been used by our Christian family for 2000 years. We have been taught to pray, to sing and taught to study the scriptures by our forebears, as well as how to be generous to those in need. Our faithful family of origin taught us to be gracious and merciful, to stand up for the marginalized, and to see Jesus in the face of our neighbor. All of these “traits” have been passed down from generation to generation just like those physical characteristics from our biological families, handed from faithful fathers and mothers to faithful daughters and sons, until they came to us. In their brokenness and frailty the people of God have continued to be the hands of God in the world to this day. So it is for you and me, in all of our imperfection, to carry on what we have been given, to share the love of Christ with the next generations, and take our place in the family tree of faith.