In the Bible there are a number of times when God tells the people that they will live with the sin of their ancestors up to several generations.
It was once described to me in ecological terms. We are still living with the consequences of burning fossil fuels at massive rates. We are living with the sins of the past.
Being a church leader it is clear that the current crop of church leaders are living with the sin of the past church leaders.
Today's leaders have to navigate the past hate toward the LBGT community. We have to build trust that was lost from scandals in the church. We have to build integrity that was lost when previous generations acted with less than noble actions.
Of course I have concern that the sin of the past is too much to overcome in one generation.
However, my greater concern is that the next generation will have to overcome my sin.