Tuesday, August 14, 2007
History is all about the future...
Dear Friends,
‘I had an amazing time on St. Swithun’s Day this year - even though for the first time the weather defeated us and we couldn’t hold the village service on the green!
First of all we celebrated St. Swithun’s Day. We gave thanks for those who have met together on the site of our St. Swithun’s for many centuries to bear witness to the love of God; and we also celebrated the Golden Wedding anniversary of a couple married in St. Swithun’s on St. Swithun’s Day fifty years before!
Then I went to the exhibition put on by the Bathford Society in the Parish Rooms. It was fascinating, showing the changing face of the village over several centuries: the development of the roads, buildings and businesses and wonderful photographs of Bathford residents past and (looking younger) present!
After that I popped in to the British Legion’s Poppy Appeal launch - a happy event and an important part of the work of the Legion in helping us remember those who gave so much during two World Wars.
It was a day for history! What struck me most was just how dynamic history is. Looking at the photographs and maps, reading the articles, listening to the stories, you could see vividly how the present always arises out of the past; how, if we are to appreciate today and make the right choices for tomorrow, we need to understand yesterday. In a way, history is really all about the future!
That was certainly the case when Jesus was around. His arrival on the scene had been prepared for over 2000 years of history. He saw himself as a part of that history, arising out of it. Of the Scriptures that recorded this history he said, ‘I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.’
Yet he also saw this history as dynamic, pointing forwards to the future. He said, ‘No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.’ I have come to do a new thing.
For Jesus history was all about the future. It is our understanding of yesterday that equips us to enjoy the new thing that God has for us tomorrow.
This is why the Christian message, based in history, is always contemporary. It is our understanding of what God did for us in the past, 2000 years ago at Calvary, that equips us to enjoy the new things he wants to do for us in the future. History is all about the future because ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.’
Tim Ling
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