Fellow Labourers-
Ignoring history leaves us without a good point of reference. Hence, everything we do we do for the moment. The only time we consider is the present. When we live like this we fail to see the big picture. In other words we can see only the tree and not the forest.
Listen to this quote taken from "Tortured for Christ": "It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisioners, as it is in captive nations today. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us-so everyone was happy."
Only a people with a sense of history and destiny would make a deal like this. A deal which to most of us today seems quite ludicrous. But, to the people in communist Romania who knew the love of Christ and had a sense of history, no price was too great to pay for the cause of Christ.
When I read the following paragraph taken from the Editor's Introduction to Jacob Burckhardt 'The Greeks and Greek Civilization' I develop a thirst for history. "Burckhardt's most famous book, on which his reputation still rests, was 'The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860).' Lord Acton, the founder of modern historical studies in Cambridge, described it as 'the most penetrating and subtle treatise on the history of civilization that exists in literature.' It is indeed this book which still shapes and challenges all subsequent attempts to explain the central phenomenon in European history." Most of us will recall that Lord Acton is best known for this quote "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." And remember Paul to young Timothy "Study to show yourself approve unto God----."
Pax Vobiscum,
Robert A. Stewart J.P.
Pastor
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Hence, by extension, every member of the body of Christ must have a sense of the history of the Apostolic Church, including the ‘unglamorous’ parts; every member of PGT, particularly the leadership, must have a sense of the history of the church since its inception. I think we (sometimes, maybe often) take for granted the sacrifices of those who have gone on before, selectively choosing to remember the few and ignoring the contribution of the many; we have such a rich legacy, yet sadly, we go around as if what we see have been built by us and us alone.
ReplyDeleteTo go beyond the wall, we must bear the bones of the ancestors…
Cheers