Back to the future

Written by Pastor Ed

To listen to the Service - click the following link

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46934662/10-30-11.MP3

“Back to the Future”

October 30, 2011

Ed Kauffman

Scripture: Matthew 5: 1-12; I John 3:1-3

One of my favorite TV programs is Dr. Who, a British sci-fi show about a time lord who travels across time and space getting into and out of sticky situations.  The writers do an excellent job creating scenarios, both historical as well as future.  One of the maxims or rules, however, is that if Dr. Who travels back in history, he is not allowed to change history.  A recent episode found him and his companions in Adolph Hitler’s presence, and while he struggled with the opportunity to kill Hitler, he remembered that changing history can bring with it very bad unintended consequences. 

There is a whole genre of fiction called alternative history, in which an author tries to imagine what would have happened if some crucial event in history had turned out differently.  What if the colonies had lost the revolutionary war?  What if the Battle of the Bulge had turned out differently?  What if the Quebec referendum had won?  How would our present lives be different?

It’s all great speculation, and a rather fun exercise, but the reality is that we can’t change history, nor can we change our individual pasts.  And we are all a product of those histories.  I can trace my ancestry back at least to the Canton of Berne, and then through the Alsace region to Pennsylvania, Ohio and finally Indiana.  When my grandparents left their farm in Pennsylvania and headed west, they were aiming for Kalispell, Montana.  But they stopped in Indiana to look after my great-grandmother, and never got any further on their travel.  How different my life might have been!

Each of you also has a history that involves decisions made by ancestors.  What if your ancestors had decided to stay in Holland or Friesland rather than migrating to Russia?  What if your ancestors had migrated to the US from Prussia in the 1870’s rather than staying?  Actually if that had happened you might have ended up in my congregation in Beatrice, Nebraska rather than here.

But it is not only our own families and personal histories that shape us, but also the world around us.  Those who lived through the Second World War, particularly those who experienced the horrors of war directly, are shaped by those experiences. I grew up in the 60’s and was in University during the height of the student unrest on University campuses.  It was the days of Woodstock, Height-Asbury, the race riots in many cities, and so forth.  While I wasn’t at any of those places, my own campus had it’s share of political activity, protests, and unrest and I was part of some of that as well as traveling to other political and protest activity.

I recall, during my time in Ontario, talking at some length with a fellow US citizen who had come to Canada during those same years to escape the draft.  Both of us found ourselves on the Board of what was then the Mennonite Conference of Ontario, now Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada.  We both somewhat marveled at where we now found ourselves, given our student activism and involvements.  And yet, that was, and always will be a part of my history and has shaped me in certain ways.

The church too, has been shaped by the past.  Today, in most Lutheran congregations they will be celebrating Reformation Sunday, recalling Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, usually seen as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  Mennonite Church Canada has designated this Sunday as Heritage Sunday, which I must admit I find a bit amusing.  As Mennonites, it seems we don’t want to identify with Reformation Sunday, and yet, Martin Luther’s action is also part of our history, for without his beginning actions of reformation, Conrad Grebel and Menno Simons and others would not have had someone to break with and form another strand of the Reformation calle the Anabaptist movement which we claim as our heritage.

And, if we want to speak of our faith heritage, we also need to recognize that it does not start with the 16th century reformation.  I am often dismayed at our lack of historical perspective.  For many in the church, there is the New Testament, and maybe a bit of the early church beyond Acts, and then there is the Reformation, and then there is today.  But our faith heritage is also founded on everything in between as well. 

Much of our theology was shaped by the Councils of the church in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when there was only one church, what we know today at the Roman Catholic church.  St. Benedict founded a monastic movement, which we may have heard about, but St. Benedict’s Rule and the emphasis he placed on hospitality is part of our heritage as well, since a number of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement were Benedictine monks prior to becoming Anabaptists and brought that background with them.  In speaking with a Benedictine monk who knew his history, he reflected that the Anabaptist movement was sometimes referred to as “monasticism for everyone.”

Whereas the church of the Middle Ages was glad to let the monks practice a life modeled after Jesus and the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, they thought it was only the monks who needed to live like that.  But the Anabaptist leaders said no, those instructions of Jesus are meant for anyone who calls themselves a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Every Christian should model their life after the Beatitudes.  Thus our heritage includes the monastic movement of the Middle Ages.

Our heritage, unfortunately, also includes things we would often just as soon forget.  While we might recall the monastic movement as a source of richness, we must also recognize that the Crusades and other pieces of history that we might not be so proud of are also part of our faith heritage.  Even those parts we rebelled against remain as part of our history.  Christianity has had its fair share of cruelty, oppression and radicalism, which we tend to forget when we look at other religions and condemn their extremists. 

And our personal histories may also include things we would just as soon forget or gloss over.  Most congregations have periods of time that are skimmed over lightly when they write their congregational story.  But those times of conflict, decline, or difficulty are still a part of our heritage as well.  Sometimes our heritage will lead us to thanksgiving and praise, and sometimes our heritage will lead us to confession.  We have seen this acted out recently in the actions taken by the Lutheran World Federation in issuing an apology to the Mennonites for the actions of their ancestors against ours.  But none of our pasts are pure.  Many of our ancestors settled on land taken from the native populations.

So how should we view our heritage?  Does our past determine our future? 

For some history, our past, is over and gone to be remembered no more.  But forgetting our past, both the good and the bad, leaves us rootless and as the saying goes, “Those who forget the past are prone to repeating it.”  Connecting to our heritage gives us a sense of who we are, whether biologically or spiritually.  It was interesting to me to find groups of Christians, mostly young adults who were part of the Emerging Church movement which tends to be suspicious of the organized church, who saw value in connecting with a history that fit their theology – namely the Mennonite Church.  They talked of wanting to be a part of something bigger and with more of a history than just their own group.  As one said, “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”  Greg Boyd, whom you’ve heard me refer to before, told such a group, “You want to be radical Christians who believe in peace and justice, practice community and hospitality, and teach living a simple lifestyle.  Guess what, there is a group of Christians who have been preaching and practicing that for 500 years.  They’re called Mennonites!”  Of course we always made a disclaimer that what we preached is not always what we practiced.

So we need to own our heritage, celebrate the good things that have been passed on to us from that heritage, and make confession and regret those things about which we are less than pleased.  Our heritage is important.  As I noted two weeks ago, passing along that heritage of faith to our children is a vital part of what we as families and a church are about.  In order to do that, we need to know that heritage and history.

But while we can’t change the past, and shouldn’t as Dr. Who warns us, we need not be determined by our past.  As our text from I John says, “We are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.”  While all of those things in our past have shaped us and influenced us, we are free to make choices for ourselves. 

I have heard people say that many people who abuse their spouse or children where themselves abused as children.  This is true.  But the reality is that there are also many adults who were abused as children who do not grow up to abuse others.  We needn’t be stuck in our past and held hostage by it.  For we are creating a heritage as well for those who come after us.  The choices we make today will provide the context and history of Rachel and Lily and whomever is born next. 

The people of First Mennonite, Calgary come from a rich variety of backgrounds, bringing with each one of us a story and heritage that includes both things to rejoice about and be thankful for, and undoubtedly some things to confess.  We come from various religious backgrounds, various ethnic and social backgrounds, and from different part of the world.  We bring all those streams together into the body of Christ that makes us who we are today as a congregation. 

But we are all disciples of Jesus, attempting to follow his teachings and be God’s witnesses to the world around us.  We all live in and around Calgary and come together in this location for worship and fellowship.  And we welcome new participants on the journey who bring their own heritage and history.  In that way we live toward that vision of John in Revelation 7 where people from all tribes and tongues stand before God’s throne and worship.

If our heritage keeps us from embracing that vision or makes us an exclusive group, then we have failed to understand Jesus words and the call of the Gospel that God loved the whole world.  Our text in 1st John says that “when he (God) is revealed, we will be like him for we will see him as he is.” (v. 2)  We are encourage to grow into Christlikeness, led by God’s Spirit to become new creatures in Christ.  In that we stand in the footsteps of all the saints who have gone before and who have left a goodly heritage for us to build on.

So let us celebrate our heritage of faith and faithfulness, and let us build a heritage for those who come after us, all set firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  As Menno Simons always quoted, “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which has been laid, namely Jesus Christ.”  If we claim that as our heritage, we will surely have something to pass on to the generations to come.