What do we do with the past?

There are good things to gain as we study our history.

Mr. K. was known for his long prayers and his even longer testimonies. As young people growing up in a church that provided regular opportunities for public prayers and testimonies, we were quite familiar with the elderly gentleman’s heavily-accented voice giving his thanks to God.

On an especially memorable New Year’s Eve, Mr. K. stood up and began to tell how God had healed him of a serious illness.

“I was so sick that they didn’t expect me to live,” he told the congregation gathered to reflect on the past year in preparation for the year ahead. “They even put me on the dying ward of the hospital.”

People in the audience began to have puzzled expressions on their faces. “What did he mean by the dying ward?” you could almost see them thinking, and “when was old Mr. K. so sick?”

The puzzled expressions changed to quickly smothered chuckles as Mr. K. explained that he had been so sick the doctors had given him “blood confusions.” The substitution of “confusion” for “transfusion” seemed particularly apt, for no one remembered that Mr. K. had been so near death during the past year, and many were beginning to suspect he really was confused!

But as Mr. K. continued his testimony, we began to appreciate his words. The illness he spoke of had occurred many years earlier. While most of us were reflecting on the year just past, Mr. K. was reflecting on God’s faithfulness throughout his long life. This small slice of personal history revealed something important about the way Mr. K. understood the purpose and meaning of his life.

An act of interpretation

For the Christian, historical reflection is often framed in the form of a testimony. As such, it is an act of interpretation. We pick and choose the stories of the past that seem to be meaningful for us, that reveal some sense of our values and identity. We recall the events that have shaped us into the people we are and we interpret those events for an audience. This is true for us as individuals and collectively as people. In doing this kind of interpretive reflection we join with Christians past and present in recounting what we understand to be the acts of God.

This type of framing reflects our understanding of Christianity as historically rooted in the acts of God. We confess God as creator and sustainer of life, as One who is present and active in the world. We read the Bible as the revelation of God’s saving activity in calling and forming a people, and most fully in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we look forward to a time when the fullness of God’s kingdom will be revealed.

Unlike some people who view history as an endlessly repetitive cycle of events, or as a series of loosely connected events with little or no meaning, Christians speak of history as purposeful in its movement toward the completion of God’s salvation plan. It seems right, then, for Christians to cultivate historical awareness.

Of course, this is not without problems. How do we decide which are the acts of God? Corporately, whose stories are considered important enough to tell?

These are important questions because they point to the way historians can influence our understanding of the past by the stories they choose to tell, and by the way those stories are told. Not all events are of equal importance, yet at the same time, the stories of important men and women are not the only stories worth telling. Sometimes the stories of ordinary men and women best help us understand the past. The challenge for the historian is to tell the stories as honestly as possible and to help others understand their significance.

What is it that we gain by nurturing – whether individually or corporately – a lively sense of history?

Appreciation of God

First, we actively acknowledge the limits of our experience and knowledge of God. History is more than just testimony. We have to admit that our understanding of God’s activity in the world and in our own lives is limited by the narrowness of our experiences and viewpoints. By studying the way other people have thought and lived, we gain a larger perspective on God’s activity in the world. We begin to realize God is and has been at work among other people and perhaps in ways that are different from what we have experienced. Our understanding and appreciation of God will broaden as we begin to confront the limits of our knowledge and understanding.

Humility

Second, we begin to realize we are not self-made but have greatly benefitted from those who have gone before us. An awareness of the past encourages humility about our own accomplishments, for they are rarely achieved without aid. This is especially true for those of us who proclaim Christian faith.

We are not the first ones to claim faith in God, to live as Christians, or to seek to build the church. In fact, the Christian tradition has been passed down to us and, in similar fashion, we are passing it on to the next generation. Studying the past helps us cultivate a sense of modesty about our own achievements and an appreciation for the struggles and achievements of our spiritual mothers and fathers.

Growth

Third, we have opportunity to learn from both the mistakes and the successes of those who have gone before us. We are not unaffected by the past. Decisions made by people in the past continue to affect us in the present. Sometimes we are grateful for that legacy; sometimes we struggle to free ourselves from it. Studying the past can help us understand that legacy and may help us avoid what we see as error while we seek to build on what we understand to be success.

None of us wants to become bound by our past in ways that are harmful. We certainly don’t want to keep doing things just because that’s the way we have always done them. That is not the purpose of history at all!

But to jettison the rich resources of the past seems foolish as well. Our past helps form our identity and sets direction for the future. Our challenge as contemporary Christians is to understand and then build on that past in ways that remain faithful to God as we seek to be followers of Jesus and to build Christ’s church.

Valerie Rempel is assistant professor of History and Theology at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Calif.