It's been two months now (and one day) since I first arrived in England, and a day later in Cambridge. On Wednesday of this week I had the fortune to spend a day in London doing touristy things and catching up with a wonderful woman whom I'm privileged to have in my life. As I walked around and looked at many old things in a modern city completely wrapped up in its past, I found myself becoming more and more interested in the history of this place.
An observation to make - if there is a slight interest, or curiousity in something, the more and more you are surrounded by that, the more and more your interest and curiousity grows.
For me, it has a lot to do with the architecture and how that reflects the thoughts of the day and those who built it or had it built. Also the marks left on these structures which tell stories of the lives which it has held. A crumpled arch delicately rebuilt tells of the destruction which befell it during the World War, it tells of the design ideas of when it was first built, it tells of the importance of that to those who had it rebuilt, and it tells of the people now who continue to have it preserved. The ornated ceilings which are of such high standard because you look up to God, and the ceiling is the closest of all the building.
History is often seen as such a boring subject, but it was once the present, and not the past. As George Santayana once said, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' When you actually look at history, it is not all boring but rather very complicated, just like life is now - and a lot of recorded history is not things which we would like to repeat.
As a christian though, my interest goes further perhaps than some. Some might say that christians live in the past, but the truth of the matter is that we live very much in the present, with a hope for the future which is founded in the past. The more we learn about what happened in the past the more we learn about who God is NOW and ALWAYS.
John wrote in his gospel, 'And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name... This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.'
What do you believe, and why do you believe it? Everything which we know and learn is somehow found in history. If I was slightly more forthright I might challenge one to look into it if they do not know. And to follow up, if you are at all curious or interested, take that next step and start asking questions... Just some food for thought.
God Bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment