What Do We Learn from History?

My brother, who is a history teacher and a union organizer, loves to stir the pot.  He says, “The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”  That is both true and false at the same time.  Around this time of year twenty-five years ago three significant things happened: The Chernobyl nuclear crisis, President Reagan ordered air strikes on Kaddafi in Libya, and Trinity Episcopal Church was founded.  This year we have the Japan nuclear crisis, President Obama has ordered air strikes on Kaddafi in Libya, and Trinity Episcopal Church is starting all over again.  The question becomes very important, “What did we learn from history?”

The church of my childhood started as a mission in Aldershot, Ontario.  We met in a school gymnasium for over a year before we called our first minister and a couple of years later we built a wonderful church building, but there was a serious flaw right at the beginning.  The minister had declared that he would accept the call if he received a 2/3 vote.  When the ballots were counted it was a few votes short, but nevertheless he accepted the call.  Immediately those who did not vote for him became extremely angry and never got over it.  The church members spent the next fifty years battling with each other even though many of them new nothing of the unhappy beginning of the congregation.  Eventually the church doors closed and the building was sold.  What they didn’t learn from history, but I did, is that if you start a church in anger it won’t succeed unless you deal with the dynamics effectively.

Drawing on the lessons from history let me share with you seven principles for restarting a church that has run into a spiritual brick wall.

1.      Acknowledge and understand the past.  There is an old saying from one of the Western Dessert Fathers, “If you have a snake or a scorpion and put it in a box with a lid on it, sooner or later it will die.”  First you need to recognize that it’s a snake or a scorpion, then you actually have to put it in the box and keep the lid on.

2.      Forgive and be forgiven.  Forgiveness is not an emotion.  Neither is it blind.  It simply before God makes the decision let go of the past, and put it aside.

3.      Recognize the dynamics of conflict.  Conflict in churches occur when people try to control things that are not theirs to control.  It occurs when the behaviour of some members makes other members feel helpless.  It occurs when the authority structures break down.

4.      Recognize conflictual behaviour and speak to it.  Gossip and backbiting destroy the relationships within the body of Christ.

5.      Warfare is part of life, even Christian life.  When it happens it needs to be dealt with as soon as it’s recognized.

6.      Renew your Baptismal Vows and your personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Church.  The Baptismal Vows are on page 302 of The Book of Common Prayer.

7.      Renew your Confirmation and affirm the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in your life.  Your Confirmation calls you to active participation in worship, fellowship opportunities, and service.

If you learn from history and follow these seven principles the promises of God are yours.  He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).   Then he asks, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). 

There is an amusing mistake in this article. Did you spot it?