Have you ever been in an attic full of wonderful treasures from the past? A dusty attic can give life to family history with each cherished memento. Through the years, I heard many stories of my grandfather and his plane, but all from so long ago. When I was given his logbooks, written in his own hand, my heart understood in a new way. Although generations apart, they were not unlike my own flight logs. As my fingers walked through them, I became connected with this man I never met. We share a love.
Archaeology does the same for me on a spiritual level. I can read about my spiritual ancestors in the Bible, but it only fills my head. When I see relics and touch stones, my heart becomes connected to my past. These artifacts connect me to brothers and sisters from long ago that share a love.
At a recent exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls I thought about the men that meticulously copied the text. These were actual people, painstakingly writing on these parchments in the heat of the desert. They were men and women who loved the same God that I do and were doing their best to live out their calling obediently. Our time and circumstance may differ, but we are still of similar flesh, reading the same text, connected with one another as we live out our faith in the One who loves us.
Yes, we are connected as the body of Christ. I am connected to the person in the seat next to me at church, the persecuted believer across the world today and the worker that delicately copied the text millennia ago. The body of Christ extends horizontally across the entire globe, yet also vertically across the depths of time. All the faithful before us have added to our heritage – with examples of obedience, sacrifice and even tangibles like the text. I bless God for them. And I take from their example a renewed commitment to live faithfully.
We will all sit together one day at a great feast, no longer divided by distance or time, but some may seem a little more familiar to us by what they left behind.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses… Hebrews 12:1
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