REMEMBERING THE FUTURE

REMEMBERING THE FUTURE 2

     “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  (old proverb.)

     “I remembered the future. And in turn, the future remembered me.”  (Burnstein.)

     “Whatever you do will be wrong for something and cause unexpected consequences.”  (Murphy’s Law.)

     Behar (Starbucks) writes:  “It's not about product, it's about people.  That's the number one priority.  If you grow people, the people grow the business."

     “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.”  Eccl 1:9-11 (NKJV)

     My bills pay automatically from my Bank.  Groceries and things are paid for with a swipe of my Bank card.  Should I “give of my means” to the church with a debit card?  Some are already doing this.  I am a very senior-citizen, and I have nine blogs online.  What should the church have online?  TV is fading out and soon everything will be online.  Through GOOGLE the libraries of the world are at my fingertips.  Again, what should this mean for the church?  Anything discovered by Science was already put there by GOD.

 

     TIBERIAS CYLINDER  [A city in Space.]

   "'Chipova Dio...'  All-powerful God, who permits us to  join together our united voices in prayer, and who promises that when two or three are come together in Your Name, You will grant their prayers.  Fulfill now the desires and requests of Your servants, in a way that will most bless them.  In this world please give us wisdom concerning Your truth, and in the world to come eternal life in Your presence.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen."

    The third song will be the Communion Hymn: "Upon The First Day Of The Week."  Christ raised from death on the day following the Sabbath - Sunday, the first day of the new week.

    A word of explanation.  The tradition of this Church is that every Sunday is Communion Sunday.  We believe it was so in the early Church.  Some of the names applied to this Communion are: Vespermangon; Lord's Supper; Holy Meal; Eucharist.  This will be the high point of the worship service.  HE has overcome the world!  HE has won the victory!  We worshipers believe that this Holy Meal ties each one of us to every other Christian in the Universe as each one shares in the bread and wine of the Communion.

    We will see the tradition of simultaneous communion.  Each communicant has already received an individually sealed portion of the bread and wine (an outgrowth of the AIDS epidemic of the past).  The bread is unleavened.  The wine is unprocessed grape juice with only enough fermentation to prevent spoilage."

    Morris Evans has come to the symbolic table and is the Unifier of this Holy Meal.

    Again we inject a note of explanation.  This Church makes no sharp distinction between clergy and laity.  Steve is an electrician; Morris is a paramedic.  Both are church-elders, as is Rod, who is also a Preaching Minister.  As brothers and sisters in the Family of God all work together for the common good of all.  "He lets us rule as kings and serve God His Father as priests" (Revelation 1:6).

    Morris lifts up his hands and speaks:  "As we join together in this Holy Meal, we remember our Lord who died on Old Earth many centuries ago.  Jesus died as God's Sacrificial Lamb, to expiate the sins of the world of humans and to put us right with God.  We are here today to praise Him and to show Him our love!  We honor Jesus for Who He Is and for What He Did!  We take this bread - by faith, His body.  We take this wine - by faith, His blood.  As the Scripture says: 'For until the Lord comes, you proclaim His death whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup.'  And now Stan Chenowitz will lead us in the prayer of thanks."

    Stan comes from the right to stand at the podium.  He lifts up his hands and speaks.

    "We praise You, O Lord our God!  While we were estranged from You because of our sins, You reached out to us by sending Jesus!  We are so thankful for Your blessings!  Touch this bread - to us the body of Christ by our faith.  Touch this wine - to us the blood of Christ by our faith.  Touch our lives, and make us one in Christ - we are the Body of Christ.  We pray in the Name of Jesus, Amen."

    Now attention shifts back to Morris Evans at the Table.  The entire congregation waits in anticipation, holding in their hands the individual portions of bread and wine.  Morris lifts his individual portions as high as he can reach, holding them for a moment.  Then he lowers his arms and speaks.

    "This is My body, which is for you.  Do this in memory of Me."

    As Morris puts the individual portion of bread in his mouth, simultaneously so do each of the communicants.

    Again Morris speaks.

     "The wine which is this cup is God's New Covenant, sealed with My blood.  Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of Me."

    Morris puts the individual portion of wine in his mouth and so do the communicants simultaneously."

    We remind you that the bread and wine are encapsulated in individual portions.  One pops the whole thing into the mouth, bites through the capsule, and swallows the contents.  As we said, this began during the AIDS crisis on Earth.  Actually, this works quite well in a crowd like this.  There is nothing to dispose of.  And, it permits us to follow the example of the early Church who celebrated the Holy Meal regularly.  This Church emphasizes the memorial /commemorative /celebration purpose of the Lord's Supper.

    Now Frank Miller, a church elder, comes to the podium to lead the closing prayer.

    "Bless, O Father, these who have come to give their lives to You.  Bless them and make them a blessing to others.  And now, may the Lord Himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with you all!  In the Name of Jesus, Amen."

 

 

    HYDROPONICS – AMISH ON TIBERIAS

    Somewhere I could hear a door open and close.  In the distance I could see a man coming toward us.  As he got closer, I could see he appeared to be dressed all in black in an antique style.

     By now the man had reached us.  He had on heavy shoes, black denim trousers, which were held up by suspenders, and a black denim shirt.  He had a bushy beard of reddish color, and was wearing an old style earth straw hat.

    "Rod," I gasped, "what is this?  He looks just like an Amishman back home in northern Usono."

    "This is Hans Yoder," Rod said.  "Hans, this is a group from Earth, visiting our Churches of Christ here on Tiberias." 

    Rod proceeded to introduce us all around.  

    "But I don't understand," said Fred.  "I thought the Amish were tied to farmland and seventeenth century ways.  What is an Amishman doing out here in space on Tiberias Cylinder?"

    "Hans is as you say, an Amishman," Rod said.  "He and all his commune are our food experts.  They are geniuses when it comes to growing things.  None of your great earth chefs can give yeast protein the exquisite tastes to equal what they can do."

    "But, an Amishman, out here in space?" I said.

    "Hans, tell him," Rod said.

    "Well, we got to make a living.  It's as simple as that.  Back on Earth there was never enough farm land to go around.  It costs money to feed and raise a family.  Some of us had to work at other things, even in the 1900's.  My great-grandfather worked in a furniture factory.  My father looked out into space.  No machine can do what a human can do.  It was an easy step to go from working with our hands on the land to working with our hands out here in space.  We Amish can work together in close cooperation.  Not everyone can do that.  We are a community.  We understand each other."

    "But you can't have horses out here?" asked Edna.  "You don't have horses, do you?"

    "No horses.  Too expensive.  But, being Amish is a way of life.  We had to think that out in my grandfather's time.  We love horses.  But we don't need them.  Horses are tools to use.  We have other tools.  But family is family.  We stick together and work together.  We are giving the gift of life to the people of Tiberias.  We grow things, produce food, just like the old farms, even though conditions and things are very different out here in space.  We Amish are a community and we work for the good of our community."

    "But it certainly seems strange," I said.  "Doesn't this conflict with everything the Amish stood for in the past?  At least, what I thought they stood for."

    "You got to look at it the right way.  We were never against using tools.  But we were against allowing tools to use us.  Our fathers made the choice to be plain people.  We worked wonderfully hard, but it was a celebration of life.  We are a church-community, a commune if you will, who practice austere living and a family-oriented economic system.  We just have different conclusions about how to live life and enjoy it."

    "Hans, you surely make it sound good about plain people and hard work and celebration," said Molly.  "But I don't know about your celebration of life.  I read about my great-grandfather on a hillside farm in West Virginia.  He called it 'hard scrabble farming,' not any celebration.  He wrote that he had to work from 'it ain't light yet' to 'I can't see anymore' just to starve on the farm.  It seemed to be more desperation than celebration."

    "Circumstances alters cases," Hans said.  "Some talked like your great-grandfather.  But, 'many hands make light work' as the old saying goes, and we Amish work together.  That made it easier to get along.  Let me show you around.  That is the best answer I can give - to show you how things work here on Tiberias."

    Hans touched a keypad and a small floater came out from between two huge tanks.

    "Let's go see the farm," he said.

 

    "But you do all this by hand?" I asked.

    "We do as much by hand as seems reasonable.  But we must use tools - machines - to make it possible to produce what we need.  Tiberias must have huge quantities of food each day.  It would be impossible to do very much by hand.  We use robot harvesters and smart machines.  And we call on the 'English' technicians and specialists when we need them.  I should explain that our ancestors called everyone who wasn't Amish, the 'English.'"

    "But on Earth, no one knows about what goes on to produce food," said Edna.

    "Who knows it here?" said Hans.  "No one comes out here to watch.  And we are 'waste extraction.'  We are isolated from life on Tiberias."

    "I hadn't thought about that," I said.  "You are isolated?  Doesn't that bother you?"

    "Not at all.  We don't need other people.  We have our community.  We have each other.  We are family.  It is not all that different from what our ancestors experienced on Earth.  We have made the choice to be separated people."

    "You say 'isolated,'" Fred said.  "Does that mean you are shunned because you are 'waste extraction'?"

    "Sometimes that is true," said Hans.  "But few are even aware that we are here.  Rod, of course, knows us well.  He is our friend."

    "Hans, I hear you talking 'community'," said Molly, "but back on Earth you Amish sometimes had conflict within the group and certain people were shunned because of this.  Not everyone would pay the price to be Amish."

    "Yes.  But you have conflict within the 'English' also.  It isn't all that different.  Some individual rights must be sacrificed for the good of the community.  But this choice is voluntary.  Those who will not conform must go elsewhere.  It is vital that we work together and we must preserve the community.  It cannot be otherwise.  It is a choice we make."

    "I suppose that's really the basis of civilization," I said.  "Either cooperate, or be a hermit."

    "You got it," said Hans, "cooperate.  But let's go meet the families."

    Hans stopped the floater at another portal.  We stepped off, then followed him through a small door into the next ring. 

    "Our families live here," he said.  "It is more pleasant and we are shielded from the noise and smells of the farms."

    As we looked ahead down the street, we could see the standard pattern we had seen everywhere on Tiberias.  Cubicles, only these seemed larger.

    He led us to a door, touched the keypad, and led us into a huge room. 

    As we entered, we could see wall-screens which were showing rural scenes of mountains and trees and running streams of water."

    "Sit down," he said, "and make yourself comfortable."

    Then he beckoned toward the rear of the room.   A woman and three small children came to meet us.

    "This is Gerta, my wife, and these are Herman, Carol, and Frederick.  Children are a treasure to the Amish, and we tend to large families.  There are a few hundred of us here on Tiberias."

    "Kayor, Gerta!" Rod said.  He hugged Gerta and each of the children.

    Then he introduced us all around.

    "I act as a contact for the Amish," Rod said.  "They are very special people."

 

    "I'm puzzled," said Molly.  "How is it that you have wall-screens and TV images?  Isn't that against your 'plain' creed?"

    "Tools, remember," said Hans.  "You may call it rationalizing.  We want to keep our link with the past.  We want our children to feel close to nature as our ancestors knew it."

    He touched a keypad.  The wall-screens changed to show a harvest scene: horses, shocks of wheat in the old fashioned style, Amish people dressed in their distinctive clothing, working in the fields to harvest the crops, children laughing and playing and helping in their own way. 

    Then they changed to show a dinner scene in a large house.  Many people sat at long tables and were helping themselves from the huge dishes of food.  They seemed to be happy and laughing and enjoying this good time of fellowship. 

    They changed to show a winter scene.  Snow was drifted deeply around a large house.  A horse was pulling a sleigh with happy people in it.  Cows were in the field, huddled together.  A man was throwing hay over the fence to them. 

    They changed to show springtime, with women and children working in the garden, with bare feet, skirts pulled up slightly, pants legs rolled up to the knees, raking, planting seeds.

    "Do you watch the TV and news programs?" asked Molly.

    "Never!  We have historical videos of Amish farming and people.  We receive videos from our people on Earth.  And from those on other Cylinders out in space.  Our people will hire someone to use a video cam to make the videos for them.  These videos help preserve our sense of community and our heritage, and they keep us in touch with the extended Amish community.  But TV programs and the news - never!  We value our isolation too much!"

    "You say 'isolation' and 'sense of community.' I said.  "How do you balance these two things?"

    "We want to stand separate and apart from the 'English,' as our forefathers tried to do.  But, we want to have intense 'community' between each of us.  In fact, some of our leaders have considered a radio link between each of us Amish to allow continuous contact."

    "A radio link?  How would you fit that into your beliefs?"

    "A tool, once again.  We have heard of a radio microchip which can be implanted under the skin and spliced into nerve fibers.  This would allow us to join our minds together in a way never before possible.  Our Bishops on Earth would need to confer about that and approve such a radical step.  But think of the possibilities!  What would be the IQ of a group mind?  What new concepts might open up?  What new possibilities in growing things?  What new biology?  It boggles our minds!"

    "It scares me," said Molly.

 

LOOKING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD  

        (adapted from a book I am reading.)

     1. Churches must develop a better understanding of history as a tool for making sense of what has happened and is happening.   Ecclesiastes 1:9-10; Acts 15:7-18.

     2. Churches need to examine their own religious tradition and use of Scripture.  ["Old Uncle John" did have his own way of thinking and we might be following him rather than the Bible.  We need to know.]

     3. Though it is important to restore the beliefs of the New Testament, restoration of real Christian behavior in all that we do is equally important.  1 Peter 1:13-16; Eph. 4:20-32.

     4. We must learn to communicate the unchanging word of God as seen in Christ-on-the-Cross in terms that speak both to a modern and postmodern society.  Note 2 Cor. 4:4-11; 1 Cor. 9:19-23; 14:9-11.

     5. There is a great need to have dialogue among ourselves and with others of similar Christian values, but these must be on core issues and not peripheral issues.  Note Paul in 1 Cor. 1:10-17; 2:1-5; Romans 14:1,12,17.

     6. Cutting up churches into fragments does not help spread the Gospel of Christ.  As it works out, division often halves the efforts of the church, rather than doubling it.  The people in the community are the church - NOT the building.

     7. The battle between the church and the devil is not determined on earth.  It has already been settled in heaven.  The Ascension of Christ meant the downfall of Satan, and every act of Christian sacrifice confirms it.  Rev. ch 12; Luke 10:17-20; John 12:27-33.

 

P.S.  This "profound statement" from a writer of fiction:  "The best introduction to a culture [or church] is through one of its malcontents.  This person is fully patterned in the basic assumptions [dogma] of the group, but has some observational skills developed by being an outsider.  The malcontent is able to comprehend the questions and may even have arrived at some general guidelines extracted from society's [the church's] mass of unvoiced assumptions [unwritten creed]."