The big picture? ...

Monday, December 5, 2011. Are you getting the big picture about humans, about who you are and where you belong? Are you understanding what is happening around you, in our modern world?

History is Every Day …

Sometimes we think that history is something which has taken place in particular times in the past. History seems to be the end of the Roman empire or Napoleon or the 2nd world war. But history is much more … it is every day!

In Germany we realized that we are in the middle of History in 1989, when the wall broke down and in 1990, when two countries we reunited which have been separated for 40 years. But also all the events and struggle around this has been history! All the efforts to build up the country, which had suffered 40 years of a particular type of socialism, are living history.

Today, we are in the middle of history. The financial crisis of 2008 is history, like those world economic crisis of 1857 or 1929. But not only this crisis is a part of history, but also our daily work which we carry out during the crisis, and after the crisis. We might look for some particular events when we talk about all of this, but it is all history and we are a part of it!

God is taking part in History …

It is important for the big picture of “advent” to see that God is taking part in history. The old books of the bible, Genesis, Leviticus, Exodus etc, they are also historic books, but more than just historic accounts of what happened. God is taking part in history, and the books tell us about the meaning of this participation.

The New Testament is similar. It tells the story of Jesus and the story of the apostles. It is a historic book, about something which happened and which is happening today. Also here, we need to realize that we are part of this history. This is true with respect to its cultural meaning. But it is also true when we look at faith. Our faith will bring us into a line which is directly linked to the first believers, to the apostles and to the development and struggle of the church over 2000 years and beyond.

I would like to say “welcome!” Welcome to history, to the fascinating development of mankind, and to the fascinating participation of God in human history since the beginning of time till today … there has been “advent”, and there is advent today and tomorrow! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts