Dear Members and Friends,
From movies like, "Back to the Future," starring Michael J. Fox, to the science fiction classic authored by H. G. Wells, time travel has often sparked the imagination of people from many different generation. Arising from the ink of Charles Dickens, even Scrooge himself was taken through the bonds of time by the ghosts who visited his bed.
As a child, one of my favorite TV shows was "The Time Tunnel," offering a weekly dose of History-Lite as the lead characters literally bounced from era to era, never able to return to the present from whence they had come. In this series, it was deemed totally crucial that events not be tampered with, so as not to adversely influence the "future" as it was understood to have unfolded. However, even then I wondered that if time travel was indeed possible, could an individual go back and interfere with the relationship of her own parents, thus preventing her own birth? If so, how then would she have been around later to enter the time machine enabling that interference to occur?
With most books and movies concerning time travel, there is a consistent theme of tinkering with the past to change the present. Yet undeniably, apart from science fiction and literary fantasy, the reality is we are empowered to adapt the present and thus alter the future. So much of what will unfold on the canvass of tomorrow is painted with the colors of what transpires today.
Turning the page and starting a new chapter called 2002, instead of looking back and wondering what might have been, we have the challenge and opportunity to take what is and fashion what will come to be. To this end, in the pursuit of fulfilling relationships and rewarding endeavors, the attitudes we currently hold and the activities we presently undertake will tremendously impact the lives we come to enjoy.
As people, we are indeed time travelers, called to go forward, not back. We cannot change the past, but we can walk with God in the present and profoundly impact the future. With the Holy Spirit as our Guide, and the tools of justice and peace in our hearts, we can look fully into the landscape of tomorrow and start making it a better place today.
From Reverend William J. Keane,
Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Branford
|
