Over the last week I have been meeting with our church Historian, Margaret Morris, and archival volunteer Janine Wood, as they faithfully sort through the Mission Centre archives currently stored at Drummoyne congregation. Over the years faithful historians have tended to a growing collection of paper records, books, and other publications that capture the activities of our community. One of the tasks at hand is to decide which materials to keep, which to digitise, and which to destroy. While we have had professional guidance and advice on how to proceed, the consequential nature of these decisions is weighing on me.
Recently I came into possession of a bundle of correspondence between a past Mission Centre President and a faithful member, as they corresponded via post to plan a retreat. The correspondence was over 50 years old, but everything about those letters delighted me, and spoke volumes of the joy, faithfulness, and care with which both were approaching their work. Yet, I'm not sure if this type of material is routinely kept, or whether it is thrown away as people pass on. We have readily kept financial records and business meeting minutes, but thrown away camp menus, sermons and class notes. Separately, I found an old campfire song list - and realised I only knew maybe half the songs. As I read the list, each song came into my mind, the voices from Kallara Campfires, the specific harmonies and descants of that group, floating through my recollection. And I wondered, who knows the other songs on that list? Wouldn't it be nice to have an archived recording of all that music? Or even better, a version of those campfire songs that could be played on family roadtrips or quite evenings at home? A way to share and carry on that tradition.
Whilst in Newcastle for Mission Centre Conference, I was the happy recipient of a box of old books from Central Coast's shelves. 'We have so many copies of these' I heard, and yet I have never seen any of them. I'm not a terribly nostalgic or sentimental person, and I love the new traditions in our community, as we evolve and continue to embrace the Spirit in contemporary ways. But I have to admit, the campfire list got to me. The letters got to me. The books I collected, with the handwritten notes in the margins, the underlined sections, the sermon notes tucked in the back... They got to me.
Maybe I am just a little bit sentimental, or maybe these experiences have just heightened my sense of gratitude for my spiritual inheritance, for the storykeepers, stewards, and seekers that came before me. I would love to create a library of books, music, poetry and writings of our Australian members. Whilst we have the official archive to organise, and it too contains important stories, milestones, and memories - sometimes it skips over the artists, the cooks, the teachers, the games, the great romances, the in-jokes, the testimonies, the songs, the harmonies and the rich colour that gave our community depth and passion and life. Or maybe, we are called to continue creating that rich culture in this time. When was the last time we wrote a proper letter to a friend? Learned a new harmony to a familiar song? Shared a testimony of a recent experience? Or reopened a favourite spiritual book to study it anew?
Balancing the past, with present and future needs is the challenge with the archive, as much as it is in our own life. Deciding what to keep, what to let go of, and what new things to bring into our life... We live in a state of constant change, rooted in our history, grounded in the wisdom of our Elders, but called by the Spirit into a future that isn't yet written, or sung, or joked about, or archived. What we choose to remember, what we choose to let go, shapes our present.
What memories and experiences will you choose to focus on? What are you holding on to that no longer serves you? What are you creating in your life today that will bring richness into the future?