"In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the LORD’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites." -Joshua 4:6a-7

For the most part, I have enjoyed my experience within Evangelical churches. They tend to build tight-knit communities, take the Bible seriously, and encourage people to get involved and use their gifts to serve others. But one thing that was rarer was a good understanding of history. Evangelicals generally understand that you don't need anything except for Jesus and the Bible to become a mature Christian. While I appreciate the simplicity of that approach, and see how history and tradition can become distractions from the most important aspects of our faith, I've come to realize that as long as you avoid that, it's really helpful to have a good grasp of history.

History is important in part because the Bible itself is a document written a long time ago, by people from different cultures, speaking different languages, and making different assumptions than 21st Century Canadians. The Bible also encourages us to know and to teach our kids the history of how God has worked in the world. I think that the churches I've been a part of agree with this on principle, but could go deeper in this pursuit. Alongside this, history is foundational to our identity. This is the core thesis of How to Inhabit Time, the book I would like to read and discuss together. In the Introduction, Smith writes:

"Like trees whose rings tell the story of fires and droughts from a distant past, our character and capacities reflect histories that long preceded us as well as the personal histories that amount to our own story."

His invitation is for us to become more aware of how shaped we are by our history, so we can celebrate and continue the good it has brought about and eliminate the bad, as much as we're able to. C.S. Lewis also notes that knowing other people's history can enhance our self-understanding. In the Introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation he writes:

"None of us can fully escape this blindness [of our biases], but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes."

So, understanding both our history and history in general can help us understand who we are and how God wants to change us.

As you'll see in my ministry reports below, I'm getting lots of opportunity to reflect on the history of my ministry and how it relates to Church history in recent months. It hasn't always been easy. Sometimes I feel like I'm back in history class and at other times I feel like I'm sitting in a counselor's office sorting through my baggage. But, I can also see the growth it's causing for me and those I care for!

Christmas was a season of highs and lows for us at Curve Lake Christian Assembly this year. December was a hard month, with some of our congregants losing loved ones, getting sick, or injuring themselves. Despite this, we were able to celebrate the season together. A team from Heart to Heart Ministries led a Christmas Jamboree early in the month, which drew out some people not normally involved in the church and was well-received by everyone in attendance. Then, we joined forces with the United Church to ride a float and carol in the community's annual Santa Claus Parade. As usual, we also came together with the United Church for the Christmas Eve candlelight service, which is my favourite service of the year.

In between these Christmasy events, I also helped plan a traditional Solstice Celebration, at the request of and alongside some of our congregants. This involved some ceremonial elements, like lighting a pipe and smudging, as well as storytelling and life teachings. Then we had a gift exchange and feast. This wasn't a church event, per se, and we encouraged people to come only if they felt safe and compelled to do so. Nonetheless, around fifteen people participated and my sense was that it was a good learning experience and bonding time for those present.

With the arrival of the New Year came a change of focus for my preaching. We spent the last two years working through the Bible, which came to an end with 2022. Over the course of that time, a number of questions came up that couldn't really be answered simply by referring to the Bible - including "Why do we have these specific books in our Bible?!" With that in mind, I decided to undertake something really outside of the box: I'm teaching Church history throughout 2023! To do so, I've broken up the 2,000 years since Jesus into five different time periods and I'm revisiting things I studied during my seminary years, as well as taking in some new material, in order to help my congregation understand why Christianity is the way it is today. Of course, as we do so we keep on coming back to the Bible itself and comparing what we see taking place in history to what Jesus and his earliest followers taught. So far, it's been a pretty fun endeavour, even if it's a little taxing at times! If your curiosity is piqued, you can always check out our church Facebook Page for video recordings of what I teach, or search for "Curve Lake Christian Assembly Sermons" on your favourite podcasting app.

There have also been two particularly precious moments this winter. The first took place at the beginning of February, which was our first communion Sunday since I began teaching through Church history. I decided to use material from the Didache (kind of a First-Century Church manual) to lead a communion meal like they might have done. I expected this to be a novel experience, but it ended up being more than that. Everyone loved the relaxed format and fellowship that it permitted and it resonated particularly deeply with the First Nations congregants, since feasts are an integral part of indigenous culture. Many people told me afterwards that this needed to be the new normal for communion Sundays! Then, just this past week, I led the church's first-ever baby dedication. We celebrated Wren, the one-year-old daughter of a young couple who are involved in the church. I used the opportunity to explain the history of baptism and how I have learned a lot about valuing children from churches that baptise infants, even if I think that baptism is best reserved for confessing adults. This, too, was a nice opportunity to blend community with ceremony, and to show our love for Wren and all her family members who came out to show their love for her!

While Christmas is always a big time of year for the church, it tends to be quieter for the campus ministry, since students have exams and then head home for the break. That said, we did have some of the student leaders over for a Christmas and Hanukkah celebration, which was nice. More notable was an event that took place in January. For the first time since I helped reboot the group in 2013 we were able to go on a retreat! While this was normal for the student group I was a part of, we've never grown to a big enough size to manage something like that since the reboot. Because the group joined InterVarsity this year, we were able to join in on their annual winter retreat at Circle Square Ranch in Arden. Our nine students joined another forty or so to build relationships, learn, and worship together. One of my highlights was the way that the InterVarsity staff invited our students to help with a number of leadership tasks. This revealed that we had some worship leaders, some teachers, and some skilled organizers in our group, which is already having a positive effect on the ministry at Trent.

One of the convictions the student leaders had coming into this semester, which was enhanced by the retreat, was that they wanted to be intentional about outreach. Their first attempt at doing so was an event called "Text-a-Tim's," in which they delivered coffees and hot chocolates around Trent to anyone who requested it using the specified number. They gave out over fifty drinks and invited recipients to a talk given by a Youth For Christ leader on God's presence in the midst of suffering. Although only a few newcomers showed up as a result, the students felt good about blessing their fellow students and the talk meant a lot to those present.

It's also fun to see how different aspects of my ministry cross over. For example, a young man that I met at Auburn and have mentored for almost a decade now has gradually been assuming responsibility for the Peterborough Petes' chaplaincy program. This year, he led their annual Faith Night by himself for the first time. This event is intended to raise awareness about the chaplaincy and always attracts a lot of Christians. I got to talk with him about the planning process before and afterwards, and I also got to go with a group of students to the game itself to support him and his work. Another example of this is a group I was invited to join by the lady who oversees the Trent chaplaincy program, which I am a part of. The group is called Settlers Taking Action and Responsibility Together (START) and is designed to help students and community members learn about and contribute to indigenous reconciliation efforts in Peterborough. Like many groups, it's in a rebuilding state because of COVID, and I've enjoyed getting to know some students outside of the Christian bubble I tend to exist in, as well as sharing from my experience and learning from theirs.

We enjoyed a few different family get-togethers over the Christmas season. We visited downtown Toronto with all of my sisters and their families/partners, then went to Ottawa for a few days following Christmas itself. Then we had Danielle and Gerrit visit us for New Years, as we've tended to do since they got married. It was nice that things felt so normal after the last couple of Christmases being interrupted by the pandemic. Similarly, this winter has felt more normal for Shoshanna and Aliyah, since they've been able to continue doing activities at the YMCA and outings with their homeschooling friends. Shoshanna also decided to join a local concert band after attending one of their concerts, giving her the opportunity to play her clarinet for the first time in quite a while. This means that on Wednesdays, I get to help Aliyah with some of her schoolwork, which I've enjoyed - it gives me a bit more insight into the hard work the two of them put into her education!

As mentioned in my last newsletter, I've been doing some side work as an advisor to Tyndale Doctor of Ministry students. My first advisee, Gabrielle, had her hearing in January, and passed with minor revisions (which is a standard outcome). She kindly treated me to Korean Barbecue afterwards, to celebrate the approaching completion of her long academic journey. This year I've got two more advisees assigned to me, and am excited to help them get to the same point by the end of the year, Lord willing!

Our work is supported by donations from local churches and individuals. Thank you to everyone who supported us over 2023, including a surprisingly generous amount that was given over the Christmas season. While it's too early to share about, there's an exciting opportunity coming up that's been made possible because of your gifts... I look forward to telling you about it when the time comes! For more information on our ministry, including how to receive this newsletter via email or contribute financially, send me an email at [email protected] or visit www.benpeltz.ca. All donations are processed through Vision Ministries of Canada.