What We're Saying

I’m a little late posting this week – but I have a very good reason. I took a couple hours off yesterday morning to see my 5-year-old granddaughter’s Christmas play at her pre-school. She was the star of the play – the Bethlehem star – and I couldn’t miss that!

As I watched the 3-5 year-olds perform the sacred story of the first Christmas, I couldn’t help but turn my thoughts towards the future – my granddaughter’s future and that of all children, everywhere – and, naturally, those thoughts eventually led me to archives.

So many people only think of archives in terms of the past – as a storehouse for history. And, those people are partly right – but they’re missing the point! Yes, archives preserve memories and materials of the past – but they do so for only one reason – the future!

Think how empty our lives would be if we didn’t have the vast richness of the past to draw on. Think how many times we’d have to re-invent the wheel, if we didn’t have the past to draw on.
And think about how we’d have to re-invent ourselves and our communities over and over again, if we didn’t have our memories and stories of the past.

As our late bishop, the Rt. Rev. Robert H. Cochrane wrote: We are the People of Remembrance. We are the People with a Story. All through the long history of our Hebrew-Christian tradition we have been the People who have never allowed ourselves to forget those events of our history in which God has acted to reveal Himself to us and to make known His loving purpose for us. Through our Scriptures and our Liturgy—through Word and Sacrament—the Past is ever made Present to us for our renewal as we continue to remember….We are the People with a story...the Story of God’s saving love and concern for His world…Who we are now has been shaped by what has been and who we shall be is being shaped by what we do now. There was a time Yesterday when we Today were somebody’s Future. There will be a time Tomorrow when we today will be somebody’s Past. It is vitally important, then, that the on-going story be preserved at all times and in all places…

In very simple terms, if we didn’t have that remarkable Story, I wouldn’t have been able to watch with pure joy as the Star of Bethlehem shone with love in my granddaughter’s face.

Archives are for the future.

Diocese of Olympia Archives

Diane Well, CA

Archivist and Records Manager