By Cherie Speller
From the Sunday, July 27, 2008, edition of The Daily Reflector
The columns I write generally publish on Mondays but I took the opportunity to move it to Sunday this week for the sake of history.
My family and I worship with the Westside Church of Christ, which today moves to a new town with a new name Church of Christ, Winterville. As part of the congregation’s moving celebration, a time capsule will be buried today in the lawn of the church on Winterville’s Church Street Extension.
My six-year-old son and others about his age in the congregation have been given the challenge to dig up the time capsule in 50 years. If the Lord is willing, Nicholas, at 56, will dig up the painted handkerchief he made during Bible camp this summer.
A mix of colors, his name, the year and week of camp he attended and his status as a “pre-camper” are all on the handkerchief.
The capsule also will include other items church members submit, including letters and poems describing what life is like for us today and sharing our hopes and prayers with those who will open it.
In 50 years, we expect that much about our congregation, the community and the world would have changed but we’re counting on there still being a group of God’s people worshipping there together.
A copy of today’s Reflector also will be in the capsule. That was not my idea, but it’s a good one and, as you can see, I’m taking advantage of it. No time capsule would be complete without a copy of the local newspaper inside, offering up the news of the time and that particular day.
I’ve also been thinking about what Nicholas and the rest of the group will think about the newspaper. With all the communication opportunities through the Internet and perhaps other technology we don’t know about yet it’ll be interesting to know whether they’ll see the newspaper as a relic of the past.
I’m hoping they’ll see it as an older version of the newer model. It’s possible, even probable. Newspapers have been around for 2,000 years, going back to the Acta Diurna established at Rome in 131 B.C.
What’s 50 more?
Of course, if the group has some questions about the newspaper, or if they’re trying to figure out something else included in the capsule, I’m hoping to be there to explain it to them.
With medical technology, a better focus on my health and a little luck on genes (my grandmother lived to be 93!), I could be right there supervising the dig.
It’s possible. I’ve been around 40 years or so.
What’s 50 more?
Cherie Speller is associate editor of readership and community news at The Daily Reflector, Greenville, N.C. Contact her at cspeller@coxnc.com. Article used by permission.
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