A CALL TO REMEMBER
Devotional
Alumni Weekend I
By his own admission, former President Reagan had difficulty remembering. When commenting on it at a White House reception, he told this anecdote: It seems that an 80-year-old man’s golf game was hampered by poor eyesight. He could hit the ball well but he couldn’t see where it went. So his doctor teamed him up with a 90-year-old man who had perfect eyesight and was willing to go along to serve as a spotter. Here’s how the dialogue went after the 80-year-old man hit the first ball and asked his companion if he saw where it landed: “Yep,” said the 90-year-old. “Where did it go?” the 80-year-old demanded. “I don’t remember,” the 90-year-old replied.
Forgetfulness
– a malady common to all of us – one that will likely be evident in the
conversations and visits of this alumni weekend.
Perhaps
this is why the call to remember is so frequently extended; why we have slogans
such as:
Remember the
Remember the
Remember
Remember
A
slogan still developing
William
Lamar observes that “only 87 entries separate
Historian
Milan Hubl writes “The first step in liquidating a
people is to erase its memory. Destroy
its books, its culture, its history…before long the nation will forget what it
is, and what it was.”
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What
is said of the nation can also be said of an institution – a college –
Houghton. It would be interesting, if
time permitted, to hear from each of you what
But
my emphasis this morning is with the scriptural calls to remember.
The Bible calls us to remember – some 200 times.
“Remember
the long way that the Lord God has lead you these 40 years in the wilderness”
(Deuteronomy 8:21).
“Remember
then from what you have fallen” (Revelation 2:5).
“Remember
then what you have heard and received” (Revelation 3:3).
“Remember the words spoken
in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandments of the Lord and Savior,
spoken through your apostles”
(2
Peter 3:2).
“Remember
In
all of these, there is a realization that we not only absent mindedly forget
but sometimes we choose not to remember.
It
is more convenient and comforting at times simply to forget.
Every
person has memories of dark moments that we would as soon forget:
Unkind words spoken – words we
uttered in haste – that we
Would like to take
back.
Unkind deeds –
selfish acts.
Good deeds and intentions left
undone.
Times when we hurt
and disappointed our parents.
Dare
we to remember even for a moment and admit that the ancient words of the
confession are right? “We have followed
too much the desires and devices of our own hearts. There is no health in us. We are not worthy to be called Thy
servant. We have done things we should
not have done and left undone things we should have done.”
So
we implore with the psalmist: “Do not
remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast
love remember me, for your goodness‘ sake, O
Lord!” (Psalm 25:7)
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While
we wish the painful past to be over and done with – it’s not done with us
yet. William Willimon
observes: “We’re not the escape artists
that we wish we were. We chatter, make
jokes, turn on the radio, try to live only for today. But then there’s that face, the casual
gesture, the wisp of an old tune and we remember. We would to God we could forget.”
But
bad memory unremembered, pushed back into the secret places of ourselves, can
do much harm.
The
unconscious has no digestive tract. It’s
not as if we can just swallow hard and have our painful past pass from our
consciousness and be done with it.
When
we try to forget the painful memories we become strangers to ourselves, having
cut down our history to pleasant, comfortable size, the stuff of our daydreams
rather than our nightmares.
Henri
Nouwen cautions:
“Burying our past is turning our back on our best teacher.”
Charles
Dickens, in his story entitled “The Haunted Man,” tells of a chemist who sat
before the fire troubled with unhappy memories.
Suddenly a phantom appeared and offered him the opportunity to have his
memory destroyed. He immediately
accepted the offer. From then on, he not
only lost his own memory, but he also had the dreadful power to strip other
people of their memories. But soon he
found out that this gift was actually a curse.
He himself was miserable and he made others miserable also. So he pleaded with the phantom to restore his
memory. The story ends with the man’s
earnest pray, “Lord, keep my memory green.”
“Keep
my memory green.” This is more than
simple memory. Computer chips can store
memory.
The
biblical call or remember is not simply to engage in self incrimination or to
engage in nostalgic reveries.
The
biblical call to remember is to act.
Memory serves its purpose when we act.
“Remember
the Sabbath day” (Exodus 20:8). A call to rest and worship.
“Remember
the poor” (Galatians
“Do
this in remembrance of me” (I Corinthians
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The
biblical call to remember is to avail resources out of the past for our living
today.
For
Judaism and for Christianity truth is not simply limited to thoughts, ideas,
ideals but to events.
The past must become the present to us if the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is to be our God.
Remembrance
is the process whereby the acts of God for human salvation are brought to mind
in terms of actions – and response.
Let
me close with a significant call to remember that illustrates this. It is located in the epistle reading for
So
then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”
– a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands – remember
that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ (Ephesians
Remember,
states the text, that we were without Christ – were strangers to the covenant –
lacking hope and apart from God. We were
not God’s people.
Remembering
this past helps us to appreciate and appropriate “the mighty acts of God
through Christ Jesus” and not take them for granted.
We
did not belong. Our relationship with
God is not a right – but a gift. Do not
forget the gracious acts of God. Receive
them, be grateful, act, celebrate.
Let
us remember Jesus:
Who,
though he was rich,
yet for our sakes
became poor and dwelt among us.
Who
was content to be subject to his parents,
the child of a poor
couple’s home.
Who
lived for thirty years the common life,
earning his living
with his own hands and declining no humble task.
Whom the people heard gladly, for he understood their
ways.
Let
us remember Jesus:
Who
was mighty in deed, healing the sick and the disordered,
using for others
the powers he would not invoke for himself.
Who
refused to force people’s allegiance.
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Who
was Master and Lord to his disciples,
yet was among them
as their companion and as one who served.
Whose
desire was to do the will of God who sent him.
Let
us remember Jesus:
Who
loved people, yet retired from them to pray,
rose a great while
before day, watched through the night,
stayed in the
wilderness, went up into a mountain, sought a garden.
Who,
when he would help a tempted disciple, prayed for him.
Who,
prayed for the forgiveness of those who rejected him,
and for the
perfecting of those who received him.
Who
observed the traditions,
but defied
convention that did not serve the purposes of God.
Who
hated the sins of pride and selfishness, of cruelty and impurity.
Let
us remember Jesus:
Who
believe in people and never despaired of them.
Who through all disappointment never lost heart.
Who
disregarded his own comfort and convenience,
and thought first
of others’ needs,
and, though he was
reviled, uttered no harsh word in return.
and, when he
suffered, did not threaten retaliation.
Who
humbled himself and carried obedience to the point of death,
even death on the
cross,
wherefore God has highly exalted him.
United Methodist Book Of Worship
In the brightness of your Son we spend each day.
In
the darkness of the night you light our way.
Always
you protect us with the umbrella of your love.
To
you, God, be all praise and glory forever and forever. Amen.
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