May 25, 2008

“More Than Memory”

John 16:12-15

Comedian Sam Levenson tells of the time his father was towing six or seven small Levensons, clasped hand-to-hand, through a museum.  Suddenly, annoyed at how slowly they were moving, the father snapped, “Look here, you kids!  If you’re gonna stop and look at everything, you ain’t gonna see nothing!”

I thought of the the time Martha and I visited Paris and spent some time in the Louvre and the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  We irritated more than one guide because, wanting to see something, we stopped to look at everything.  But did you know that we encountered some tourists who were bored to death—or else the look on their faces was caused by acid indigestion.  I overheard one man remark, “If you’ve seen one cathredral, you’ve seen them all.”

Someone has rightly observed that our time has two problems: (1) the past, and how to escape it; and (2) the future, and how to avoid it.  Which means that for many people today, the immediate moment is all that counts.  Who cares about yesterday?  “If you’ve seen one cathedral, you’ve seen them all.”

But there’s no meaningful present, and there’s no vital faith without both a past and a future.  Every “here and now” is always a link between memory and expectation.  Cut us or our faith off from our memories of the past and our hopes for the future, and we’ll sink into a state of depression and spiritual stagnation.  What’s true for persons individually is also true for civilizations.  When a society alienates itself from the past or grows cynical about its future, it crumbles from within.  The ruins on the Acropolis of Athens and throughout Rome offer their own silent evidence of how it happens when the glory fades.

In this morning’s reading from the Bible, Jesus suggests that one important way in which the Holy Spirit guides us into truth is by causing us to remember!  And so, let’s remember the past gratefully.  That’s our first word this morning.  We remember our heritage and its promise.  We remember our foundations and their horizons.  We remember those who have gone before us and all they gave to us.  By remembering these things, we open ourselves to the Spirit’s leading.  Speaking of those early Christians, one scholar said:

The first obligation of the apostles after founding a church was to make the faithful in that church remember what they had received, what they knew or should have known, whom they loved and claimed as Lord, what he taught and expected from them.

So they told stories about Jesus’ ministry with John perhaps turning to Peter and saying, “Do you remember the time when he …” or Thomas saying to James, “I’ll never forget his way of …”  They told stories of Jesus’ way with people, with Andrew adding, “And remember that day when he …” They recalled his teachings and retold his parables, with Philip remarking, “You know, it seems like only yesterday that he …”  And as they remembered they were confirmed in love; they remembered and they were convinced by truth; they remembered and were strengthened in the Holy Spirit.

The same is true of our commitment to Christ.  I like the story of the young man who walked into a card shop looking for an appropriate card for his girlfriend.  He asked the store clerk to pick out something for him that would express his very deep sentiment.  She picked out the best-selling card and gave it to the young man.  It said simply, “To the only girl I have ever loved.”

The young man said, “Terrific!  Wonderful!  I’ll take six of those!”

Now obviously, that young man had trouble with commitment.  Sometimes you and I do, too!  One of the things that helps us hold to the faith, though, is our memory as disciples of Christ.  We gather each Sunday to do just that—to remember Jesus.  The most significant thing happening this morning is the fact that by symbol, prayer, hymn, anthem and the Word, we’re remembering Jesus, his teachings, his way with persons, his life, death and resurrection, in order to claim God’s love in him unto our salvation.  We must not forget; we are to remember!

If we’re to know who we are, if we’re to grow in truth, able to distinguish between what’s genuine and what’s phony, what’s peripheral and what’s central, what’s valuable and what’s worthless, we must remember.  We stand before the given experience of yesterday and we learn the lessons of history.  We realize how much we’ve been loved and forgiven by God in Christ, saying along with the apostle Paul:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

If we’re to stay sane in the epidemic madness of these days, we must remember God’s Word until we know it by heart and it is our place to stand:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations . . . The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? . . . Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary . . . He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.  Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk, and not faint.

Two years ago, I received an invitation to my 50th high school class reunion!  Wow!  I couldn’t believe it.  I couldn’t help but think back to those days of my youth and suddenly the past was no longer the past, but alive again to bless, to illumine and to interpret the present.  I thought about friends, teachers, my parents and grandparents, my sister and brother, pastors, Sunday School teachers, and youth counselors—persons who were God’s agents for me at various intersections of my life.  I thought about how Martha and I met, for we attended the same high school and church, and my experience in the Navy.  I thought about God’s calling me to the ordained ministry after we had the first two of our three children, quitting my job, finishing my undergraduate studies, and going to seminary.  I thought about the nine churches I have served and the many wonderful people in those churches and in this church, and there they were—in living, breathing color with arms and hearts wide open.  Through these people and through all of you, God told me once more who I am and who you are.  Through love shared in those moments across the years, God showed me again all that God is and has been for me in Jesus Christ.

Yes, we remember the past gratefully, no matter how difficult it may have been, for while there’s much we don’t completely understand about why this or that happened as it did when it did, we realize how much the Holy Spirit has been working God’s purposes out through all that happened to will God’s will for us.  We may not understand, but we are understood—and held in God’s love—always!

In such sacred remembering, we have hope.  But it’s always more than memory of yesterday; it also becomes expectation of tomorrow.  That’s our other word.  So Jesus promised in the Holy Spirit, “He will declare to you the things that are to come.”  Among other things, we celebrate the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit this day.

Remembering is not an exercise in nostalgia.  To remember is not to allow the past to oppress or limit us.  Instead, it’s to let the past suggest new meanings in the present; it’s to be given fresh hope for the future.  As one writer said:

He who remembers how much he has been given will give much.  She who remembers faithfulness from her past is inspired to be more faithful now.  He who has learned that others can be trusted is inwardly motivated to be trustworthy.  They who remember and recognize the good in their past can move confidently through a troubled present, looking forward to an exciting future.

The best is yet to be—has not been, is not now—but is yet to be.  If we’re open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we’ll discover how surprising and wonderful the future is.  To remember, and say “Thanks” for all that has been, is to say “Yes” to all that shall be.  When we realize how God has been “our help in ages past,” we’ll know how God is “our hope for years to come.”  Only with such trust could Paul say:

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Hope is the same thing as remembering.

That’s why Memorial Day must never be diminished in our nation.  That’s why we need to remember those in our community of faith and others who’ve preceeded us in death.  As a people, as a nation, as believers and seekers, we need this day, for we need to remember the company of saints, heroes and heroines, pioneers and faithful servants whose witness is a holy presence surrounding us.  We remember them because we’re grateful for their sacrifice, their courage, their moral stamina, their devotion to God and Christ, to truth and freedom.  We remember them best, however, when we dedicate ourselves, as Lincoln put it, “to the unfinished work they thus have so nobly advanced.”  We remember and honor them best when their sunset becomes our sunrise.  We remember and honor them best when we become living reminders of all they struggled and died for; when we become living reminders of Christ who died for all and lives that none will die.  Remembering, let’s move confidently into tomorrow with the joy which the Holy Spirit brings through Christ.

I close with these words from the poet:

The young dead soldiers do not speak.

Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses

(Who has not heard them?)

They say:

We leave you our deaths,

Give them their meaning.

Give them an end to war and a true peace.

Give them a victory that ends the war and a peace

afterwards.

Give them their meaning.

We were young, they say, we have died.

Remember us.

We do remember, and along with them we also remember those who lost their lives in the struggle for justice, freedom, peace and community, those who were victims of strife and violence, poverty and despair, and all those we have loved who gave of themselves to make us who we are.  Let us bow our heads and observe a minute of silence, remembrance and tribute … Amen!