Memory is an interesting thing, isn’t it?
Things can escape our memory, or we can have our memory jogged. We can take a trip down memory lane, or we can suffer from a memory lapse. We can be overwhelmed by a flood of memories, or we can be so close to remembering something that it is on the tip of our tongue. Some of us have the memories of an elephant. Others of us have good memories…they are just short. There are things like collective memories. Muscle memory. False memories. We can memorize things by rote or by heart or by association. There are folks who have a mind like a steel trap while others would forget their heads if they weren’t attached. There are occasions that are etched into memory for all time and there are others that are entirely forgettable.
Sometimes, memory is of vital importance. Other times, it isn’t. For instance, if you drive a vehicle, it is of vital importance to remember that a red traffic light means stop. In fact, this is so important most of us don’t even really have to think about it once it has been ingrained into our driving patterns. It becomes part of our deep, implicit memory, formed and operated upon without effort. Once we have driven (or even just ridden in vehicles) for a while, we don’t even have to think about what to do when a light turns red. We have experienced this so much that we just stop. Still, this aspect of driving is crucial for us to remember. When we forget to stop at red lights, bad things happen. This functional memory is of vital importance, but there are other aspects of driving that typically aren’t so important…like remembering the make, model and color of each car stopped at the red light with you. I drove on Route 30 from Irwin to Greensburg yesterday. I stopped at multiple red lights. There were at least 20 cars stopped with me at different points. Maybe I could remember 1 right now. Maybe? Probably not. I know that I would remember 0 after some more time passes. But does it really matter? No. There are many, many, many things in life in which we won’t remember the aspects or the details, and that is OK. Sometimes, memory isn’t that important.
Anyway, why am I writing about memory in the first place?
I forget. I’m hungry. What’s for supper?
(Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.)
I’m writing about memory because we are approaching Memorial Day, and that is a day when we are asked to remember.
Memorial Day is a day when we, as a nation, are called to remember the price that many have paid for us to live as we do. We are called to remember the lives that were given, the sacrifices made, the families that have forever been changed by those who gave of their lives in service to their country. We are to remember the often-repeated cliché that still holds truth, that “freedom isn’t free.”
Memorial Day is a day for us to remember, and I am thankful for the reminder. I am thankful for the reminder for us as a nation to pause, to remember, to celebrate those that have given their all on our behalf. It is a good thing for us to do. It is an important thing for us to do. However, even though it is good and important for us to be reminded of the sacrifice of others on Memorial Day, I imagine that there are those who need no such holiday to jog a memory.
There are parents who don’t need Memorial Day to remember their children who have died while serving the nation.
There are children who don’t need Memorial Day to remember the hole that their parents have left.
There are spouses who don’t need Memorial Day to be reminded of the loss of their partner.
There are women and men who have served alongside of their fellow soldiers who don’t need Memorial Day to be reminded of the cost of freedom.
There are cousins and neighbors, friends and relatives, those who have experienced personal loss who don’t need Memorial Day to remember.
They remember all of the time.
For some, every day serves as a Memorial Day because the reminders are present consistently. They are reminded by the empty places at the table, by the rooms that are no longer used, the calls that are no longer made, the letters that are no longer received. There are memories and reminders throughout their day-to-day life and the Memorial Day holiday is not necessary for them to remember. Instead, the memory is deep. It is ingrained. It is a part of the fabric of their very being, even more so than stopping at a red light is a part of what it means to remember how to drive.
For others, the loss isn’t as personal, the grief isn’t as present. Memorial Day serves as a reminder, but then it fades away like the memories of the other cars stopped at yesterday’s red light with us. It reminds us that it is important for us to remember the sacrifices, but then we forget until the holiday circles around again.
Yes, Memorial Day can be important as it jogs our collective memory, but it would also serve us well if our memory went beyond Memorial Day, if we remembered more consistently.
If we consistently remembered that our freedom were bought with a price, how might that impact the way we used that freedom?
If it were in the forefront of our memory that there are those who continue to walk in grief and in pain, how might that impact the way we treat one another?
If remembering those who have served unto their death extended beyond Memorial Day within our nation, how might that influence the way we act and behave collectively?
In our country, what would life look like if we were consistent in remembering the lives that were sacrificed on our behalf?
I imagine things would be better, and yet, we often forget. We often forget the price that was paid that we might have life. So, we need days like Memorial Day for us to remember.
Sadly, this type of forgetfulness, this failure to remember also occurs in our walk with Jesus.
We often forget the price that was paid for our freedom.
We often forget the life that was laid down for our sake.
We often forget the blood that was shed, the life that was surrendered.
We often don’t experience or see the reminders in our day-to-day life as signal of God’s grace and God’s mercy. Few of us look to the empty chairs within our homes and picture Jesus. Few of us hear of betrayal and think of our Lord. Few of us are reminded in a constant day-in and day-out way about the sacrifice of our Christ upon the cross.
Not only do we forget the sacrifice, but we also forget the promises of life that are offered through it.
We forget the promise of God’s presence through each moment (even through our grief).
We forget the promise of God’s Spirit.
We forget the life that we have been offered, the freedom that we have received, the love that we walk in, our role in the Body of Christ, the way we are called to serve.
We forget to humble ourselves and be obedient, to flee from temptation, to walk as those who are called to be blameless before the Lord.
We forget so many things that the Lord has done for us and with us and through us.
And yet, it is important to remember. It is important for us to remember in a way that moves beyond celebrations like Memorial Day, an impersonal holiday that is remembered once a year, to something more personal, something more real, something much deeper…like those for whom Memorial Day is an everyday affair.
Memory is an interesting thing.
One moment we can be as sharp as a tack. The next as dull as a butter knife. We can remember our favorite pair of socks that wore out (mine were a pair that had a picture of a banana on the front and read “I’m bananas”), but we can forget to be there for people on important dates and holidays. We can maybe remember to thank Jesus for the cross on Good Friday or to celebrate the resurrection on Easter, but we can forget to walk with Jesus all of the other days of the year.
Perhaps this is why the Scripture says this:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9
According to this passage, it isn’t enough for us to remember every once in a while. It isn’t enough to have a “oh yeah…we should remember God” day once a year like is sometimes done with Memorial Day or Christmas or Easter. Instead, our relationship with God should be an all the time ordeal, a personal affair where it impacts our everyday life, not just an occasional holiday.
Remembering God moves well beyond the knowing of unimportant details of life (like knowing the other vehicles at a red light) straight into knowing that which is most essential to living (like how to stop when the light is red). This is life-changing, completely important, vital stuff. In fact, this was so important to God, that the Lord even offered some memory tips, some ways that we might be sure to remember.
Put the commands upon your heart. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you travel. Tie them as symbols on your hands and your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.
MAKE REMINDERS to REMEMBER!
Have your life in God be so a part of your day-to-day existence that you can’t help but to remember. Make God so a part of your every waking moment that you are unable to forget.
This Memorial Day, let’s remember. Let’s remember those who have gone on before, their lives, their sacrifices, their gift, but let’s not stop there. Let’s remember Jesus. Let’s remember His life, His love, His sacrifice, His gift. Let’s remember how Jesus went to the cross for each of us, personally, and let’s make it a personal part of our everyday existence. Let’s put reminders of the promises of God everywhere we can think. Let’s share in stories, read Scriptures, and point to Jesus in everything that we do. After all, Jesus is the One who brings life out of death so that there is hope for life eternal, even for those we are remembering on Memorial Day.
~ Pastor Chris
