Yesterday was Memorial Day. It is
celebrated in America the Beautiful with solemnity and gratitude. The Lord
blessed us with a brilliant day. It was very warm, sunny and gorgeous. I
talked our grandchildren who live in Boston. They were going to historic Walden
Pond near Boston for a swim. We also had a call from Sunita, from Cyprus,
Greece. The Lord has blessed their time there. Andy and Sunita had both gone
snorkling in the Mediterranean. Liltte Gabe said Grandpa. Jess and Tom, and
Laureen spent the weekend with us. We had a mega barbeque. It was a perfect
day for celebration and remembrance. I visited two World War 2 veterans
yesterday. The first Man is 91 years old. He and his beloved and beautiful
wife will celebrate their 70th year wedding anniversary on the July 14. The
second man I visited will celebrate with his wife from his college days their
68th wedding anniversary this week. It is all praise and Thanksgiving.
Praise the Lord for a great Nation called America and for all the blessings the
Lord has bestowed on us. Praise the Lord for the Liberties we share. Praise
the Lord for the brave men and women who have given their ultimate sacrifice.
Praise the Lord for Memorial Day. We do remember. Lord help us always to
remember with great gratitude.
In the later years of his life, the great
19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson suffered from an
increasingly faulty memory. When things would slip his mind, he complained of
his "naughty memory," as he called it. Sometimes Emerson would forget the names
of different objects. In order to speak of them, he would refer to them in a
round-about way. For instance, when he could not think of the word "plow," he
would call it "the implement that cultivates the soil." More important was the
fact that he could not remember the names of people who were quite familiar to
him. At the funeral of his friend, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emerson
commented to another person, "That gentleman has a sweet, beautiful soul, but I
have entirely forgotten his name."
The loss of memory is a sad
thing. It cuts us off from days gone by. It strips away the treasured residue
of past experience. It erases our personal history and leaves us unaccountably
blank pages. Sometimes we are forgetful
because we neglect that which has gone before us and become inattentive to those
who have preceded us.
A quick scan of the Biblical documents make
apparent the importance that is placed upon remembering. Throughout the
scriptures we find references to monuments, memorial feasts, and ritually
repeated stories, all of which serve to reinforce the sacred memory of the
people of God. In various ways the great saving acts of God were rehearsed and
re-presented so that the people would not forget what God had done for their
sake.
Joshua 4:1-9 stands an example of this.
The Biblical narrative which leads up to this
text tells the story of the Israelites' long-awaited entry into the promised
land. After forty years of wilderness wandering the people finally reached their
destination. The swollen Jordan River blocked their way into the land but that
did not stop them. When the priests who were
carrying the ark of the covenant began to place their feet in the river, the
water ceased flowing and the people crossed over on dry ground, just as
their ancesters had when they escaped the Egyptians. When they all finished
passing over the Jordan, the leader of Israel, Joshua, had a simple monument
built to commemorate the wondrous event. This served to remind the people that
their progress -- indeed, their very existence -- was in the hands of the living
God. The Passover feast which the Lord instituted served a similar purpose; it
was to remind the people that it was God and not they themselves who brought
about their liberation from slavery in Egypt.
The call to remember resounds throughout
Scripture. Remember that God called your father Abraham in his old age and
promised him many children. Remember that you were in bondage in a foreign land
and were freed by divine power. Remember that God brought Israel to greatness,
though she was weak. Remember the commands of the Lord. The Psalmist summed up
the message well when he wrote: "Remember the
wonderful works that God has done God's great deed and the judgments the Lord
utter, O offspring of Abraham God's servant." (Psalms 105:5)
When the Israelites forgot the past
they fell into thanklessness and unbelief. It is unlikely that we will do any
better. In the secular world today many believe that they can make our own way
without God. Under the blindness of pride it is altogether too easy to trust in
our own wisdom and power rather than relying upon the guidance and might of our
Lord and Savior. In our wrong-headed self-confidence we lose our way. It is,
therefore, crucial that we remember.
On Memorial Day it is proper to think of
the past and of those who have gone from this world. For Christians this is
not merely an exercise in looking behind and dwelling on what has been, for we
believe that more wondrous things are yet to come for those people of faith who
have already died. We live in light of the resurrection and we believe that
death will not be the end.
Some time ago I read a fascinating story
about Clarence Jordan. In 1969, Clarence Jordan, the author of the "Cotton
Patch Gospel", died of a heart attack. Jordan was the founder of Koinonia
Farms, an inter-racial community and innovative ministry in rural Georgia. Upon
his death Jordan was buried in a plain cedar box on a hillside on his farm.
Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, officiated at the funeral.
Just after the casket was lowered into the ground and the grave was filled, an
unexpected thing happened. Fuller's two-year-old daughter stepped up to the
grave and began to sing the only song the little girl knew.
"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to
you, Happy birthday, dear Clarence,
Happy birthday to you."
How strange and yet how truly appropriate to
have this little song sung at a funeral, for when a Christian dies, it is a
birthday of a sorts because death is not an ending but a new beginning. For
this reason, when we think of our dead, let us do so with a hopeful memory for
an amazing future still awaits them, and the rest of us as well.
In Christ,
Brown
