"Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the mem’ry find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest name,
O Savior of mankind!
O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
All those who find Thee find a bliss
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Nor can the mem’ry find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest name,
O Savior of mankind!
O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
All those who find Thee find a bliss
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
"Praise the Lord, for He is the Savior of mankind. He is kind to those who fail and fall. He is good and very good and gracious beyond belief to those who seek Him. The Good news is that He is seeking us before we seek Him. He blesses us with beautiful days and blessed moments. We spent a few days in Washington, DC with Sunita and her children. Andy, along with some of his friends and neighbors and members of the church where Sunita and Andy worship went on a short term mission trip to Bolivia, South America. Alice and I had a blast with of our grandchildren in Washington, DC. The weather was sunny and warm. We were able to walk, play, read, and sing. We were also able to visit and pray with some of the friends and neighbors of Sunita. We drove back to New York this past Saturday. The weather was sunny and stunning. We saw horses grazing on horse farms in Maryland. We saw Geese flying, circling around. The temperatures has now reached into mid-sixties in Washington, DC. Most of the time that we were there it topped out in the forties. We spoke to Laureen who lives in in sunny South Carolina. She was blessed with a great week of ministry studies and worship. She shared that the temperature reached in the high sixties. Spring is not far away. The Lord blessed us in His house yesterday. It was celebrative and worshipful.
We are driving to Boston today for my doctor's visit this week. Thank you for praying. The best part of going to Boston is to spend time with our grandchildren there. Our youngest grandchild in Boston celebrated her seventh birthday this month. She went rock climbing on her birthday. She has asked us to take her to an Indian Restaurant to further celebrate her birthday. We are excited. The party is on.
Praise the Lord for the gift of memory. It is written" I thank my God at every remembrance of you".
If we have no memory, we are adrift because memory anchors us to the past, interprets the present, and charts a course for the future.
Some time ago I read about Jimmie, who had the rare neurological disorder called Korsakoff syndrome, affecting the memory. His story is told in the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" . by Dr. Oliver Sacks, who met him in 1975. Jimmie walked into the doctor's office with a cheery "Hiya, Doc! Nice morning! Do I take this chair here?" He was cooperative and answered all the questions as Dr. Sacks checked his memory. He remembered his childhood home, friends, school, and the Navy, which he had joined in 1943. He was stationed on a sub and could still remember Morse code. He recalled vividly his service in the Navy through the end of the war in 1945, but that's where the memories stopped. Completely stopped.
Jimmie couldn't remember anything from 1945 to the present (1975)—30 years. He thought that Truman was president, the periodic table stopped with uranium, and no one had been to the moon. He had no recollection of anything that happened more than a few minutes in the past. He thought he was 19 years old, not his actual age of 49 years. Dr. Sacks showed him a mirror, and Jimmie gazed at the middle-aged man with bushy gray hair. He was shocked! In Dr. Sacks' words: "He suddenly turned ashen and gripped the sides of the chair. 'What's going on? What's happened to me? Is this a nightmare? Am I crazy?'"
Sacks calmed him by taking him to a window to watch a ballgame in a park below, and he removed the bewitching mirror. Sacks left him alone for two minutes and then returned. Jimmie was still at the window gazing at the kids in the park. He wheeled around. "Hiya, Doc! Nice morning. You want to talk to me—do I take this chair here?"
"Haven't we met before, Mr. G.?"
"No, I can't say we have."
Over the next nine years, as a patient, Jimmie and Dr. Sacks were introduced and reintroduced. He stayed in the convalescent home where Sacks worked but never learned his way around the halls. He was good at rapid games of checkers and tic-tac-toe, but got lost at chess because the moves were too slow. Sacks said, "I had never encountered, even imagined, such a power of amnesia, the possibility of a pit into which everything, every experience, every event would fathomlessly drop." The staff at the home spoke of him as a "lost soul."
Without memory, we are lost souls. In the Bible, memory includes the mind, but it also includes emotion and the will. Consider the exhortations about the Sabbath in Exodus 20:8: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." I love the words from one of the beloved hymns, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." It is written," Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them"
The Bible warns us, "Be careful; do not forget." In contrast to our drifting and forgetting, God remembers us. His eye is on us, his face is toward his, his ear inclines to us, and his hand is on us. It is written that our Lord "puts our tears into his bottle." He remembers. For this reason we sing, "He knows my name; he knows my every thought, he sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call". He has remembered us through Jesus, therefore we walk in hope and joy. Christians walk with a kind of buoyancy, an optimism grounded in the character and promise of God.
Our bodies decay, but we remember that God has remembered us in Jesus Christ—he was raised and we shall rise. We walk in hope. When Satan haunts us with past sins and failures, we remember that God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ. We are secure in Christ, so we walk in hope and joy. Of course, this doesn't mean that we have no trials. This doesn't mean that tears never roll down our cheeks. It means that if God is for us, who can be against us? It means that nothing can separate us from the love of God. It means that he will never leave us or forsake us. In Christ, we find strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
C. S. Lewis wrote in "Mere Christianity", One must train the habit of Faith [by making] sure that … some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus instituted a covenant. In some ways, it was a continuation of the old covenant, but in some ways it was new. The new covenant would no longer require the sacrifice of a lamb. Jesus became the Lamb of God. He started that covenant with a meal. It was his last supper, and we continue the same meal to this day. He told us that as often as we eat and drink to remember him. When the bread is broken, remember that his body was broken so we could be made whole. When the wine is poured out, remember that his blood was poured out for the remission of our sins.
This returns us to Jimmie, who spent his days wandering the halls of Dr. Sacks's clinic, drifting. The staff spoke of him as a "lost soul." One day the doctor happened to observe Jimmie in chapel, receiving Holy Communion. He was, for a time, transformed. In the words of Dr. Sacks:
Fully, intensely, quietly, in the quietude of absolute concentration and attention, he entered and partook of the Holy Communion. He was wholly held … There was no Korsakoff's then … for he was no longer at the mercy of … meaningless sequences and memory traces—but was absorbed in an act of his whole being.
This is biblical memory. It connects us to the past, shows us where we are in the present, and charts a course for the future.
In Christ,
Brown
https://youtu.be/hXsiWoyjw60
We are driving to Boston today for my doctor's visit this week. Thank you for praying. The best part of going to Boston is to spend time with our grandchildren there. Our youngest grandchild in Boston celebrated her seventh birthday this month. She went rock climbing on her birthday. She has asked us to take her to an Indian Restaurant to further celebrate her birthday. We are excited. The party is on.
Praise the Lord for the gift of memory. It is written" I thank my God at every remembrance of you".
If we have no memory, we are adrift because memory anchors us to the past, interprets the present, and charts a course for the future.
Some time ago I read about Jimmie, who had the rare neurological disorder called Korsakoff syndrome, affecting the memory. His story is told in the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" . by Dr. Oliver Sacks, who met him in 1975. Jimmie walked into the doctor's office with a cheery "Hiya, Doc! Nice morning! Do I take this chair here?" He was cooperative and answered all the questions as Dr. Sacks checked his memory. He remembered his childhood home, friends, school, and the Navy, which he had joined in 1943. He was stationed on a sub and could still remember Morse code. He recalled vividly his service in the Navy through the end of the war in 1945, but that's where the memories stopped. Completely stopped.
Jimmie couldn't remember anything from 1945 to the present (1975)—30 years. He thought that Truman was president, the periodic table stopped with uranium, and no one had been to the moon. He had no recollection of anything that happened more than a few minutes in the past. He thought he was 19 years old, not his actual age of 49 years. Dr. Sacks showed him a mirror, and Jimmie gazed at the middle-aged man with bushy gray hair. He was shocked! In Dr. Sacks' words: "He suddenly turned ashen and gripped the sides of the chair. 'What's going on? What's happened to me? Is this a nightmare? Am I crazy?'"
Sacks calmed him by taking him to a window to watch a ballgame in a park below, and he removed the bewitching mirror. Sacks left him alone for two minutes and then returned. Jimmie was still at the window gazing at the kids in the park. He wheeled around. "Hiya, Doc! Nice morning. You want to talk to me—do I take this chair here?"
"Haven't we met before, Mr. G.?"
"No, I can't say we have."
Over the next nine years, as a patient, Jimmie and Dr. Sacks were introduced and reintroduced. He stayed in the convalescent home where Sacks worked but never learned his way around the halls. He was good at rapid games of checkers and tic-tac-toe, but got lost at chess because the moves were too slow. Sacks said, "I had never encountered, even imagined, such a power of amnesia, the possibility of a pit into which everything, every experience, every event would fathomlessly drop." The staff at the home spoke of him as a "lost soul."
Without memory, we are lost souls. In the Bible, memory includes the mind, but it also includes emotion and the will. Consider the exhortations about the Sabbath in Exodus 20:8: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." I love the words from one of the beloved hymns, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." It is written," Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them"
The Bible warns us, "Be careful; do not forget." In contrast to our drifting and forgetting, God remembers us. His eye is on us, his face is toward his, his ear inclines to us, and his hand is on us. It is written that our Lord "puts our tears into his bottle." He remembers. For this reason we sing, "He knows my name; he knows my every thought, he sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call". He has remembered us through Jesus, therefore we walk in hope and joy. Christians walk with a kind of buoyancy, an optimism grounded in the character and promise of God.
Our bodies decay, but we remember that God has remembered us in Jesus Christ—he was raised and we shall rise. We walk in hope. When Satan haunts us with past sins and failures, we remember that God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ. We are secure in Christ, so we walk in hope and joy. Of course, this doesn't mean that we have no trials. This doesn't mean that tears never roll down our cheeks. It means that if God is for us, who can be against us? It means that nothing can separate us from the love of God. It means that he will never leave us or forsake us. In Christ, we find strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
C. S. Lewis wrote in "Mere Christianity", One must train the habit of Faith [by making] sure that … some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus instituted a covenant. In some ways, it was a continuation of the old covenant, but in some ways it was new. The new covenant would no longer require the sacrifice of a lamb. Jesus became the Lamb of God. He started that covenant with a meal. It was his last supper, and we continue the same meal to this day. He told us that as often as we eat and drink to remember him. When the bread is broken, remember that his body was broken so we could be made whole. When the wine is poured out, remember that his blood was poured out for the remission of our sins.
This returns us to Jimmie, who spent his days wandering the halls of Dr. Sacks's clinic, drifting. The staff spoke of him as a "lost soul." One day the doctor happened to observe Jimmie in chapel, receiving Holy Communion. He was, for a time, transformed. In the words of Dr. Sacks:
Fully, intensely, quietly, in the quietude of absolute concentration and attention, he entered and partook of the Holy Communion. He was wholly held … There was no Korsakoff's then … for he was no longer at the mercy of … meaningless sequences and memory traces—but was absorbed in an act of his whole being.
This is biblical memory. It connects us to the past, shows us where we are in the present, and charts a course for the future.
In Christ,
Brown
https://youtu.be/hXsiWoyjw60
