Remember

Remembrance, Hillsong Worship

In honor of this closing season of Lent, and as we look to Resurrection Sunday, I pause again to remember. We honor our memory when we put together a baby book for our new child, or when we compile pictures from our vacation, or when we ask an octogenarian to tell us a story of their youth. 

Recently, we invited my “first-cousin-once-removed” to join us for an evening meal. On our last visit to their home, we patiently listened to his wife as she would repeatedly assert that her siblings had not visited in a long time, or she would cycle back around to why the bubble lights on the Christmas tree weren’t working. Our son was able to diagnose the light fail, but none can remedy the effects of Alzheimer’s. On this particular evening, as there were topics of sensitivity that we wished to avoid for her sake, I started asking Joanne about some of her childhood memories. I captured a portion of her thorough response as her childhood memory came flooding back.

The tourists on Lake Winnipesaukee on Alton Bay would ride on the boat. The boat would come by a couple times a day, and the boat would sound a bell. The kids knew what time the boats would come, and the kids from the campground would run down and wave to the tourists, beckon them to toss some change into the lake. Then the tourists would watch us dive for it, pop up and chuck the money in our cheek. We had to go down 40 feet to the bottom to dive for those quarters.

She retold her experiences with detail and delight!

There is power in remembrance.

There is healing in remembrance.

Perhaps that is why we are commanded to remember:

…Remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you… Deut.8:2

Remember the former things of old; for I am God… Isaiah 46:9

I will remember the deeds of the Lord… Psalm 77:11

When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 1 Cor. 11:24

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.” Psalm 143:5

I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law. Psalm 119:55

The memory of the righteous is a blessing…Proverbs 10:7

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to One another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. Malachi 3:16

Joshua said to them, “…take up each of you a stone…that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ Then you shall tell them…So these stones shall be to the people…a memorial forever.” Joshua 4:5-7.

Remember.  To bring to one’s mind an awareness, from re- (expressing intensive force) + Latin memor ‘mindful’ (Oxford Languages). Re is a prefix with the meaning again, back, or it indicates repetition (ecenglish.com). 

When I find myself in a fragmented or frustrated place, I can remember that He holds me together. He pulls together my pieces of my brokenness and calls me to be still, in order to let His light shine through. My brokenness even serves a purpose to bring glory to him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment (Col. 1:17, MSG). 

When I feel like I’m falling apart, He can pull me together. He can re- member and re-frame and re-set my brokeness, even in that very moment.  Your body crucified to make me whole again. Re-membered in Christ. I do not need to sit in my failures. This is one place where we are exhorted to forget:

One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, (Phil. 3:13-15).

And so, we look to the victory He accomplished and also remember that greater is He that is in Me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4), and that “there is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Amen!

He is so, so good, folks! Let’s celebrate His goodness as we remember what He accomplished for us!

I take the bread of life
Broken for all my sin
Your body crucified
To make me whole again

I’ll live my life in remembrance