August 6, 2023 Sermon - "Remember"

Refresh…

           Today, we begin a brand new sermon series called “Refresh.” You may have noticed and wondered about the refresh symbol posted around our buildings, like the one you see on your computer screen’s toolbar when you do internet searches. Sometimes, when we’re surfing the web, our internet browsers need to be “refreshed” to update the latest information. 

·     If you want to see the latest, most up-to-the-minute game scores, you might refresh.

·     If you’re expecting an important email, and need it quickly, you might refresh.

·     If you’re watching the stock market, you might need to refresh to see the latest numbers.

·     If you want to see the most recent social media posts, you might need to refresh.

·     If you’re following the latest political scandal, you might need to refresh.

But, the Internet is only one way we might need to refresh. We all get stuck in routines, trapped in ruts, going through the motions, living on autopilot, distracted from our priorities, believing misinformation. Sometimes we need to “refresh” the way we live our lives, so that we can live them more fully, more truthfully.

This is certainly true in our spiritual lives. Sometimes our spiritual lives get stale. Sometimes, we get out of the habit of prayer, reading our Bibles, giving, serving, attending worship. Sometimes, we get distracted. Sometimes, we get trapped in patterns of sin. Sometimes, God seems very far away – when, maybe, in reality, we’re the ones who are far away?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had “refresh” icons for whatever needs refreshing in our lives!?! Just push a button, wait a moment, and everything is up-to-date! Unfortunately, for most things in need of refreshing, more effort is required. Thankfully, when it comes to spiritual refreshing, God is available to assist.

Remember…

           Each of the next seven “Refresh” sermon titles are words beginning with the prefix “re,” as does the word “Refresh.” The prefix “re” means to “return,” or “repeat,” or “again.” So, the word “refresh” means to return to being fresh, again. Other “re” words in this series will include return, refract, reconcile, relax, resist and refrain. Today’s word is “remember.”

           To “remember” is to recall an old memory into our present conscious thought. We may not have thought about some memory for a long time, or may have totally forgotten it – like everything I learned in chemistry or physics, now totally gone! But, then, something reminds us, triggering an old memory and bringing it to present awareness in our minds.

           The Bible tells us to remember, countless times…

·     Before the Scriptures were written, the stories were oral traditions, likely remembered and told around camp fires, over meals, or on journeys.

·     Since the Exodus, Jews have observed the Passover, and other religious festivals, to remember God’s might acts of deliverance and redemption in Jewish history.

·     Over and over, we’re told to remember the covenants God made with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Joshua, Moses, and us.

·     We’re commanded to remember God’s laws and precepts.

·     Parents are commanded to remember and tell stories about God to the next generation.

·     In times of trouble, we’re told to remember God’s power, mercy and faithfulness.

·     In confession and repentance, we remember our failings AND God’s love and grace.

But, when the Bible calls us to remember, it’s demanding more from us than merely recalling old information. Biblical remembering is bringing to our present conscience an awareness of WHO we are, WHOSE we are, and HOW we’re called to live as God’s people. Biblical remembering is recalling to present awareness my identity in Christ, the reality of my human frailty and sinfulness and God’s grace, and the Christian character I am called to live by.

           This of course is in contrast to the countless messages we receive from the world about who has worth and who doesn’t, and the constant temptation to live by worldly values and priorities, rather than godly ones. Without remembering, we lose ourselves, forgetting that God made us for lives of purpose and meaning, that we are life-long recipients of God’s amazing grace, that God is always with us, that we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, that we were made for eternity, and that life is essentially first and foremost spiritual. In other words, we forget, thus becoming victims of spiritual amnesia.

           Pope Francis writes, “Without memory, we uproot ourselves from the soil that nourishes us and allow ourselves to be carried off like leaves in the wind. However, if we do remember, we connect with our strongest bonds, feel part of a living history.” 

           Do you remember the Disney movie, “The Lion King?” A young lion cub - and future King - Simba, runs away when his father, King Mufasa, is killed, believing he’s to blame for his father’s death. Simba’s the new, rightful king, but hiding away in guilt instead of accepting his role. Then, one night, the spirit of Mufasa appears to Simba, saying…

Mufasa: Simba, you have forgotten me. (in my best James Earl Jones voice!)

Simba: No! How could I?

Mufasa: You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba? You are more than what you have become.

Simba: How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.

Mufasa: Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember who you are.

Remember. We’re called to remember WHO we are: created from dust, filled with God’s breathe, loved, forgiven, redeemed. We’re called to remember WHOSE we are: children of God, made in the image and likeness of God, and future saints. We are called to remember HOW we are called to live: kingdom people, committed to justice, righteousness, and faithfulness.

Joan Chittister writes, “We have forgotten the findings of the mystics of every religion: that God is with us. Always… always God is seeking us, waiting for us to respond.” 

Do this…

           Today is a Communion Sunday. Many Communion Tables are inscribed with the word “remember”; “Do this in remembrance.” As we do each month, we will soon gather around this Communion Table, to remember the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood – broken, shed, given for us on the cross. We do this as an act of remembering.  We remember - Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it, saying “Take. Eat. Do this to remember me.” We remember - Jesus also took a cup of wine, blessed it and gave it saying, “Drink this and remember me.” 

           As we come forward, kneel at the altar rail, hear the words, reflect on the sacrifice and love, taste the bread and the juice, recall our sinfulness and God grace, we remember who we are, whose we are, and who we are called to be. We also remember who God is, revealed in the life death and resurrection of Jesus, and God’s loving faithfulness.

Look Around…

           I have often observed – in myself, and others – that receiving Holy Communion is often a very personal thing – a personal, spiritual moment between the recipient and God. It is often a time of personal confession and prayer. A time for closed eyes and bowed head. That’s all good! But, today, I want to encourage you to keep your eyes open and to look around. 

           A large part of our remembering is communal. In other words, we remember together. That’s one of the purposes of weekly worship - to come together as the Body of Christ to bring our collective attention to God, to reflect on stories from Scripture together, and strengthen our individual faith by collectively remembering the goodness of God. Of course, we could all sing hymns, or say prayers, or read Scripture on our own, by ourselves. But, there’s a meaningful remembering – on a higher kind of level - when we do it together! We need each other to rise to the heights of who God calls us to be and become.

           Marcus Borg writes, “We need to be part of a community of memory that affirms a vision of life very different from modern culture.”

This is especially true when we share Holy Communion together.

           Reflecting on the meaning of Communion in her personal conversion, Sarah Miles writes, “(The Lord’s Supper) showed us how to re-member what had been dis-membered by human attempts to separate and divide, judge and cast out, select or punish. At that Table, sharing food, we were brought into the ongoing work of making creation whole.”

           So, today, we come to the Table to remember. As we do, I invite you to look up. Look at the bread and juice given: symbols of Christ, for all. Look at those around you, sharing your faith in God, also needing a spiritual refresh, also needing the grace given, also loving God as you do, also remembering, just as you are remembering. Look up, and see Christ at work among us, in us, and through us.

           Look up, remember, and be refreshed.