Dear friends,
November tends to be a month dedicated to remembering. At the beginning we have the celebrations of All Saints and All Souls when we remember the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ who have journeyed on before us. These may include our favourite famous saints, the lesser known lives of extraordinary witness, or it may, of course, include the remembering of our loved ones. During the second week of November we gather to bring to mind those who have lost their lives through war and conflict – usually through a remembrance service which once mainly focussed on those involved in the two World Wars but now includes remembering the many places and people who are experiencing the horror of war today.
In ‘remembering’ we are consciously bringing to mind… we are being mindful once again of someone or an event… and by this process of ‘re-membering’ we reconstitute and reconnect these memories, pictures and feelings. This is a good thing to do, a healthy thing to do, as long as there is a positive purpose to it rather than a wallowing in regret. Remembering may engender feelings of pathos but it can also include a sense of joy.
We are told many times in the Bible that God does not forget… God remembers. ‘And the Lord answered ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you’’.
(Is 49: 15)
If God does not forget us, then we too should not forget God and all God’s blessings: ‘Do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt’ (Deut 6: 12)…. or ‘Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are my servant; I formed you; you will not be forgotten by me” (Is 44: 21). Of course our weekly Episcopal liturgy is based around the act of re-membering Jesus’ actions on the last evening of His life. ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ Jesus said. It is in that remembering that we bring into the present Christ’s love and sacrifice for us.
All of us feel a little more loved when we ourselves are remembered. If a message comes to us from out of the blue wishing us well, we are moved by the kindness of the sender. If someone remembers our name when we have only recently met them, it makes a difference. Remembering strengthens connection and relationship, pulls us out of our own bubble and reminds us that we are part of a larger community. This strengthening also happens when we pray for others and in our intercessory prayers.
In His own prayers, Jesus asked that we may all be one, just as He and the Father are one. It is in the act of re-membering that this happens… as we are drawn back into union with God and reconnected with each other and all of creation.
with love, Liz
