Forgetting stuff is annoying, like where you left the car keys, or phone, or indeed where you left the car in the car park, or why you came into the room in the first place, or the name of someone you actually know really well, but it’s just slipped your mind. And it seems to get worse as you get older! There are so many ways to remember things, write on calendar, set an alarm, tie string around your finger, stick a post-it note.
Do you know Mem Fox’s story about Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, a small boy who’s not very old either. He lives next door to an old folks home. Wilfrid is full of questions and one day he hears his parents talking about Miss Nancy who’s lost her memory. Wilfrid Gordon sets about finding out what a memory is by asking people in the old folks home; a memory is something warm, something from long ago, something that makes you laugh or cry, and something as precious as gold. Then Wilfrid collects objects a warm egg, a shell, a medal, a puppet, and a football-to help Miss Nancy find her memory.
11th November each year is Remembrance Day, a time to remember all those who gave themselves for the cause of peace. And there are many ways we remember, a poppy, a minute of silence, a poem, the sound of a bugle, objects that connect us with the past, with our identity, with the story that has shaped who we are. But remembering isn’t just about reminiscing over the past, it’s a story that shapes us for the future.
The Hebrew word Zachar is what we translate as ‘remember’ in the Old Testament. The one who does most of the remembering in the Bible is God. Zachar is more than mental recollection, it is tied up with action. God actively recalls the covenant promises as he enacts his plans for salvation. And to help us remember, he gives us signs, objects of his grace-a rainbow, circumcision, tablets of stone, a manger, a cross, an empty tomb, water, wine and bread, community, ritual, song and prayer…all ways for us to remember, to call to mind who he is, who we are, our identity, our story and our future. This is what we want to gift each generation through a Lutheran education; to find their place, to make sense of these signs and symbols to know this story for themselves, and have their lives framed and empowered by it.
Pastor David Spike
Pastor for Ministry and Formation
david.spike@levnt.edu.au
