>remember, remember…

>Why are we human beings obsessed with calendars? More specifically, why are we so keen on remembering dates? (Or trying to remember them if we are blokes) We celebrate our birthdays on the same day of the year each year. Married people celebrate the anniversary of the day they were married. In the UK we event remember the date when a plot to kill the King was foiled (Nov 5th). We Christians celebrate Christmas on 25th December (unless we are Orthodox) and Easter on a day that moves with the moon’s cycle.


At the same time we also remember events that happened on a particular day in history. Today we are reminded in the UK that it was five years ago that suicide bombers attacked Underground trains and a bus. We remember anniversaries of the ends of wars, the death of significant individuals and major events: “where were you when…?”


Is it that God has hard-wired us to consider the passage of time? We cannot escape the fact that we are all on our own individual timelines that began at the moment we arrived kicking and screaming into this world and will run until the moment when we take our last breath. Those timelines are interconnected. They cross over each other. They intersect. They run in parallel with others. At times two timelines become one.


These timelines run in just one direction. We cannot go back. Perhaps this is why we remember and celebrate significant events from the past. It is a connection with our heritage, our history, with the different events and people whose timelines have intersected with ours.


The word ‘remember’ appears 166 times in the Bible. Sometimes it is used to remind God’s people of what he has done for them and to draw them back to him. Sometimes it is used to ‘remind’ God of his promises and to reclaim them. For me the most poignant use is when Jesus broke bread and shared wine with his friends before his death and told them to do the same to remember him. 


It is impossible to imagine that anyone who had been with Jesus would forget him. This was a moment that they would repeat (like celebrating a birthday or anniversary) that would remind them of how his timeline (and that’s an incredible concept – eternal God has a timeline!) intersected with theirs and how his timeline merged with theirs. And yours?


Memory joke
Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, “Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?”

“Outstanding, ” Fred replied. “They taught us all the latest psychological techniques, visualization, and association. It made a huge difference for me.”

“That’s great! I could use some of that. What was the name of the clinic?”

Fred went blank and he thought and thought, but couldn’t remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, “What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?”

“You mean a rose?”

“Yes, that’s it!” He turned to his wife . . . “Rose, what was the name of that clinic?”