The EMBRACE in RemEMBRAnCE 

Whether ‘jogging’ your memory or taking a more leisurely walk down Memory Lane, remembrance would seem to be a very healthy exercise in avoiding unnecessary repetition, for those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

There is a very healthy repetition the Bible does advocate though in presenting the past as a gift of hope for the future. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of extraordinary power in manifesting the supreme efficacy of the work and person of Christ to our ever-grateful consciences, inviting His presence presently for what He has accomplished forever.

Luke 22v15-16 fills a vast chasm of time and space in stretching from an eternal Divine desire for intimacy with humanity to an everlasting fellowship fulfilled. No wonder Christ Jesus offered Himself up through the eternal Spirit as both author and finisher of our faith in enduring the Cross for the joy set before Him of welcoming many sons to glory. If that were the case for our Lord, slain in God’s heart from the foundation of the world, then how much more our need to remain rooted in past conviction for enduring present trials to fully embrace our future hope.

‘Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”’

For all the symbolism of spelling out the horrific work of redemption He was about to accomplish, verse 19 is immensely encouraging in not merely placing the context of our remembrance in ‘what’ Jesus has done but ‘Who’ He Is…

‘And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”’

Time and time again when Scripture calls us to remember the wondrous works of God it is to stir our imaginations to embrace His proven character more trustingly, as in 1 Chronicles 16v8-10:

‘Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!’

And chapter 29v18 of the same book again desires an enduring appreciation of the worthiness of God as the congregation freely offered for the preparation of His temple:

‘O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee:’

Whether remembering God’s works that have proven His faithfulness or His words which are ever true, it is the God of covenants we trust Who swears by Himself as there is no greater encouragement than Jesus in whom all worthwhile promises are both yes and amen.

It is around this time of year we remember not only the treachery of a guy who thought it a blast to undermine our fledgling democracy but also the sacrifice of many who fought against an evil that needed resisting in WW2.

We also remember alongside more just wars the senseless jingoism of WW1 summed up by Wilfred Owen’s Parable of the Old Man and the Young:

‘Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, and builded parapets and trenches there, And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son. When lo! an angel called him out of heaven, Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, Neither do anything to him. Behold, A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns; Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. But the old man would not so, but slew his son, And half the seed of Europe, one by one.’

Some think war a human invention but the first one was waged in Heaven due to an angel’s misplaced pride, and though we’ve had the lion’s share of them since they all come from disjointed desire, as per James 4v1-3:

‘What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.’

We say on November 5th that we ‘see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot’ and yet the greatest treason of all which truly ought be brought to mind is that of humanity against God.

We say of the ‘fallen’ in battle:

‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.’

And yet we are fools if we do not pay more earnest heed to our Lord who took the fall for all of us, for even those once fallen can fall again as in Revelations 2v5…

‘Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.’

And in the preceding verse we find the fall is not so much from grace as first love:

‘Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.’

Firstly let us thirst to sing again unto our God as in the songs of our youth, for the greatest remembrance of all brings not sullen silence but passionate praise!

Maybe your song may be a lament for now as in Jeremiah’s from chapter 3v17, but unfailing Love pierces the silence of heavy sadness with fresh hope of compassion as the New Living Translation reads:

‘Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendour is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words, I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:

Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.’