It
was a Saturday early last month. It occurred to me that it was my grandmother’s
birthday. Although her memorial service
was held the day before my ordination (29 years ago), I have always recalled
her birthday. I called my brother and I
asked him if he knew what day it was.
After a couple of incorrect guesses, I told him the significance of the
day. “Grandma was born 110 years ago
today.” “I had forgotten,” he said.
It
was not surprising that he didn’t remember.
It seems that every family has one member that knows the family history
and has memorized all of the important dates.
My brother is not the keeper of dates in our family.
Grandma’s
birthday did make me stop and think a bit.
In truth, it made me think a lot.
Could it be that I was the only one who had remembered her
birthday? Who else would know? There are precious few people who would
remember her at all. Of course, my
brother and I still have lots of stories to make us laugh and many loving
memories.
We
were especially close to Grandma because she lived with us throughout our
childhood until we were grown and gone from home. She was just about the only babysitter we
ever had. Even so, we cannot tell you many
stories of her life in “the old country.”
We cannot tell you of her life with our grandfather. We just don’t know those stories.
.jpg)
The
number of stories diminishes with each succeeding generation. I shared this picture with my son and he recognized it as a picture of me taken on my baptismal day, but he didn’t know which of my
grandmothers was holding me. Part of
this story may already be lost.
Last
Sunday in worship, I preached on the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, which is
found in Acts. Following the service, a visitor
complimented me on my sermon and said, “I’ve never heard that story before.” Fortunately, we as a Christian family have a
written history, so we are not in danger of losing the stories, no matter how
many generations pass. But, the stories
of our own lives of faith are not recorded.
We need to tell those stories ourselves.
As
a Christian community, we have family stories to tell. We tell them so that our children and our
children’s children will know the love of God and how that love compels us to
live.
We
are called to remember each time we are invited to the Lord’s table. “Do this for the remembrance of me.” Lord, let us never forget.
Comments? Go to the blog website or comment on
Facebook. --JC
Very important stuff you have written there, Jeff. Well said. Thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteKurt Hansen, Part time Synod staff, NW Conf.
Jane McChesney on Facebook: In Have A Little Faith, the Rabbi tells Mitch that the second death is even more painful, it is the death when people have forgotten you (which also includes your life story). Each person's story is a part of God's story and how we are fou...nd as beloved children of God and remembered for our times at the well, the touch that healed us, the walks on the Road when we encountered the Risen Christ, the uplifted hands to receive bread and lips read to receive the wine as we remember and eat. Thanks for helping us to remember!
ReplyDeleteJudy Koeser Lindstrom on Facebook: Thanks for your insights on why we should continue to read the Scriptures -- it helps me to put that in perspective when telling others why I continue to reread the many passages I've known... also thanks for the reminder to tell my children and grandchildren about their family history. There are so many things I wish I had talked to my grandparents and parents about!!
ReplyDelete