Memory and Holy Week

I am convinced that we don’t think as much about memory as we should. My guess is that it has been a long time since any of us thought actively about what it means to remember something, or how or why we should purposefully preserve a specific memory. We take our memories for granted; or, at least we do until they fail us!
 
The reason why I am convinced that we don’t think enough about memory is because, in the Bible, God tells his people to preserve memories pretty regularly, and he frequently tells them to do or build something as a means of preserving the memory. Setting up groups of stones, meals with specific ingredients, liturgical recitations, weird clothing—the list of ways He commands his people to remember specific moments is fascinating!
 
Our concept of memory itself is pretty thin. For us, a memory is just something in the mind—it is purely mental. The biblical concept of memory is a lot thicker; it is not just in the mind, but instead is more like the past invading the present, or perhaps the people in the present going back to re-enter the past. That’s why memory is so regularly tied to God showing back up with his people, or the people going back to God. Memory changes things; it brings God and man back together. That is why the psalms are so full of people saying, “I remember when you saved us before!” They are demanding that God show back up, in the present. When God “remembered” his people at the beginning of Exodus, it wasn’t just a mental note! It meant that he was returning to deliver them from slavery. Memory means reengagement, it means presence, it means activity. Most of all, it means salvation brought into the present. When Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he was not talking about something that remained in the mind. He was talking about actually re-entering that moment when he offered his life to us to deliver us from slavery and bind us to God in a new covenant. Memory changes things, because in it, we return to God and he turns his face upon us.
 
All of this is why we take such care to remember the final week of Jesus’ life. We re-enact that most important week—each of the critical actions of Jesus at the time of his crucifixion and resurrection—so that we can re-enter them to encounter God. In actively remembering, we expect God to turn his face upon us and meet us with his grace. This is not just a mental activity, but involves liturgical actions and words, weird clothing, peculiar meals, candles lit at key moments—all things that might seem a bit odd unless we realize that we need specific ways to remember and re-enter God’s acts of salvation. In doing so, we expect him to meet us with his grace, and draw us onward into our journey into his own heart, our true homeland.
 
Join us for these acts of remembrance!
 
In Christ,
Steven+