- Memorial Day was created to help people remember a collective trauma in their past: the Civil War;
- In 1866, shortly after the war ended, the story is told that a group of women who had been part of the Confederacy went to the cemetery where their dead soldiers were buried and decorated the graves with fresh flowers.
- But after decorating the graves, they noticed the neglected graves of Union soldiers who were buried in a Union cemetery nearby,
- So they decided to decorate those graves too.
- In this way, they remembered the grief of the whole nation, and expressed it in their own way
- not just their own personal grief; or the grief of their side in the war.
- Those women engaged in honest remembering, that their grief was shared not only with those on the Confederate side, but with the whole nation.
- Decoration Day became a day of collective mourning and remembering that tried to draw a divided nation back together after the Civil War.
- Remembering has a lot of power; especially when we remember honestly!
- Americans have struggled a lot lately with how and what and whether to remember, and interpret history
- The bible talks a lot about remembering;
- The bible is full of poems, songs and prophecies all designed to help people recite and remember everything God had done for them in the past
- We are taught to remember the teachings of God: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
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4 “Israel, remember this! The LORD—and the LORD alone—is our God] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. 8 Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
- Later in Deuteronomy 8, we are taught that remembering everything God has done for us keeps us humble:
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17 So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength. 18 Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to become rich.
- We remember God’s blessings in order to find gratitude: Psalm 77.11-13
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I will call to mind the deeds of the LORD;I will remember your wonders of old.12 I will meditate on all your workand muse on your mighty deeds.13 Your way, O God, is holy.What god is so great as our God?
- The bible also reminds us that sometimes it’s better to forget! Isaiah 43:18-19
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Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
- Do you like to remember things from the past?
- Or move on quickly to the future and put the past aside?
- Do you ever actively remember the past to be challenged (say, study history?)
- What are some good reasons to remember the past?
- When is it better to forget or put aside the past?
- Let’s take a Memory Walk: walk around the church building and see what memories come up; we will finish up at the Memorial Garden with prayer of gratitude for those who have died.
- In the memory garden where loved ones are buried: Who do you remember?
- Why do you think God gave humans the power to remember?
John 14:25-26:
“I have told you this while I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.
These words tell us the Holy Spirit will help us remember. Remembering must be important! When the Spirit sends us memories and wisdom, we should pay attention!
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