Remembering

Then Jesus stands and speaks as a friend of the court, and says that he could come up with a list of wonderful things that Jane has said and done, but he is not going to bother doing it.

Instead he is going to say but three words: “You are forgiven.”

And the Father agrees, and the Spirit breathes those words into our hearts burdened with the weight of time and anguish.

“You are forgiven, for Jesus sake, at his request, because he numbers each one whom he calls in the kingdom of God.”

As Paul says it in today's lesson: Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Christ Jesus...intercedes for us.

And just a few paragraphs earlier, Paul also pointed out that

...we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words...for the saints according to the will of God.

What wonderful news this is!

Someone to speak when we dare not or cannot.

Someone with a good word, a lasting and enduring word for us and on our behalf;

the Gospel for Jane and for us.

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, Paul exclaims.

Nothing that will break the communication we share with him because of his gift of life and faith to us.

Looking at it from God's side, the most wonderful sermon, the most profound observation, the tenderest expression of love and affection are but baby-talk.

We know well how children do things:

--often making very poor judgments

--insisting on doing things for which they are not yet ready,

--speaking inaccurately and inappropriately.

Even as adults, we haven't gotten much farther along.

There comes the time when God needs to get the message to us to stop squirming and listen:
Be still and know that I am God!

as the Psalmist reminds us.

Be quiet, and listen!

We have One to speak to us,

and for us (on our behalf)!

What wonderful news,

that God will get through to us, even sometimes when we think it cannot.

That was especially important to remember last week when Jane was slipping away from us, even though the family members kept constant vigil with her.

Even in her increasing silence, the Spirit has promised to be with her and uphold her.

I remember vividly the first time that happened in my presence.

It was in my first months of service in the parish I was serving in Harrisburg.

I visited a dear elderly lady in a nursing home.

She sat in a wheelchair and had that vacant stare.

The conversation was awkward on my part and nonexistent on hers.

Very soon I decided to offer her Holy Communion, but without much expectation.

I spoke both my part and her part of the service, and she sat impassively until we came to the Great Thanksgiving.

When I said “The body of Christ, given for you.” this silent woman repeated “for you, for you.”

And she got most of the words of the Lord's Prayer which followed immediately, before lapsing into silence again.

In her prison of silence, somehow the Word made a connection and was able to come to expression, even if haltingly.

I learned not to underestimate the power of God's Word to break through barriers one might think are impassable.

Lord, speak to us, speak with us and through us; do not leave us alone, do not abandon us.

The Good News of the day is that although our memories falter, God's does not.

The Father can say, “Yes, I remember making a promise to Jane many years back when she was baptized, for Jesus' sake, who invited her, through the Spirit who breathed her to life.

I distinctly remember that, and will not forget it,” the Father insists.

She is wearing the invitation to the great banquet, engraved as the sign of the cross upon her.

She is welcomed in.

She has place at the table of the Great Banquet, on the opposite side from the rest of this assembly, but it is the same table which we approach this day in Holy Communion.

The Lord will give his Holy Spirit, the Gospel reminds us today.

And so we give thanks for the gift of memory in several different ways:

First of all for the memories we share of Jane, her work, and activities:

--her loving connections with spouse, children and grandchildren,

--the number of lives she touched in her many years of school-teaching,

--her enjoyment of travel and games with friends and relatives,

--her staunch work and support of the Good News through St. Mark's Church,

--and all the rest that this assembly remembers today and for which it gives thanks to God.

And now we lay alongside that another kind of remembering.

We're also remembering the future,

not only naming our connections with Jane and with the Lord Jesus from the past, but also anticipating what God will yet do with Jane and with us.

We can joyfully do this kind of remembering of the future, because of yet a third kind remembering, the very most important remembering of all;

--that God remembers Jane, and us.

With humility and yet with confidence, we echo the words of the thief on the cross:

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingly power.

And Jesus' reply: Today, you will be with me in Paradise.

With those three kinds of remembering, and especially with that promise from the Lord Jesus, we go from this gathering, and live! Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.