Remember

We do want to remember those things, and hold onto them, because they help to define what sort of person Doris was, and perhaps model some of the ways we want to develop as persons ourselves.

But the reality of our human weakness is that eventually even the best-intentioned memories fade.

What do you remember about your great-grandparents?

For mine I have only a stiff, formal photograph and a few lines in an obituary about a tragic early death.

Everything else has faded from memories.; that's the way things are.

But we are here together now not just to lament the things that are already fading away about Doris, but to celebrate the things that remain, things that are even more important than our private memories.

We take the cue from the Gospel reading today:

the one thief on the cross crying out to Jesus, “Remember me....”

and the Lord's reply, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The Lord is indicating that he will not only remember us as a mental exercise, but also as an action which changes everything about our life and death and new life in the resurrection.

Oh, what a blessing this kind of remembering is!

We forget, we fall apart, our memories fade; but Jesus remembers, and acts, and lives, and we live in him!

That is what he promised in Holy Baptism, to hold onto Doris and us, to remember us forever.

And we can build a life on that basis, knowing that is true.

But things happen, tragedies intervene, and we can become discouraged because of them.

In our despondency we may think that since we have such a hard time holding onto Jesus' promise and remembering the goodness of the Lord, then why would we expect that the Lord would bother with us?

At this point Paul's word to the Romans is helpful.

When we run out of energy and memory, we can know that the Holy Spirit will speak for us, with “sighs too deep for words”, Paul says.

When we are so clouded with grief or pain or sorrow or anger that we cannot focus on the Good News of Jesus and pray anymore to the Father with thanksgiving, that is the very time when the Spirit can pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and carry them to the throne of God.

“Hear us, O Lord,” and he does, for Jesus' sake.

Since we know these things, we can share Paul's confidence when he tells Timothy that he is sure that there is a crown reserved for him now that he is finishing the race, that he is keeping the faith, that he has been fighting the good fight.

He is not going to dwell on the things that went wrong – his argument with and separation from Silas, his physical infirmity whatever it was, and his complicity in the stoning of Stephen, for starters.

Rather, he will focus on what the Lord has already done, and what the Lord promises.

Then he can face whatever will come his way in the times to come.

And so can we.

So we will remember Doris as best we can, the things she was able to do, the gifts that she passed on to us, and the things that we can do with those gifts and memories.

But even more, we will confidently rejoice that the Lord remembers us.

We pray with the Psalmist:

Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O Lord.

And he does. 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.