Can We Remember What is Important?
Good Morning Friends,
Sharing a meal brings us closer. Celebrating in the Lord’s Supper brings us closer still, so that when we remember Jesus we will begin to act in unity for His purposes. Telling our story and writing it down linking it to Jesus helps. Yet there are some things about the Kingdom of God we are just not going to understand. There are some things we will forget. There are some things strange to us. So will Jesus remember us and, Can We Remember What is Important?
Scripture: Top of Form
Bottom of Form
23 ‘O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! 24 O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer* lives, and that at the last he* will stand upon the earth;*
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in* my flesh I shall see God,*
27whom I shall see on my side,* and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Job 19:23-27 (NRSV)
3Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the Lord brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten.
Exodus 13:3 (NRSV)
13Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.*
4Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ 6So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’ 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:1-8 (NRSV)
31’When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
Matthew 25:31-36 (NRSV)
Message: You know the scripture from Mathew 25 well. But there is something here I want you to remember and not miss. You see typically we think of feeding the hungry part first and indeed there are a lot of hungry people, but today’s focus is on the outreach to strangers, to the isolation and loneliness of people. Not just feeding a hungry person but getting to know them. Now before you get a little nervous about this let me say that visiting people in prison or greeting strangers may not be for everyone at all times. You need to be prepared to discern the Holy Spirit as well as know the environment and people with whom you are interacting. For most of us feeding hungry people… is fine, clothing naked people… is fine; but comforting a stranger, that’s inviting danger right? On the surface it is edgy and risky and may require a relationship you do not want. After all who wants to associate with tax collectors, prostitutes and convicted criminals and sinners? Oh yes, Jesus did didn’t He? And children and Samaritan women as well. So yes, even for the frozen chosen, it is part of the mystery of our faith to have outreach to the stranger. In order to be a strong community of faith we must not all look and act alike. We must have diversity. For that reason alone it is important to be prepared for the Holy Spirit to give cues for our action to reach out to someone we do not know. In remembering them we remember Jesus. In the pews on Sunday morning we have the Passing of the Peace. No that safe and controlled environment is not where this passage is meant to end, begin perhaps yes, but not end. We are to spend time having an honest conversation with a stranger all the time remembering Christ. It is a Holy activity to remember strangers…to tell and write stories that link their story and our story with His Story… with History… passing on knowledge from one generation and culture to another of our journey into the Holy and out of bondage, realizing all the while that someday we will, each one of us die. There is so much we have in common if we would just remember where we came from and where we are going. So we tell stories that comfort us and wean us from the concept that we are in control. We tell our stories of how we have learned that our redeemer lives. These are not trivial anecdotes or mindless twitter, but a remembrance of our process of salvation. We are to remember the when…. the where…. and the why of our salvation. We are to describe what our life was like before and after. Our friends and the truths we have learned are to be remembered and shared. We are to remember the roots of our faith, the great writings of the ages. We are to sing the old hymns as well as the new and especially we are to read the Bible. But in all this reminiscence, this sharing, there is nothing more important than to embrace that inspiration, that transformation of our life, from turmoil to transcendence in the experience of remembering our Lord and that joy of believing that someday we will be renewed with a new body, a new mind, a new home and a new beginning and that the experience today and into the eternal will be written in the great book of life and for us all to help us to remember. The time has come to remember the life that Jesus lived…remember the words He shared… remember the sufferings He endured, the death He died and the promise of His return for us. The time has come to join those who stand in the shadow of Christ to join together at the table, the one table that Jesus invites us to…the Lord’s Table. For it is here, in the face of divisions caused by deceit and betrayal… in a world of the church divided that Jesus reveals a way to bring us back together. It is at the table with strangers and sinners and saints that we come closer to heaven, it is at the table we become one. And for this experience we should be as eager as Jesus was to share in the Passover meal, eager to celebrate as a servant the opportunity to feed His sheep, to reach out to strangers in isolation remembering what is important…remembering Jesus.
Pray we take time to remember the Lord and other important things in life and write down the joyful experiences and challenges so we can share the detail of our journey of faith when moved by the Spirit. Pray we be strengthened and renewed in the process when Jesus remembers us. Pray we remember what is important. Pray as a community of faith that we are strengthened in our diversity, in the presence of Jesus. Pray we risk enough to reduce the barriers that isolate people from Christ’s love. Pray we remember the love and sacrifice of Jesus in communion. Pray we remember often the joy of Jesus in our life and His faithfulness especially to those in need.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 