Memory is a funny thing. When it works we take it for granted and when it fails us we find out just how important it really is.

Remembrance is an important exercise. It is the very last command of Jesus to his disciples - “and remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

Throughout the Old Testament the Hebrew people are reminded over and over again, to “remember and do not forget,” “remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles,” “remember the words of the prophets and remember the mighty acts of God,” “remember the covenant and do not forget, fit it in your mind, take it to heart, meditate on it in the watches of the night,” “Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced – look to the Lord and His strength; remember and do not forget.”

When we fail to remember, we tend to lose touch with the past, and we run the risk of becoming disconnected, repeating mistakes that could be avoided, or missing the reality that all of history comes from and streams toward God.

So, in order to hold it all in memory, in order that the work of God throughout human history might not be lost, in order that you and I would be able to connect with and become members of the household of God, the people of God – by the inspiration of God – memorialized the oral stories of their faith in what we now call the Bible.  (Certainly, the Bible is more than a memory book, but it is a reliable witness of His Story.)

Today we are called to remember so that we might reconnect with, appreciate and never forget where we came from, how we got here, who we are. 

Remembering is an important exercise, even an important art – the art of recalling, understanding and claiming who we are.

As we look back over the fabric of our lives and take stock, the task of remembrance is first to uncover and then to seek to understand our own story. It has made us what we are, all of it – the moments we wince at, the battles lost, the disappointments as well as the celebrations and triumphs. First we call them to mind and then we ask God to show us His presence and His work in the midst of otherwise disconnected snapshots. God is the one who is able to weave them together into a story: His story, our history as individuals, as families, as a nation and as the people of God.

So, let’s take a moment to remember the work of God in the establishment of these United States.

• The first community building in Jamestown, Va., was a church. 
• The first act of the Puritans at Plymouth Rock was to kneel, praise God and dedicate the new colony to Him.
• A Baptist minister named Roger Williams established Rhode Island.
• Lord Baltimore held a worship service during which Maryland was established.
• Twelve of the original 13 colonies incorporated the entire Ten Commandments into their civil and criminal codes. And William Penn in writing the governing policies for Pennsylvania ensured that “all treasurers, judges and all elected officials professed faith in Christ” as a criteria for public service.
• President George Washington said, “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are indispensable supporters.”
• President John Adams stated, “The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal code as well as a moral and religious code. These are laws essential to the existence of men in society and most of which have been enacted by every Nation which ever professed any code of laws. Vain indeed would be the search among the writings of secular history to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis of morality as the Ten Commandments lay down." 
• The American Bible Society was started by an act of Congress and John Adams, our second president, served as its first leader.
• In 1782, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of a resolution recommending and approving the Bible for use in the schools.
• Patrick Henry, first governor of Virginia and a member of the Continental Congress, stated, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
• Our nation’s motto states that “In God we trust” and our Pledge of Allegiance acknowledges that we are “One nation under God.”

  It seems then, that in our failure to remember, we have lost touch with our foundation, disconnected from our calling, adrift from one another, and in great need of being re-membered.

   

  That’s right. As a nation, we need to be re-membered: restored in our connection to God and restored in our connectedness to one another. Re-membered as the body of Christ and re-membered as a nation whose God is the Lord.

   

  Consider what a surgeon does –  literally re-members the body back together. Rememberance can function as the sutures of the Great Physician as God carefully knits us back together, ligament by ligament, limb by limb, into the Body we are called to be. Through re-membering God can take what is broken and make it whole again. When we draw upon the bits and pieces of the past and allow God to show us the connections to the present – putting what is seemingly disconnected and broken into a context that provides perspective and meaning – then, memories yield hope.

   

  That is one of the great works of the Holy Spirit in our lives – to help us re-member – to help us put together the seemingly disconnected pieces of history, Scripture and our lives into a meaningful God-related life.

   

  Having said that, it is important to say that we are not a people who are called to live in the past. For although we honor their sacrifice, we do not worship the dead. Nor do we worship a dead God – we worship a God who rose from death to newness of life. Our God is not a God whose entire story is already told – we worship the living God, whose story is yet unfolding among us. A God who calls us to join with Him in doing a new thing.  A God whose final victory is assured and under whose banner all nations will one day gather to remember, and never forget.

   

  You see, although we are called to look back and remember, we are not called to stare. We are called to fix our eyes not on the past, but upon the Lord. For God does not want us to be nostalgic but filled with anticipation and hope in order that we might able to participate in the new thing God is doing our world today.

   

  Today is a day about remembering – for our nation it is about remembering those who built this country and those who fought for our freedoms and rights and those who work to preserve our liberties. For our church it is about remembering the faithful who have gone before, remembering the essential tenets of our Christian and Reformed faith, remembering those who fought the good fight and have now completed the race.

   

  It is also a day for remembering God. The God of heaven and earth. The God who gave us our birth, the God who gave us our families and our homes, the God who provides our every possession, our mind, our mouth, our body, our talents, our hope, our future and even our memories. We must be a people who remember and do not forget the Lord our God.  Not with nostalgia, but with eyes open to the gracious presence of God in our midst and hearts wide open to whatever it is God calls us to next. 

   

  If we can remember nothing else – let us remember this: It is God who made us and we are His. You see, no matter how much people wish and argue to the contrary, history is really His-story, the legacy belongs to God, the past as well as the future.