Inspired by Exodus 3:9-15, Romans 12:14-21, Matthew 16:21-26
My favorite preacher to read was a person named Frederick Buechner. Rev. Buechner was a gifted storyteller and pastor. His reflections and novels often hit at the heart of the lived experience of people grappling with their relationship to God and each other. One of his reflections is entitled, “A Room Called Remember” and it’s teaching is appropriate for our reflection time today. Buechner wrote about a dream he had, but not just any dream, it was a dream that contained a powerful truth for him and for us. Rev. Buechner told it this way, “…Several years ago I had…a dream, and it is still extraordinarily fresh in my mind. I dreamt that I was staying in a hotel somewhere and that the room I was given was a room that I loved…It was a room where I felt happy and at peace, where everything seemed the way it should be and everything about myself seemed the way it should be too.
Then, as the dream went on, I wandered off to other places and did other things and finally, after many adventures, ended back at the same hotel again. Only this time I was given a different room, which I didn’t feel comfortable in at all. It seemed dark and cramped, and I felt dark and cramped in it. So, I made my way down to the man at the desk and told him my problem.
On my earlier visit, I said, I’d had this marvelous room that was just right for me in every way and that I’d very much like if possible, to have again…The clerk was very understanding. He said that he knew exactly the room I meant and that I could have it again anytime I wanted it. All I had to do, he said, was ask for it by its name. So then, of course, I asked him what the name of the room was…The name of the room, he said, was ‘Remember’….”
Our scripture readings for today call us to remember. In fact, one of the Bible’s most powerful teachings is its ability to call us to remember the stories we have heard about how God has always made a way for God’s people. How God calls to us not only to get our attention, but to equip and empower us to do something on behalf of God in this world.
The Apostle Paul is calling the believers in Rome to remember what it means to love like Jesus. Paul wrote, “…Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves…Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another…Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone…’If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good….’”
In our reading from the Gospel according to Matthew, we hear Jesus teaching his disciples what they will need to remember once he is no longer present. “…Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?...’”
The reading from Exodus is the “burning bush” call of Moses. In the interaction with God, Moses asks who is sending him to free God’s people. God replies to tell God’s people that it is the God they have cried out to over 400 years of bondage, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God who is and who always will be. The people are to remember God’s name and call on it forever.
The act of remembering how God has blessed us, kept us and acted lovingly on our behalf is important in our faith journey. Rev. Buechner continues remembering the truth of how God accompanies us, “…To remember my life is to remember countless times when I might have given up, gone under, when humanly speaking I might have gotten lost beyond the power of any to find me. But I didn’t. I have not given up. And each of you, with all the memories you have and the tales you could tell, you also have not given up. You also are survivors and are here. And what does that tell us, our surviving? It tells us that weak as we are, a strength beyond our strength has pulled us through at least this far, at least to this day. Foolish as we are, a wisdom beyond our wisdom has flickered up just often enough to light us if not to the right path through the forest, at least to a path that leads forward, that is bearable. Faint of heart as we are, a love beyond our power to love has kept our hearts alive.
So, in the room called Remember it is possible to find peace - the peace that comes from looking back and remembering to remember that though most of the time we failed to see it, we were never really alone. We could never have made it this far if we had had only each other to depend on, because nobody knows better than we do ourselves the undependability and frailty of even the strongest of us. Who or what was with us all those years? Who or what do we have to thank for our survival? Our lucky stars?....”
However lucky or not, the stars do not care about us. They were created and placed in the sky to light our way and to be our guides by the God who cares and unconditionally loves each of us. The Bible calls us to remember the times when God’s people, both as individuals and as a people could have given up – but they called on God’s name and God intervened. In our day and time, we often wonder if the Church of Jesus Christ will continue as she gets battered and torn by issues of the day. Yet, the Church has always known persecution and marginalization. She has been down and out before and God has rallied her to be a positive force for change in our lives and world. When you are feeling weak, foolish and faint of heart, remember to call on God’s name. Calling on God’s name reminds us of its inherent power and its ability to save us and our world. Remembering to call on God’s name also reminds us how God equips us, just like Moses and all the rest to be at work with God in our world. Thanks be to God for being so memorable, amen!