Last Sunday of the Church Year

Richard Davenport November 20, 2022 - Proper 29 - Last Sunday in Church Year Malachi 3:13-18 Every so often in the news or in a documentary you hear about someone with photographic memory. There are lesser and greater degrees of it, but it's a very rare thing to have. For most of us, you go through the day seeing things and hearing things, your senses take in everything around you. All of that information kind of hangs out for a little while as your brain sorts through it to figure out what's important, what's worth keeping, and what isn't. The vast majority of what you experience in a day gets thrown out by your brain and only the things that really made an impression will get filed away in your memory for later. Even then, your memory isn't exactly a neat and tidy system. Big events may be there, but only in bits and pieces. You may remember names but not faces, or vice versa. You can try and intentionally remember something and come up with nothing, only to later come across something that brings that memory back all on its own. If you think about it, something has to be pretty important for you to be able to recall it a year later. Those moments where you get a sudden hit of adrenaline, unexpected danger strikes and everything becomes sharply focuses. Those major life moments, wedding, childbirth, death of family, all points that change your life forever. Those moments of great success or great failure, a great deal of time and effort building to one brief moment that either pays off or comes crashing down. Those moments of great surprise, maybe not things that affected you specifically, but were nevertheless important and were etched in your memory. Everything else sort of drifts away. You remember lots of random details, but they're all just bits of information. When you eat an apple, you probably have an idea what that apple will taste like, but when did you first learn what an apple tastes like? That memory is probably long gone. For those with photographic memory, especially those with the more extreme versions of it, every memory gets stored. Everything they've ever experienced is there for recall whenever they want. To me, this is a bit of a mixed blessing. Certainly a lot of the good moments, enjoyable and happy moments in life fade, but so do the bad ones. The old adage, "time heals all wounds," expresses that idea. Whatever the problem was, eventually, with time, you'll start to forget why you were angry, afraid, depressed. On the flip side, you also have some inkling about what is needed to make a good memory. Sometimes they're unexpected and spontaneous. Many times they are planned out ahead of time. Vacations, birthday parties, graduations and many other events are considered in advance. "How can we make this memorable?" We go out of our way to ensure some things won't be forgotten. We don't always succeed, but that's at least the mindset. There's some fear that goes along with memory as well. You don't want to lose all of those good memories. Once they drift away it's almost like they never happened in the first place. Losing a memory is like losing a little bit of yourself, a little bit of what makes you special and unique. It's also why diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's are so terrifying. As your memory starts to drift away, so do all of the relationships those memories are built on. if I don't remember you, then I no longer have any connection to you. You become a stranger to me. So there's a lot of pressure that goes along with the things you want to remember. Those who have lost a spouse or a child will talk about how after the years pass the hurt fades, but so does everything else. It becomes harder and harder to hold on to the memories of someone who isn't a regular part of your life anymore. It's unfortunate when those memories are of someone we love and whom we don't want to lose. All of those special moments are ones we make a point of trying to keep track of. On your anniversary you might go through the photo album that has all of your wedding pictures. The pictures help us hold on to those memories. You remember the images, the voices, but also the feelings, the nervousness, the joy. You remember all of the preparation that went into making the big day truly special. Technology has gone so far as to help make cameras our constant companion. If you have your phone, you have a camera to capture those fleeting moments so they won't be forgotten, so you don't lose the people you hold dear. So if you don't want to lose those memories, those connections, those relationships, you have a lot to do. You're fighting a losing battle to a large extent. Our memories are constantly fading and our ability to remember constantly gets worse. If you want to hold on to those things, then you need to keep busy. You need to be thinking all the time about how to lock all of that in your mind so you don't lose those things that are important to you. If you're here on Sunday, then it probably means one of those things that's important to you is God. How do you make God a constant part of your life? How do you make sure you're remembering God throughout the day? How can I make sure to hold on to that relationship and not forget him? What becomes of you if you forget God? How fearful life would be if we forgot those who love us. How desperate and strange everything would become. Who could you turn to for help? Who could you trust? The world around us would be full of terrors and danger. You'd feel lost and alone all the time, isolated even though people are around you all the time. You see every so often people who have a hard time with the grieving process after a death. They refuse to put away their dead husband's things. They leave their daughter's room just like it was. If all of those things are still there, then the memories stay fresh too. As soon as all of those things are put away then the memories start to fade and the person starts to fade too, and I don't want that. They cling to those memories as hard as they can so as not to lose the memories and the person behind them. If a loved one can warrant that kind of attention, how much more does God? Forgetting God has got to be one of the worst things that can happen. As the Psalmist says, "Love the Lord, you his saints!" If your deceased spouse, parents, children, drive you to cling to their memory, doesn't God deserve more? If the memory fades, if the relationship fades, if you find yourself forgetting, where does that leave you? It must not have been important enough to you to hold on to. Once upon a time this sort of thing wouldn't have been a problem. Once upon a time, before sin came into the world, before our minds became frail, before we made frivolous things our priority over loved ones, over God. Now, not only do we have to fight against our own forgetfulness, but we actively seek out all sorts of other things that have nothing to do with God. We find ways to forget, just like people will turn to drugs or alcohol in an effort to cope with the loss of a loved one, or like people will turn to empty, casual relationships in an effort to fill the void. It's a question that comes up from time to time, "What happens to people with Alzheimer's who can't remember anything? Are they still saved?" It's a rather terrifying question, because you know some with a disease like that can't help it. They're going to forget. They're going to lose track of everyone and everything they once thought was important. If that's how it goes, then we are all lost. Looking at the text from Malachi, Malachi is conveying God's words of warning to his people. Many feel like they are being treated unjustly, even though they are the ones who are treating God as unimportant and not worth listening to. However, some of the people do listen and take God's warning seriously. They create a book of remembrance for him, with each of their names in it. But note, the book isn't for them. It's for God. As you might send a photo album to someone, full of memories you've shared together, these Israelites have made a book for God so that he doesn't forget them, his own personal photo album to flip through and remember. This isn't the first time the Bible speaks this way. Going all the way back to Genesis 9, after Noah and his family steps out of the ark, God speaks to them and makes a promise. God tells Noah he will never send another flood to wipe out all life on earth. God says, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Noah's salvation, our salvation, doesn't depend on our remembrance, but on his. So the question isn't whether you remember God, but whether he remembers you. That could be a scary thing too, except that God doesn't suffer from all of our frailties. He doesn't get distracted by frivolous things. The God who promises, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," does exactly what he says. He looks down and remembers his promise to not send a flood no matter how bad things get here in this world. How do you know God remembers you? Because the promise God makes in the Flood is just the beginning of the promises God makes to you in baptism. St. Peter says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." You have been saved from the flood through baptism. St. Paul describes baptism as adoption and being brought into God's family. God brings you near, into his presence, makes you clean and holy through baptism, all so you can be with him eternally. In baptism you are joined to Christ and his salvation, all so you will never be separated from God, all so you won't be forgotten. If you are baptized, then you are never alone, you are never forgotten. You are a child of God and are saved through Christ. Your frailty is no barrier to him and does not cause him to forget. We cry with the Psalmist, "Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!" and we know he will. He will not forget you. He will not forsake you or abandon you. Even when you forget, he does not. You are always on his mind and we look forward to the day when he does away with our sin and our frailty so we can hold on to the memories as well as the reality forever.