Remembrance [Todd]

Today is the eighth anniversary of the horrors of September 11, 2001.

Today we will hear the words "memory" and "remember" a lot. With good reason, because few of us could forget where we were when we heard the news - our memories are seared. And because we should never forget all that happened in those days and weeks - the grief, the heroism, the coming together, the all too temporary unity that today seems like a long-lost hope.

Memory is important for Christ-followers as well.

Again and again in Scripture, God calls people to remember. He tells the nation of Israel to remember his actions on their behalf - saving, redeeming, liberating them. He tells the leaders of Israel to remember his faithfulness to them, their responsibility to Him, the fact that they are under a Covenant and are not independent agents. And when we celebrate Communion we remember the outworking of that Covenant, which was paid in the language of nails and blood and pain and death and love.

So, a big part of the corporate Christian life is about memory.

The same is true for us as individuals.

Do you remember what it was like for you before Christ found you?

Do you remember what it was like before you experienced biblical community for the first time?

Do you remember what it was like to be lonely? addicted? shamed? guilty? lost?
And what it felt like when He rescued you?

Do you remember what it was like to feel close to God, in step with His Spirit, tracking spiritually, emotionally and physically - alive?
And don't you want that back?

What do you remember today? And what do you need to remind yourself to remember?