15-may-07

Do Not Forget The Rev. Joseph Winston May 15, 2007

Sermon Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 Every living organism here on earth, from the simplest life forms to the most complex societies requires memory for survival. Take for example a virus, say your common influenza virus that normally appears during winter. As we all know, it never is any fun to have the flu. Your joints ache, your head throbs, and your body’s temperature rises. One of the major reasons why you have caught the flu is that these simple microorganisms know how to reproduce. Contained deep inside its structures, the virus has enough memory to successfully make copies of itself. Using this basic information, the flu virus has survived by overwhelming your body’s defenses. A flower provides us with an example of how memory is necessary for the life 1

Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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of plants. Texas is famous for its Bluebonnets. This year was fabulous because we had the correct weather conditions. We had the heat required to germinate the seed, just enough cool weather to stimulate the plant’s root growth, and the right amount of water to keep the Bluebonnet alive. The plant’s memory told it many things. First, the Bluebonnet knew what a typical year looked like in Central Texas and its life cycle has been optimized to take advantage of this type of weather. Finally, the Bluebonnet had to know when to sprout, flower, and die. If any of these times were wrong, the Bluebonnet’s memory otherwise known as its genes would not be passed on to future generations. Of course, you and I use memory for things beyond reproduction and basic survival. This can be clearly seen in our educational systems. At the elementary level, along with reading, writing, and arithmetic we teach our children how to interact with one another. The middle schools typically add a bit of history and science. High school education generally builds on the previous core curricula and sometimes gives students the tools needed for a specific vocation such as auto repair or cosmology. Colleges allow students to specialize on what interests them. We endure this twelve plus year process because we believe that it is important for life. At one extreme, people need to know how to survive in society. You need the ability to read so that you can navigate the written world. Mathematical ability lets you figure out budgets and pay taxes. At the other extreme, your career depends knowing what to do. If you are going to repair cars, you need to understand how an automobile works. If you do not have this information, you will never become a reputable auto mechanic. At the very least, a professor of medieval art must know 2

basic facts about the products of human creativity that were produced during 500 to 1500 AD. How else can you determine the genuine article from a fraud? At first glance, it might be surprising to think that societies also require memory for survival. However, this is the case. Lawyers, police, judges, and the populace must know the rules of the land. If this does not happen anarchy occurs. In order for people, families, corporations, states, and nations to communicate, language must follow certain pre-agreed rules. Otherwise, we would just be babbling. If we want to know why we do things, tradition must be passed down from generation to generation. Given the understanding that memory is necessary for life, it should come as no surprise to us that God also requires us to remember. Israel is poised to enter the land flowing with milk and honey, but before they take possession of the land, God has told them what is expected of them. Two chapters earlier in Deuteronomy 6, God proclaims: “4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (NRSV). To ensure that these words are not forgotten, the people must make them a part of their daily lives. This is accomplished by putting God’s Word into action. Specifically, the Israelites must keep this commandment. Next, the people must understand the implications of these words and these words have to be an integral part of the everyday discussions. Finally, people need to see this commandment. God requires that the words be placed on the hand, the forehead, the door posts, and the gates. What follows in the remaining portion of chapter 6 are more commands from 3

God that the Israelites are to neither forget the Lord nor the lessons that they have learned. This same theme picks up once again in today’s lesson from Deuteronomy. God states that the every little bit of God’s Word must be remembered (Deuteronomy 8:11). It is obvious that at some times this work will be difficult (Deuteronomy 8:12-16). God once again reminds the people that they are about to enter the promised land because God gave it to them (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). Our lesson ends with a solemn warning from God. If you forget God, you will die (Deuteronomy 8:19-20). If truth be told, we humans do forget. At the cellular level, when our bodies do not remember what they are supposed to do, terrible things happen. Cancer is the result of cells forgetting to reproduce correctly. Immune diseases occur when the body cannot determine friend or foe. When we forget what we have learned accidents happen. For example, everyone knows that electricity is dangerous. Yet every year, people are electrocuted when they use electric tools in the rain. Other simple acts, like holding the hand rail when using stairs, decrease accidents. However, people often do not remember to follow these basic rules and continue to hurt themselves. Societies can also forget and this too causes problems. I am sure that we all can name Christian denominations, in this and in other countries, that no longer remember key portions of the Christian Tradition, their confessions of faith, and even God’s Word itself. This amnesia will injure countless numbers of people. Then why should it be any different with God’s Word? 4

God has clearly given all of us rules to follow. Through willful and deliberate action on our part we have broken these rules. In addition to these infractions of the Law, all of us have forgotten what we are to do. God has plainly told us what will happen to us. We will die. And we know that this is true because we have seen what occurs to us when we forget. Because of our active rebellion against God and our passive acquiescence in keeping God’s Law, we definitely deserve death. However in an amazing switch, God has promised for Jesus’ sake to forget every one of our misdeeds. You might ask yourself, “What do we have to do earn this pardon from God?” The response from Jesus is clear. “You have to do nothing. I give you all of this because I love you.” Then how do we receive this benefit? It comes to us in the Word and in the waters of baptism. At the font, our old self was drowned and God brought forth a new creation, a forgiven creature lives with God forever. In every act of confession, God pronounces the Word, “You are forgiven.” At Christ’s Table, we physically take the Word that has given us our new lives. And to remind us of these gifts, God the Father daily sends us the Holy Spirit who teaches us about Jesus and reminds us of His Word. These are God’s promises that God will never forget. But that is not all. God will also restore all of creation so that it no longer forgets. In the new earth, cells in our body will always work correctly. Here in the New Jerusalem, the plants and animals will always know what to do. In fact, society itself will be redeemed by God and it will completely serve God. 5

Today, we live in a world that requires memory for survival. This is apparent at every level of creation from the smallest microorganisms that exist to the largest macro-organisms. But this will not always be the case for in God’s new creation, we will depend on God. As you leave this place and go back into your portion of the world, do not forget, there are still people who do not know this Good News about the God who unconditionally loves them. The same goes for you. Do not forget, God loves you. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”2

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Philippians 4:7.

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