Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. Today is Friday, May 24, and Sunday is coming! I’m Erin Pacheco. We’re reflecting this weekend on the biblical command to “Remember.”
Erin Pacheco 0:24
In Psalm 77, the psalmist is reflecting back on a time when he was in deep distress and God felt far. But verses 11-12 are a turning point in the psalm. The psalmist says to himself: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” Ps 77:11-12 By choosing to remember what God has done in the past, the psalmist changes his outlook on the present and finds renewed hope for the future. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. And sometimes it’s not so simple.
Erin Pacheco 1:10
For the last two years, I’ve watched my mother-in-law care for a loved one with Alzheimer’s. I’ve seen the slow progression of the disease. The long, hard days. The immense need for tenderness and patience and self-control. The mutual sense of frustration. The surprising moments of laughter and joy. The messes and round-the-clock care. The eventual hospice watch. The old-fashioned biblical word for patience is “long-suffering.” That’s what I’ve witnessed in my mother-in-law, and it’s perhaps the most profound expression of love that I’ve ever seen. In some ways, her work reminds me of when my kids were toddlers. Except when someone has Alzheimer’s or dementia, there’s no hope that they will ever outgrow this phase. Every day is overshadowed by the knowledge that the person you love is fading and they will never be the same. It’s a brutal disease – for both the individual and their loved ones.
Erin Pacheco 2:21
Yes, Scripture calls us to remember. But it also reminds us, in countless beautiful ways, of how God remembers us. Even when we forget. And even when we no longer have the capacity to remember. God remembers that we are dust. He holds us with tenderness and compassion. He draws us to himself. And through Christ, the same God who breathes life into dust at creation promises us a whole new creation, with resurrection bodies and minds. And he gives us the Holy Spirit as a taste of that new life, alive in us already now. Whether today is a day of forgetting, or remembering, or longsuffering, may you know in your soul that you are loved and held by God in Christ .
Erin Pacheco 3:25
Let’s pray. Since this Sunday is also the day the Church remembers the revelation of God as one God in three persons, I’d like to simply close by praying this blessing over you from 2 Corinthians 13:14: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
