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Memory

Delivered on Monday 12 May 2003 in Christ Church, Cambridge

Memory - Genesis 6-9 & Deuteronomy 6.4

Bishop Fred was renowned for being forgetful. He had post-it notes all over his computer screen, desk, mirror, television, but he still used to forget things. One day he and his family had to move. On the morning of the move, as he was leaving the house to go to a meeting, Bishop Fred was reminded by his wife that he would have to go to their new house that evening, not the old one. She hoped that he would remember but sadly he didn't. After his meeting he walked back to his old house, and just as reached the drive he remembered, but.. he realised that he couldn't remember where his new house was. Just then he saw a young lad walking along the road. He had no better ideas, so he asked the boy, "Excuse me, lad, but do you happen to know where the bishop has moved to?" The boy was taken by surprise, but looked up at him and said, "Yes, Daddy, Mummy thought you'd forget so she sent me to come and get you." Memory, and not the lack of it, is an important concept in the Bible, and we're going to look at it today for a while.

Genesis, and almost all of the Old Testament, was written down in its current form during the sixth century BC, while the Israelites were in Exile, forced out of the southern kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. They were separated from their land, from the rest of their people, and it seemed like they were separated from God. It seemed like God had forgotten them completely, or abandoned them to their fate. The task of those writing down the stories we have in the Old Testament today was to encourage their fellow-Israelites. One of the most important ways they did this was by emphasising God's memory, that he remembers his people.

The first story we are going to look at is the story of Noah and the Flood. To understand the true significance of the story, we need to go back to the very beginning, to Genesis 1. In the account of Creation we read how God created the world and absolutely everything in it. At the moment though we are only interested in the second day of Creation, when God placed an expanse in the midst of the waters, so that there were waters above the expanse, and waters below the expanse. For the Israelites, water signified chaos. Many of the Psalms were written to express God's mastery over water, in other words saying how God was so powerful he could even control chaos. In the Creation story God is so great he brings order to the most chaotic thing: water. He separated the chaos, the waters, so that he could create land and finish the Creation he had started.

Now we move back to the Flood story. In Genesis 6 we meet Noah, and then see how God commands him to build an Ark and put two of every living creature inside, to rescue them from the Flood he is sending. In chapter 7 the Flood comes upon Noah, after he has obeyed God's commands. 7.11 reads, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened." The waters were coming both from above and from below - re-entering the expanse that God had created to separate the waters on the second day of Creation; the world was being returned to chaos. The whole face of the earth was covered by water - everything was covered except Noah. Everything looked pretty bleak for Noah and the others in the Ark. If the waters kept on rising, eventually the waters above and the waters below would meet in the middle and the world would be returned to its former chaotic state.

And then we read 8.1-3a, "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually." God remembered. He didn't abandon Noah to the Flood, which he had caused. Instead he remembered Noah and rescued him from the Flood. He stopped the water welling up from below the earth and rain pouring out of the sky. But the result was not instantaneous salvation from the Flood - it was months before the waters had completely dried up and Noah was able to leave the Ark.

After the appalling ordeal of the Flood, God promises Noah and his descendents that he will never again seek to return the earth to chaos. He creates the rainbow so that whenever it rains heavily he will see it and remember his covenant not to destroy the earth. In 9.17 God tells Noah "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." The rainbow is the sign of this first covenant.

The covenant is like a marriage and the rainbow like a wedding ring. The husband and wife know they are married, and in the same way God never really forgets, because he is God. The ring is instead a sign of that remembrance, always present on the finger, reminding the couple of their wedding day. So the rainbow is as much for us as it is for God - to remind us of his promise never to destroy the world, to remind us of God's awesome and terrifying ability and power to do just that. God is not a fluffy toy, and that is something I know I need reminding of sometimes.

The next covenant God makes is with Abraham, in Genesis 17. God promises to give Abraham the land of Canaan for ever, to make him the father of many nations. The covenant is intended to last forever - the land is an everlasting possession. The sign of this covenant is that every baby boy should be circumcised, so that God would look upon the people and see their circumcision and remember his covenant with them. Later God commands that the Israelites must obey his laws, so that he would look upon their righteousness and remember his covenant. The sign of the new covenant which we are under is that we have been washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Jesus lives in us and we in him, so that when God looks at us he sees Jesus and remembers his promise to forgive us from our sins.

The encouragement this gave to the Israelites in Exile and to us today is great. It teaches us that God never forgets. In Exodus as well, God hears the groaning of the Hebrews in their slavery and remembers that they are his people and so sends Moses to rescue them. We see that although we might not realise it at the time, God has remembered us and is acting to save us. Sometimes the effect of that salvation is immediate, but more often it takes time. It took months for the waters to dry up after God remembered Noah, it took years between God hearing the cry of the Hebrews and their final escape from captivity. So we must be prepared for God to work according to his own timetable, not ours. And we must remember all the time that God works through all things for the good of those who love him - that's you and me!

So now we move onto the second part of this talk - it is not only God who does the remembering, it's us as well. As I said, most of the Old Testament was written down during the Exile. In Deuteronomy's case, the core was written before the Exile, most probably during the reign of Hezekiah in the early seventh century BC. However the introductory chapters, before the Ten Commandments in chapter five and the Shema in chapter six, were probably composed during the Exile as the introduction to the Law. These chapters (1-4) are a summary of the history of Israel after the Hebrews left Egypt. These are vital for understanding the book, which continually reminds the Israelites that God is their Lord, and he brought them out of the house of Egypt. The first four chapters serve as a reminder of the amazing things God did for them in the past, and the implication is that God will do the same in the future. In other words, he will bring them out of Exile in Babylon in the same way that he rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and in the same way that he rescued Noah from the Flood. (The Passover was started as a perpetual reminder of God's great act of salvation, and his promise to do so again in the future.)

I'm sure all of you have photos of family members and friends wherever you live. I know we do back home. I know what my cousins look like, I see them regularly, but the point of the pictures is not to show us what they look like, it's to remind us of them, their personality, things we've done together. That is why souvenirs are so hard to throw away. In themselves them are often fairly tacky and worthless, but they remind us of important stages in our life. I know I haven't had many important stages yet, but there are things like my little wooden cross given to me at my confirmation which serves as a continual reminder of that amazing evening now eight years ago. It sits on my beside table, reminding me of the amazing blessings God has poured out on me; it reminds me to be thankful for all that God has done for me.

So Deuteronomy continually reminds its readers of God's salvation, when he brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. This is the reason for them obeying the Law: God rescued them, so they should respond appropriately by doing what he commands them to do. As well as remembering this, however, the Israelites are called by Deuteronomy to learn the Law by heart. After the famous Shema in 6.4 (the "Hear O Israel" bit) the Israelites are told to surround themselves with the Law. They are to talk about with their children, to write it on their doorposts and gates. If the Law is all around them they cannot forget it! If it is written on their hearts then when they are in need they will draw on it, when they are in times of plenty they will rejoice over it and praise God. Above all, then, Deuteronomy calls the people to remember God, not to forget him in prosperity or curse him in times of trouble. God does not forget his promises - he will rescue them.

This is a hugely encouraging thing to say. God will not abandon you - ever. Although it might seem so, as with Noah, sometimes it takes time for us humans to see the effects of God's salvation, but rest assured, he has acted decisively. On the cross Jesus did defeat death and sin. We have already been saved. But we are living in the time between the rain stopping and the land drying up - we have been saved but we are not yet safe. As Deuteronomy (and indeed Jesus) teaches us, remembering is the key to staying safe in God's arms. At the Last Supper with his friends Jesus took bread and wine and gave it to them saying, "Do this in remembrance of me." The greatest act of remembrance that we as Christians do is Communion. It has taken the place of the Jewish Passover festival in our tradition, because God's act of salvation on the cross was far greater than his salvation that night in Egypt three and a half thousand years ago. The salvation through the cross was not a one-off physical salvation from oppression, it is the once-for-all, effective always, salvation from sin and guilt. God has already forgiven you for the sins you will commit tomorrow, and for me, that is something worth remembering always.

At the communion service we are told the story of God's amazing act of salvation, we are told it so that we might remember it and draw on it for strength when we need strength and so that we might rejoice with God because of it. God did not forget us, but sent his one and only Son to save us from our sins, so that all of us who believe in him might not die but have everlasting life with him in heaven.

Let us pray.

Father God, help us to surround ourselves with your word, reminding us of what you are like and what you have done, so that we will never forget. Write your word on our heart so that we might carry it with us wherever we go, and so that we might remember that you will never forget about us, that your love for us will never cease, we are your children, now and for ever.

Lord Jesus, may we never forget that you died for us so that we might live. May we carry it in our heart for the rest of our life. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.

Holy Spirit, come among us, convict us of the Father's love, be our strength to shine like stars in our world. Help us to live lives worthy of what Jesus has done for us. Keep our eyes fixed on you so that we might never forget.

Amen.

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