John 14:23-27 (The Message)
25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace.
We humans have the great capacity to remember, which both enriches and empowers our lives. “Remember when…” begins a journey into the past which carries with it either great pain or great joy. Even when it is pain,
it enriches our lives.
The last words my brother spoke to me, as we were saying goodby -
he was going back into the Army, recalled for Korea; I was going back to college - were, “You should think about being a Pastor.” There was no reason for him to say it. We had not been talking about it. He just said it
as we parted. And I quickly forgot about it.
Following his death due to wounds in combat in Korea, I remembered his words. I could not get them out of my memory. They empowered me, painful though they were, to begin the journey which has led me where I never dreamed I would go. I remembered and lived out the memory.
This is what Pentecost is all about. Remembering what has been so we can be more alive in what is yet to be. We are not to live in the past; we are to remember it and be empowered to live in the present, doing what we are called to do in our day, living creatively, daring to try new things, even change old things.
Indeed, God’s spirit works in and through our capacity to remember. God calls to our remembrance that which we have known in the past so we can be better equipped to live in the present.
Prayer thought for the week: "Lord, help me to remember those moments which have directed my life and enriched my living."
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