Faith Matters article for Fowler Tribune published today

Today

The other day Dudley McFarland came by my office. For a man that is 94 years old, I have always admired his health, energy and vigor. Dudley was interested in going through the archives of the history of the church in our basement with me. We spend a few hours puttering around and reading different books that had rosters of the church, and minutes from the early 20^th century. When we got finished Dudley said, "I could do this all day, but the past is to be remembered, you can't live in it". Then he headed down the road to the senior center for lunch, and to get the rest of the things he had to do with his day accomplished. The Bible says that the Apostle Paul gave us a similar example when he said "forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

Sometimes it is tempting to live in the past. This can be dangerous in two ways. Sometimes we are proud of the good things and treasure the wonderful memories of friends and loved ones of the past. We look back on the past, and we almost wish that we were there all over again. We remember when we were stronger or more beautiful in others eyes. We think about the things that we accomplished a day, a week, or a year ago, and then we wish things could be like that again. This was true of the Apostle Paul in the passage quoted above. He had a lot of things to be proud of in his past according to him, but it was not worthy to be compared with the promises that God had ahead for him that day and into his future.

Another way it is tempting to live in the past is to dwell in the hurts of yesterday. Perhaps you beat yourself up when you do this kind of remembering by thinking of your past mistakes. Or maybe you hold on to the anger and the hurt of something someone did a week, a month, or a year ago. It is possible that you could be missing a friend or a loved one. Your sense of hurt and loss is natural. However it may be helpful to remember what Dudley said, "the past is to be remembered, but you can't live in it." You may need to grieve and hurt for a while, but if you continue to spend your life dwelling in the slights, hurts, and pains of yesterday, the joy of today will pass you by.

All this is not to say remembering is not important. It is. In fact there is a lot of Christian faith that is centered on our memories. In our church we celebrate the last meal Jesus had with his disciples once a month. We use a specific table for this. A table that has these words carved on the front of it, "Do this is remembrance of me". We remember Jesus' death and resurrection in baptism (Romans 6). But this remembering is important because it guides how we live now, and how we need to connected in relationship with God, and how we need to serve Him in this moment and this day.

God bless you as you go, and may you receive the blessings that God is waiting to pour out on your life on this day! Amen!