Remember

 December 7, 2023

“Never Forget!” We heard these words again and again after 9-11. A scant twenty-two years later, it often feels like we have amnesia. Today is Pearl Harbor Day, the eighty-second anniversary of the Japanese attack on our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, catapulting us into World War II, the deadliest conflict in human history. But apart from a few history buffs and a few remnants of the Greatest Generation, the day goes largely unnoticed.

A few months ago, the invasion of the Ukraine was all over the news. Less than a year later, though people there are still fighting and dying, there’s scarcely a peep from the media. It seems our American penchant for immediate gratification isn’t limited to fast food and sex.

The Bible repeatedly warns us to “not forget,” to remember. Israel forgot her God, forgot his deliverance and his demand for absolute and exclusive worship. Their resulting history was a series of decay, debauchery, and destruction punctuated by occasional short-lived revivals. Remembering is vital to our continued existence. When we forget (or worse, revise) our history, we are in danger of forgetting who we are, and once that memory is lost, so is our future. 

Remember! Remember where you came from, your personal or family history. Remember how that fits into the greater narrative of your faith and your heritage. The future is waiting for you to remember, then to tell your story. Remember well, and tell it well.