THE FRACTURED REMEMBERER

I Was Just Thinking About - - - 

Memorial Day is a time of special observation in America. It is more than a day for special sales in department stores or motor car races. It is a day of remembrance of the price paid for the securing of the freedom and liberty this nation has enjoyed throughout its history.  While the precise history of the origin of Memorial Day is unclear, it is accepted that the following was the purpose and intent for a special day of remembering those who died during military conflicts. “Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. ‘The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,’ he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.”

It appears that as we have crossed into the twenty-first century there is a diminishing appreciation for the cost attached if liberty and freedom is to prevail. It is interesting to observe that there has been a two-pronged neglect of both foundational values and the courage required to preserve the truths of what makes a people free both in our land and world. 

Obviously, our rememberer has become broken and our forgetter has become dominant. There are many claims for the origination of the limerick that goes: “My forgetters getting better, But my rememberer is broke. To you that may seem funny But, to me, that is no joke! For when I’m ‘here’ I’m wondering If I really should be ‘there’. And, when I try to think it through, I haven’t got a prayer! Oft times I walk into a room, Say ‘what am I here for? ‘ I wrack my brain, but all in vain! A zero, is my score. At times I put something away Where it is safe, but, Gee! The person it is safest from Is, generally, me!”

What are some Biblical truths that our ‘rememberer’ has lost to our ‘forgetter’? Psalm 33:10-12 (NASB), “The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.” Additionally, as cultural trends are dominating the landscape of our nation and world, we should remember, Proverbs 14:33-35 (NASB), “Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, but in the hearts of fools it is made known. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts wisely, but his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.” Other translation state, “sin condemns” (NIV), “sin is a disgrace” (NLT), “sin is a reproach” (ESV). Regardless of whichever translation is chosen, SIN is the cause of a nation’s demise and obliteration. That which is true for the nation that forgets God is also true for the church that chooses to adapt to and accommodate the cultural trends of any given day. 

Because of such trends, the nation and church have moved closer to the threshold of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let us remember the words regarding the ungodly in II Peter 2:4-6, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly…” 

To the churches, there is a prevailing reminder of what the church was intended to be. In Revelation 2 and 3, there is an appeal for the churches to remember. Revelation 2:5 (ESV) is one indication,”Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place, unless you repent.” Other translations use these words, “Look how far you have fallen!” (NLT), and “Consider how far you have fallen!” (NIV). Let us remember, repent and return to the Lord! Consider these things with me!