Remember the Future

The greatest tragedy that can afflict a life is the loss of memory. I don’t know who originally said that. I’m not sure I really agree with it. But I’ve heard it quoted from time to time and it certainly bears thinking about. The greatest tragedy that can a person can suffer is the loss of memory. Memory gives us our past, and our identity is all wrapped up in our past. So often we seem to live only for the present. And yet think what it would mean to lose your memory, to lose your past.

The great power and significance of memories is not, though, in the past. It is in the present. Memories are important for how they shape and influence who we are and how we act in our daily lives. There is a passage in Deuteronomy that is often referred to as the "creed" of the early Hebrew people. It begins, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor… and that ancestor went down into Egypt and sojourned there… and there became a great nation, mighty and powerful." That "creed" is a memory, a memory of a people, a memory of how they became the people of God. It’s a story from the past they remember and retell in worship… to help them be the people of God in the present.

In many countries of the former British Commonwealth, tomorrow will be called Remembrance Day. I like that title. It is a day to exercise our memories, to share memories of the past. It is certainly a day to honor those who were a part of that past, especially veterans. But the ultimate value of Remembrance Day is much broader, much more expansive and inclusive than even issues of war and peace. The power of Remembrance Day is captured, I think, in this closing line of a prayer of remembrance. "Help us always to remember that this our life has cost, and help us to resolve never to waste it and never to soil it." Let our memories be a positive influence on how we life today.

On a more personal level memories shape and influence who we are. The lessons our parents taught us in childhood, the example they set (for good or ill) form patterns that continue to guide our own behavior. Or perhaps you have a memory of some personal hero in your life, and that memory continues to inspire exemplary behavior in you. Many people describe memories of religious experiences—a time in the past—when they knew with absolute certainty that God was with them. Those memories can lead to a dedicated life of faith lived out in the present day by day.

Events of the past—whether remembered from our own experience or learned from the experience of others or taught from the community’s history—these events of the past reflect into our present day and affect who we are and how we behave. The past is a powerful force for shaping the present.

Today’s Scripture lessons, though, are all about the future. And for people of faith, the future should also be a powerful force for shaping the present. Our hopes and expectations of the future should influence who we are and how we behave just as surely as do our memories of the past.

The future should influence us just as strongly as the past. That might seem impossible. After all, the past is known to us and the future is unknown, so how could something that hasn't happened, that we don't know, impact us today? Our future is not unknown. Our future is known. By faith the future is known. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Familiar and powerful words from the Book of Hebrews. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." I will be the first to admit that it is not easy to give the same weight to what my faith tells me of future hopes compared to what my experience tells me of the past. But it should be. You and I should be just as sure and certain of what faith tells us as we are of those things we learn in other ways. Our hopes for the future should reflect into our present lives just as surely as our memories of the past do.

I am a baker. I bake bread. Yeast, or leaven, is a common symbol for the Kingdom of God in Scripture. It’s a meaningful symbol for me. Each time I bake a loaf of bread I am basing my life on faith, on hope. I cannot know for certain that the yeast will rise; I certainly cannot force it to rise. My experience from the past tells me it usually rises, but there is no certainty. I can only hope, act on the faith that it will rise into a wonderful loaf of bread. I mix and knead and wait and knead and wait some more because I have faith the future will bring me loaf of fresh-baked, homemade bread. I act in the present based on my hope for the future.

As Christians, our faith teaches us that our future will bring us life beyond death lived fully in the presence of God as citizens of God’s kingdom. None of us would deny that our future will bring us death. We are in those waning weeks of the church year when the Scripture readings will remind us again and again of the end of life and the end of time. It does not take faith to know that death is in our future. It is faith that tells us of our future beyond death.

Our future beyond death. Amos speaks of our future beyond death in the thundering voice of an Old Testament prophet when he reminds us of the Day of the Lord, that day in the future when we will be judged for how we’ve lived in the present. Jesus speaks of our future beyond death as a marriage feast, shared with our Lord. Shared, at least, by all those who faith in the future to keep some oil for their lamps. The marriage feast awaits those who live in the present as people anticipating, expecting a future shared with their Lord. And Paul, in First Thessalonians, writing to the early church, expresses very succinctly the Christian faith in the future. "We will meet the Lord; we will be with the Lord forever."

Our future beyond death. A future that should influence and shape how we live in the present. Listen again to a passage from Hebrews. The author speaks of the ancient people of faith who looked towards the future from a distance, yes, but who saw and greeted the promises of the future as they lived their daily lives. "They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland… They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one." To seek and desire a better country, a heavenly one. To live today with the faith that one day we will be citizens of God’s Kingdom. 

To let our hopes for the future influence our lives in the present just as strongly as do our experiences of the past. In the future we will be citizens of God’s Kingdom. And we do know what that future will be like. We do know what God’s Kingdom is like. The words of Scripture and the faith to believe them tell us that God’s Kingdom is a place where all are one, united through God. Having seen that future by faith, how can we do other than strive to share it and make it real in our lives today, seeking unity and reconciliation with others through God? The heavenly Kingdom that awaits us is also a place where every human life is of infinite (and therefore equal) value. Having seen the wonder of that future how can we do other than strive for justice in the present? The Kingdom is a place where the peace of God, which passes all our understanding, fills the hearts of everyone. Having by faith glimpsed that awesome future, how can we do other than seek to engender peace among all people now in the present? And ultimately the Kingdom is a place where everyone shares in the indescribable joy of full communion with God, where all life is fully lived in God’s presence. Having seen that future, surely we long for God’s Holy Communion here at this Holy Table now, for ourselves and for others. "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," we pray those words again and again. They are our prayer that our lives on earth, this day and every day, may reflect our faithful vision of God’s heavenly Kingdom that is to come.

Tomorrow, Remembrance Day, many will pray that we may continue to live lives worthy of the sacrifices of the past, that our memories of the past will help us to be worthy of the gifts that the past has given us.

This day, the Lord’s Day, let us pray that we may live lives worthy of the future that awaits us. To return to where I began, I think perhaps the greatest tragedy of all that can afflict a life is to have no faith in the future. On this day, the Lord’s Day (and every day), let us remember the future.

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