The Future Depends on Memories

Ecclesiastes 11:7 – 12:14

A little over a week ago, I went to see the Rev. Dr. Renita Weems speak. Dr. Weems is a nationally-renowned theologian and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Church. She has been a member of the faculty of Vanderbilt University and Spelman College, and she has been celebrated by Ebony Magazine as one of America's top 15 preachers. She touched on a variety of subjects that made me think and double-think. One such double-think nugget for me was her reference to research that says grown women have a harder time sticking with an exercise program when they did not exercise when they were kids. Apparently they are finding that having no memory of past exercise makes it harder to exercise in the future. Picking up something from scratch is hard when you're an adult.

The word, remember, is important in our reading today. "Remember your creator in the days of your youth." Remember your creator BEFORE the days of trouble come and BEFORE the sun and the light and moon and the stars are darkened and BEFORE the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken. Remember your creator BEFORE the bad things happen. If you have no memory of your creator before the bad things happen, how will you have memory of your creator WHEN they are happening?

Just like kids who avoid exercise when they are young find it difficult to exercise when they need to ... when they are older and their metabolism slows, if we avoid things like prayer or meditation; practicing love, forgiveness, and humility; and being thankful to our Divine Beloved - if we avoid those things when all is well, how will we remember to do them when things get difficult? It's hard to start love from scratch when you have no memory of loving. It's hard to pray from scratch or have spiritual conversations with your friends when you have no memory of doing these things. Often these things don't even come to mind at the most critical times.

Things like prayer, meditation, love, forgiveness, repentance – these aren't just religious ideals for which the ultimate spiritual person strives. These are coping skills. They are the coping skills of people of faith.

Just before the character of Solomon tells us to remember he says, "Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity." Youth and the dawn of life don't last, that's pretty clear from this verse I think. But what does banish anxiety from your mind and put away pain from your body mean? I would like very much to do that. I have pain in my body that I'd like to put away and anxiety that I'd like to banish. How about you? It isn't that easy though. Do you just say, "Anxiety, you are hereby banished!" and it all goes away. I believe in miracles ... I do ... but I can't seem to make stuff like that happen just by making a declaration.

But maybe I can make things a little easier on myself if I practice taking care of my body, spirit, emotions, and mind while I am in a good place. That way when pain occurs or anxiety starts to get in the way I have developed a habit of better responses. When a crisis happens and I am already in the habit of prayer, I am much more likely to pray during the crisis. I know of a man who prayed in tongues daily. One day he was at the dentist office and had to have oral surgery. The story goes that while they were putting him under he started praying in tongues. It was just what he did.

I can tell where I am in my prayer life based on how I react to a crisis situation. A few years back I hit a deer. As my vehicle was careening down the highway I started praying asking Jesus for help. It was involuntary. On the other hand, I have been known to involuntarily spew out some, let's call them "unsavory words," in other crisis situations such as when I stub my toes. I hate stubbing my toes. It really really gets to me. I don't always shout out, "Oh Jesus help me."

When it isn't my pattern to remember my Divine Beloved, I'm not going to remember to remember in a crisis. I won't remember when the day of trouble comes if I don't remember before the day of trouble. The day of trouble doesn't put me in a reflective mind ... "Well now, what might be the best way to handle this sticky situation?" That is not what I'm thinking. In fact, we don't tend to think in those situations. We just react. We go to our default.

When life isn't hard is when it's the most crucial to practice our faith. Rest assured life becomes hard sometimes. Church life becomes hard sometimes. Our faith gets challenged at every level. Every church has hard times - times of crisis. This church has had hard times. Living through a crisis takes its toll. We need to keep remembering our creator. We need to keep practicing our faith both at home and within our community. I think it's easy to get out of the habit when the crisis is over because we need to fall out for awhile.

We are all in different stages of healing. We are also in different stages of crisis. While it is difficult to start our faith from scratch during hard times, it isn't impossible. The fact that you are here at church means that you are remembering the importance of community in your life. I'm not saying we all have to go to church every single time there's a meeting. I do want us to think about our habits though. What is your (and my) tendency? What's going to happen with me the next time I stub my toe? What will happen with me if I hit another deer?

No matter where we are in our crisis or healing of anything, we have to remember now. Because if we remember now ... we won't have to remember later. The memory will find us.

Deuteronomy 6:4-12
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you - a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant - and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

When things are going well, don't forget. Do whatever you have to to remember. How do we create these memories? What do we practice? What does it mean to pray or to love? How do we remember to be humble and thankful? Some of you may already have daily or weekly practices. I like to do braiding and knotting as a meditative practice. I also have a meditation moment when I brush my teeth. I don't think about what I'm going to pack for lunch or if I'll find matching socks. It's a way for me to focus on the moment I am in rather than the moment I might be in next. It's a small way ... but for me it helps to remind me that I want to be present in as many moments as I can throughout the day.

According to Deuteronomy, do whatever you have to. Put sticky notes on your computer or bathroom mirror of favorite verses; sing songs in the car that remind you how best to walk your faith; talk to each other about your faith, actively see people you come in contact with as being holy and sacred; look in the mirror and remind yourself that you are holy and sacred. You are holy and sacred, you know ...

Forgive the person who swipes your parking spot - the one you've been circling around to find for the last 15 minutes; forgive yourself for things you would beat yourself up about; thank the Creator for the grass or the trees or the lake; thank the Creator for having running water and electricity if you have it.

All of these are coping skills that you are developing for when the time comes and "the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken."

One day I was walking into the downtown office building where I work, and as I turned the corner toward the elevator with a UPS woman next to me, the elevator opened up. Spontaneously - because I was in a good place - I said, "Thank you, Jesus." The UPS woman said, "Amen!" From the security desk I heard the voice of the head of security say, "Gus pushed the button." Of course I thanked Gus for pushing the button for us. But that reminded me to thank people for the little things - for pushing the elevator button or holding a door open. This may sound simple and maybe trivial, but it isn't. These are ways of practicing. Here's another thing that I've found to be really helpful in my faith walk - I try to remember to smile, especially when I enter a room. If I find myself forgetting, I write the word "smile" on my hand. Smiling can change your whole day.

Verse 9 of chapter 11 in Ecclesiastes tells us to rejoice. Throughout the book we are reminded to Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. Enjoy this life the best you can. It isn't hedonism - it's good faith practice. If you are in the habit of enjoying what you can that's in your life, then when things get messed up, you have a foundation of joy or at least the ability to smile.
Sure there are some intense things you can do. You can go to the gulf coast to help repair the damage there; you can go on a retreat; you can volunteer for an organization - but it's the daily practices that help us develop the coping skills we need for the daily and the unusual crisis. It's also the daily practices that help us know when we need to do something more intense. This week look for the moments when you can actively remember your Creator ... your Divine Beloved. Think about what Deuteronomy suggests to, "Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Think of ways to remember today, so that in the future the memory will come to you when you need it.