In Remembrance

I am typing these words about mid morning on December 7, 2021. While I am not a “news junkie,” I do tend to gravitate toward sources for news on the television, radio, internet, etc.  

So far this morning, most of what I’ve heard and read has been about political infighting, moral decay, scandals involving people who seem to be famous merely for being famous, and other subjects that the various news media seem to think are important.

It is sad to me that I’ve heard only one brief mention of an event that happened eighty years ago today. The president of our nation would address a joint session of Congress on the next day and refer to this date eighty years ago as  “…a date which will  live in infamy….” Sadly, it seems that it is failing to live in our memories at all.  

The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 occurred about seven years before I was born. For that reason, while it may live in infamy, it cannot live in my memory.  

That is definitely not the case for older generations. My father-in-law went into the army and marched off to war as a healthy and vibrant teenager. He came back to our country as a man in a hospital bed. Fortunately, he did not spend the rest of his life in that bed, but he did have to use an artificial leg and carry with him the emotional scars caused by what he had gone through.  

My father entered the army when he was about thirty years old. Possibly due to his “advanced age,” he was never sent  overseas, but he followed the orders he was given in an effort to enhance our nation’s chances for victory. Unlike my father-in-law who was single when he went into the army, my father was in the very early years of his marriage to my mother. They had waited to be married longer than many couples do and, now, they would not be able to be together at times.  

The number of people who were alive on December 7, 1941 is dwindling each day, but I think that it is very safe to say that those who were alive then and who were old enough to know what happened probably remember exactly where they were when they heard about the attack on our naval base.

As I thought about the significance of this date, I remembered another “anniversary date” that passed recently with very little notice. I may not have any way of having a memory of the events that took place on December 7, 1941, but I can tell you exactly where I was and how I heard the news about the assassination of president John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

Until that happened, presidential assassinations were things we read about in history books. On that day and for several days that followed the events unfolded “in real time” by means of the various media of that era.

The attention given (or not given) this year to those two dates, December 7th and November 22nd, has caused me to do some thinking. It seems that memories fade with time. People, places, and events that were once in the forefront of our minds tend to be relegated to increasing insignificance.  

The One who created us knows this (and everything else) about us. Even a cursory reading of His Word reveals that He authorized various means by which His people could remember Him and what He had and was  doing  for them.

The ultimate example of this did not take place at a naval base in Hawaii or in Dallas, Texas. As the song says, it took place on a hill far away.

What took place, again according to the lyrics of that song, on that old rugged cross, should never fade in our memories. The New Testament informs us that the pattern and instruction found therein is that Christians commemorated the death of the Savior weekly as a part of their worship.  

In Acts 20:7, Paul participated in a worship service during which disciples (Christians) met on “the first day of the week…to break bread…” When Paul provided instruction to the church at Corinth concerning their worship, he included instructions concerning the Lord’s supper. This was to be done “…when you come together as a church… (1 Cor. 11:18 – see also vs. 17 & 20). Later in that letter, we read that this coming together was “On the first day of every week… (1 Cor. 16:2, ESV).  

I’ve heard the opinions of some who suggest that the weekly observance of the Lord’s supper diminishes its significance. I would suggest that this could be God’s way to keep the memory of the greatest sacrifice ever made fresh in our minds. After all, He knows how easy it is for us to forget.

With all of the elaborate celebrations and other events which are designed to honor Jesus, many seem to forget that He made the following request (gave the following command) in reference to the Lord’s supper:

This do in remembrance of me (1 Cor. 11:24).

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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn