Story Helps Us Remember

Your high school locker combination. The significance of the Stamp Act of 1765. The lyrics to “Ice, Ice Baby.”

There are a host of things that we once knew, but could easily forget – or have forgotten – with zero consequences. But God’s goodness to His people is not one of those things. The classic example of this is the Hebrew people traipsing through the desert, griping and moaning about going back to Egypt. You know who knew they would be forgetful? God.

That’s why He instituted seven festivals, the Yamim Tovim (ימים טובים, “Good Days”) The Passover festival recalls when the Hebrew people living as slaves in Egypt were commanded to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on the door posts and lintels of their homes. Then, God “passed over” the houses of the Jews marked by the lamb’s blood, but killed the first-born sons of all families in the houses that were not set apart with blood (Exodus 12). Likewise with the other six festivals. The festivals were themselves stories designed to represent stories lived, not just to remember the past, but to lay the groundwork for a future to come. Two more examples… “When the whole nation was finally across, GOD spoke to Joshua: “Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, and tell them, ‘From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.’” Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel, so you’ll have something later to mark the occasion. When your children ask you, ‘What are these stones to you?’ you’ll say, ‘The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of GOD as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.’” (Joshua 4:1-3, 5-7) “…the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me. (I Corinthians 11:23b-24) In a roundabout way, it’s not unlike when you were in school; how did you recall the names of the Great Lakes? With an acrostic: ‘HOMES’ – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. What are the tunings on the six strings of a guitar? E-B-G-D-A-E: ‘Easter Bunny Gets Drunk At Easter.’ Wait, was that just my guitar teacher? Okay, don’t worry about that one.

Different metaphor: when you have a lot of things to carry, the one thing you need is a bag. Something to keep it all together. Sometimes a story is that bag. A holiday, a physical memorial, a sacrament… they all help us to remember, making it easier to take the stories of God’s faithfulness with us.