by Meg Jenista
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:12-17
Moses tells the people, “Re-orient your lives one day a week in order to remember. Remember what you were. Remember that you are so no longer. Remember what God has done.”
But the people forgot to remember.
Paul writes, at a much later date to a much similar people. People who also forget to remember. Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free! Stand firm then and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Paul tells the people, “Re-orient your lives by the grace Christ has offered. Remember that you are set free in Christ. Remember that you are slaves no longer. Remember to live as what you are – beloved and redeemed – rather than what you once were – slaves to the law.
Remember what God has done.”
But the people forgot to remember.
There are plenty of things I forget to remember
Milk at the grocery store
A friend’s birthday
I forget to remember what I did with my parking garage ticket.
I would forget to remember to feed my cat…if she’d let me.
But there are other things – important things – that I also forget to remember.
It doesn’t just frustrate me,
It wounds me and wounds others,
It diminishes me and diminishes others,
When I forget to remember these things.
I forget to remember that I am human and limited and breakable.
I forget to remember that I have served as a slave to the very worst incarnations of myself.
I forget to remember that each person I meet is broken just like I am but beautiful.
I forget about the Cross
Where Jesus remembered me.
He remembered
My sorrows,
My bellowing sins,
My aching disappointments
My twisted up parts.
He remembered the whole broken world
And he remembered me.
He remembered to forget my failure
He remembered to forget my stubborn belligerence.
He remembered to forget that, by my sin, I was his enemy.
He remembered to forget my sin altogether
As far as the east is from the west.
He remembered the whole broken world.
And he remembered you.
Meg Jenista is pastor of DC Christian Reformed Church in Washington, DC.
