Two weeks ago the Sunday magazine, Parade , had an article by Roger Rosenblatt celebrating the opening of baseball season. On the page, right in the middle, was a picture. It was a black and white picture of the great New York Yankee player, no. 7 – Mickey Mantle-- with his back to the camera just before the fifth game of the 1964 World Series. The picture is taken at the old Yankee Stadium. When I saw the picture a rush of memories came flooding into me. Growing up in that era and as a New York boy, the Yankees were my heroes and at the head of the list was Mickey Mantle.
I remember as a very young boy being taken by my father from our home on Long Island to the Bronx to see my one and only Yankee game. I remember walking by an open door and being able to see into the outfield and being overwhelmed by the sea of green. Later when we got into the park and got to our seats with the necessary hot dog (and hot dogs always seem to taste best when eaten at the ball park), I sat in awe of the huge, beautiful stadium and the crowd and the wave of excitement rolling throughout the park. I don’t remember much of the game, but it is an experience and a feeling that is forever etched into my soul. To this day, whenever I go to a ball game, these memories come flooding back to me and give me a deep sense of joy.
Memories. We all have them. Of course, not all memories are good ones. There is a lot of trauma and hurt and sadness associated with some memories. I am grateful that there are people whom God can send into our lives to help us with the healing of memories. But we all have some good memories that stir us or bring a smile to our face when we remember them or sustain us when the going gets rough.
The Lenten journey is related to a memory. We follow Jesus through the 40 days leading to his passion and resurrection. We remember his temptations, his struggles, his faithfulness, and his death. We gather for worship and we are reminded through the communion meal of our connection with Jesus and the followers of Jesus down through the century who have gathered around the table to remember him. And this memory can kindle in us a renewed commitment to continue the journey.
In a recent article in The Christian Century magazine, Baptist pastor Anne Jernberg shares a memory of attending a prayer service at a monastery during Holy Week. There she was on her knees on the cold slate floor with monks and others who had gathered for evening prayer and together they were singing the Taize refrain, “Stay with me; remain here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray” over and over again. It was a song, a request and a prayer. It is based on the request Jesus had spoken to his disciples who were with him in the garden on that last night. Jernberg writes: “It was then that I realized that Jesus needed me to walk with him…..It never dawned on me that the usual evening prayer service would be radically altered because we were remembering an unusual evening in Jesus’ life. I experienced something that night….That night on my knees changed my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.”
Memories can do that. They can change the way we see the present and the future. They can give us renewed strength to press on. That is what the writer of Hebrews is trying to convey in that great statement in Chapter 12: “Since we are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” The “cloud of witnesses” are those who have run the race, as has Jesus. This is the memory that inspires us, encourages us, gives us hope that the journey, while difficult, is worth the effort. And that is why we need each other on this pilgrimage to and through the cross, our Lenten journey. When I forget or can’t remember why it matters to keep on, you can remind me. When you forget, I am there to remind you and encourage you. When we both forget we have a community that supports us and prays for and with us and gathers with us around the Lord’s Table as a congregation of the people of God on pilgrimage.
What memories inspire you? Delight you? Frighten you? Hurt you? Encourage you? Do you remember your life-changing encounter with Christ? Do you remember when it first hit you, really hit you, that God loved YOU? Maybe that memory has faded and as you walk the Lenten path you aren’t quite sure why? REMEMBER that you are loved by God with an unconditional love. Remember that you are not alone on this journey, that Christ and a community of the faithful travel with you. Peace
