A Room Called Remember*

*with thanks to Frederick Buechner for the title

My memory told me it was Immanuel Kant, but when I fact checked my memory, which I need to do more and more, I discovered I was wrong. (Which also happens more and more.) It was the French philosopher Rene Descartes. I won’t risk the French since the only way I passed 10th grade French in high school was my Mom promised the teacher I would never take French again. But in English, the way Descartes’ famous philosophical proposition is usually translated is: I think therefore I am.

So, this morning, alongside Soren Kierkegaard and Bernard Williams and other renowned philosophers who have mounted an intellectual and philosophical challenge to Descartes’ proposition, I add this TV commercial which I saw as I was having breakfast one morning while on vacation. (And, I bet you thought I was going to speak this morning about esoteric philosophical ideas.) The commercial was for a one off supplement which claimed to improve memory as one grows older. But it was the tagline which caught my attention.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

There is some truth to this, I think.
When families gather we retell stories.
Stories which usually begin with “Remember when…”
Stories which both shape and reinforce your family narrative. Who you are and what you value and what it means to be a family. What it means to be your family.

And as well as families, good friends remember and tell their stories. Stories which sustain your friendship even if you have not seen each other in years or when you now live on opposite sides of the world. And, as citizens and as a nation, we remember and tell stories reinforcing the narrative of what it means to be an American and what it means to be patriotic and the values for which the United States stands and which she holds dear. And, we see what happens when someone rejects or objects to those stories or has a different story to tell.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

And, while this morning is about memories…
Both what you remember and what memories you want to make,
What I would ask you to think about is primarily not about family or friends or country, but about Jesus. And, God. And faith. And, church. And about the values wrapped up in all of those. Values which we do our best to hold close to the center of our lives.

As I leapfrogged from that commercial to this morning, I remembered a book written by Frederick Buechner entitled A Room Called Remember. And, it struck me that that is what this room is and what we do when we are in this room. We remember. Amidst the challenges and complexity and pressures of life which we all face and feel, here we are reminded of and remember that Something More. That Something Other. However you describe or name that More or Other.
God.
The Force.
The Ground of Being.
Your Higher power.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

And, this room is also a place where we remember we are part of the larger human family.  A family which was reinforced over and over again for me in that song I learned as a child. While the imagery and language is no longer appropriate or works like it once did, the message remains, I remember.
“Red and yellow, black and white all are precious in God’s sight.”
“Your memories make you who you are.”

And, in this room called remember we are reminded of things like:
Gratitude.
Grace.
Forgiveness.
Compassion.
Justice.
Peace.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

And, this room remembers and holds those holy moments which mark our lives.
Baptisms.
Confirmations.
Weddings.
Funerals.
I remember a conversation I had with a long time member of Bedford Presbyterian who moved to California a number of years ago. He said for many years he thought church buildings, even a building as beautiful as this, were superfluous. An unnecessary expense when there was so much need and so much work for faith communities to do. Unnecessary that is until it came time for his daughter’s wedding and he walked her down the aisle.
Holy moments.
Holy places.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

And, then there is Jesus.
Wrapping arms around the blind and the sick.
Including the excluded.
Remembering the forgotten.
Jesus…
Blessed are the peacemakers…
You are the light of the world…
Love God.
Love neighbor.
Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Jesus.
Weaving together a community which was and is so very different from the prevailing order and expectations and assumptions of the day. I remember.
“Your memories make you who you are.”

Many of you have heard me use this quote before.
At the risk of wearing it out, I share it with you again.
Also, by Frederick Buechner.
When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again you will know me. It means that even after I die you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.

Which brings me to this question.
What do you remember about Jesus?
What mark has he left on your life?
Is a part of your being here…
Our being here…
That which provides a reminder and an opportunity to summon him back to your heart and mind? To hear again what he has to say about your life and our life and about who you and we are called to be and what you and we are called to do even though 2000+ years stand between then and now? If memories do, in fact, make you who you are not just as a person, but as a person of faith, what do you remember…want to remember…
About Jesus?
About God?
About holy places and holy moments?
About awe and forgiveness and gratitude and grace?
About the memories you still wait to be made?

“Your memories make you who you are.”