Have you not known? Psalm 147:1-11
Have you not heard? Isaiah 40:21-31
February 8, 2009
Metairie, Louisiana
I just bet each of you have known how could I forget a story. And how could I forget salt at the grocery store? That's what I went for! And how could I forget my brother's birthday? Because he is so precious to me! And how could I forget the name of my new colleague? I just met her this morning?
I remember a legendary story from my son's youthful years. He was a notable forgetter B one time he showed up at a soccer game and he had forgotten one cleat!
My grandmother, who we called AMaasie@ had a favorite Ahow could we forget@ story and as she told it, the joke was on her. My parents and the four children were visiting at Maasie=s farm in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts. Maasie had planned a picnic nearby Lake Bevel B or was it Bhevl Lake B I=ve forgotten. She=d put up a good lunch. She was a passable cook, but a blue ribbon, lip smacking great pie maker. She was so much fun that eating was not really the main point anyway. Besides lunch we packed up blankets thermos of lemonade, towels, and beach toys B all the stuff for a carload of children and adults. We all packed into the family station wagon, as Maasie remembers it, and were a few minutes on the road, when Maasie slapped her forehead and gave a loud squeak. AOh,@ she announced B Awe forgot the baby! We left Mark in his basket in the dining room! How could we forget the baby?@
How could we forget? That very question is the question behind the questions that the prophet Isaiah asks the people.
AHave you not known?@ he asks. (Of course, they have) AHave you not heard? (Of course, they have) Of course they know; of course they heard . . . but they were acting as if they had forgotten, as if they needed reminding! How could they have forgotten God?
Every single on of them has heard since infancy and recited throughout adulthood the words of the Shema: Hear, O Israel the Lord is One and you shall love the Lord they God, with all thy heart with all thy soul, with all thy might. They posted the words on their doorway to remind themselves as they passed through their homes daily.
Every one of them has come to the temple to chant psalms that declare God=s might and God=s tenderness. Every parent taught children the salvation story B how God liberated them from slavery in Egypt and gave them a law to guide a healthy community. Every child knew the Ten Commandments and the stories of creation.
Have they not known? Of course they have. Have they not heard? Of course they heard.
And how about us today gathered for worship? Of course we know; of course we have heard. Some of us learned in Sunday school or at church camp; some of us learned from a grandparent those old, old stories of Jesus and his love.
Some of us learned later in life B maybe a neighbor invited us to a Christmas Eve service, or we attended a religious college like Dillard or Loyola. Every one of us has heard a Bible reading, sung a hymn, chanted a creed. Every one of us has been introduced to God.
We know that God is magnificently grand, creator of the cosmos, and also tenderly intimate B calling each by name, feeding a baby bird like a mother bird.
We know about God=s precious child, Jesus who brought an expansion of the Shema, AThou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.@
We know. We=ve heard. We have been introduced to Jesus the Christ, who comes to heal, and to liberate, and to forgive. We baptize in Jesus= name; we share communion and hear his words that tell us to remember. He came to gather us, to ordain us for ministry to the hungry, the homeless, the naked, and the lonely, to welcome the stranger, to include the outcast.
We do know, don=t we?
So why do we act (just sometimes) why do we act like we have forgotten?
Apparently, the Israelites repeatedly acted as if they forgot about God. I looked up the word Aforget@ in my Bible Concordance and found the word used about 100 times just in Deuteronomy and Psalms. It=s a constant refrain, almost nagging . . . Have you forgotten again, my people? How can you forget me? You forget my name . . . you forget my covenant . . . my law . . . my commandments . . . my statues . . . my precepts . . . Have you forgotten that I am your shelter, your true home? Have you forgotten my mighty works? The wonders I performed for you? God=s providence and grace? Have you forgotten I released you from affliction? Resaved you from starvation? How could you forget?
Has God forgotten you? Ho; not ever. God could no more forget you than a nursing mother forgets her child.
Evidently the people are ever-so-prone to act like they never have known, never have heard. They act like they forgot. After all that God has provided, it seems impossible they could forget, doesn=t it?
So God sends Isaiah, then other prophets, then finally Christ B so the people may remember to act like they know God.
In Isaiah=s day the people had suffered a horrible tragedy B their city had been devastated by a foreign army. Their beautiful temple was destroyed. The leaders of the city and the nation were dragged away to Babylon as captives. All the social institutions were devastated B no schools, no place of worship, marketplaces empty, government and religious leaders all gone. Along with social chaos came economic disintegration.
We know something about their situation, don=t we? We know how tragic events overwhelm civic structures, neighborhoods, landscape and housing and infrastructure. We know, also, how it feels to be the remnant B the people left behind when the others depart.
We know the exhaustion, the fear, the sadness, the shock of tragedy on a massive scale. And I hope we recognize that we are not much different than Isaiah=s people. And I hope we can understand that it=s no wonder they forgot to act as if they had known, had heard God=s name. Tragedy on a massive scale not only destroys buildings, it interferes with memory, with reason, with all the functions of the human brain.
Police investigators will tell you that crime victims and even witnesses are so shocked that their memories are unreliable.
Likewise hospice counselors caution the bereaved person not to make any major decisions for a year or more because when you are grieving it=s almost impossible to think straight. Following loss or trauma, our brains just don=t function well. We are not at our best.
We are too:
Dis-oriented
Dis-rupted
Dis-turbed
And so beloved, we can even forget God. We forget God=s great commandment to love one another as we love ourselves. We forget that our faith rest in God the creator and God the tender Shepherd.
Our thinking gets so shaky that we believe the stock market or a retirement plan or the government agencies are our salvation. We imagine that by our own superior efforts or excellent planning or accumulated wealth we are secure. Isaiah=s people were shocked to find out otherwise.
If we trust the testimony from our Bible B apparently it=s easy to forget God. To rely instead on human ingenuity, rather than God=s abundant grace.
I think we come to worship to remember. Remember that we are not alone. Remember that although we neglect God=s precepts, God forgets not the name of every star and every creature in his grand creation. To remember that God=s edict is love B love God and neighbor as yourself. Remember to love the stranger as if the stranger were our sister. Remember the ones who are likely to be forgotten B the poor, the afflicted, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the prisoners.
ARemember me,@ Jesus says. ARemember me when you take bread, when you take cup.@ Remember to receive the presence of God, which permeates everyday, morning or evening . . . permeates all activity all relationships, any event that comes our way. Remember.
In our prayers, in our hymns, in our conversation, in our decision B remember that God is good. (All the time.) All the Time. (God is good.). Amen.
