Anyone out there who has trouble remembering? In talking around it seems to be an almost universal complaint--and not just with older people. And the trouble with forgetting is that we may lose the good things as well as the bad. I don’t mind losing the bad experiences, but the good ones: that’s another matter.

So, I have devised some ways of remembering: telling stories (often repeatedly) helps, chatting with my brother or Carol (my built-in memory keepers), and looking at my journal entries or archives binders (when I get around to it) are helpful. But perhaps the best helpers, spiritual wise, are the church year and the Scriptures. With the latter I find it absolutely amazing that I can read and re-read the same passage multiple times and keep on getting something that seems new and fresh but then I discover that I had ‘discovered’ it previously as well, albeit often with a new twist or application. So, memory and remembering are important to us--and, of course, to God as well.

The first part of today’s Scripture passage touches on what has to be an almost universally ignored or disobeyed principle, one that comes from the very mouth of Jesus, namely that we should treat others as we would wish them to treat others. So, do we find this being practiced in the political arena, not on your life? No way, it is my party or my agenda or my point of view that counts! Or, how about when it comes to the propagation of views, opinions, or ideas. Once again, only one point of view or set of ideas is counted as worthy of attention and respect. The others are ‘politically incorrect’ or not appropriate to our currently acceptable ways of thinking. And, even on a personal level, don’t we often think that our ideas and agendas are the appropriate ones, and dismiss the others. I’m afraid that far too often we don’t treat others as we would wish to be treated. In this then, we need to pull up our socks. Fortunately, God can, and will, help us in this.

Our society, and certainly the advertisers that frequent it, are always harping upon us to need--or want--more. They cultivate a mentality of need and of desire and of scarcity. They foster an atmosphere of dissatisfaction, of never having ‘enough’. However, in contrast to this, we are advised to find our hope and satisfaction in God, and in Christ Jesus, and to know--and internalize--the reality (as Psalm 23 states) that in Him we have need of nothing. So, let us, you and I, please our hope, and those insistent desires, plainly at His feet, and let Him take care of them.

I don’t know how many books I have in my library on the subject of prayer, and surprisingly--or maybe, not so surprisingly--the majority of them are on how to pray. Indeed, that was a question that the disciples asked Jesus (see Luke 11:1). And both here (verses 2-4) and in today’s passage (Matthew 6:9-13) He gives them a plain and rather straightforward answer in the words we know as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. So, maybe, instead of all these books--many of which I have not read--we should just use Jesus’ prayer as our model and template.

Sometimes people take passages of Holy Scripture out of their original context in order to make all sorts of incredible claims. For instance, ‘the health and wealth gospel’, what I call the ‘name it and claim it’ mentality, promotes the idea that God desires us all to be healthy and wealthy, and that all we need to do is to claim it.

Some people have said the same kind of thing in terms of God’s protection and loving care, namely that God will never allow anything bad to happen to us. But, actually, Jesus told us just the opposite. He told us to expect trouble and opposition in this world, and even suffering and death. But He also told us that we would eternally safe, safe in Him, if we would only continue to hold on to Him and trust Him. And so, trouble is only fleeting and momentary, and even death itself is not the final answer. Our abiding in Him, our place in Him, transcends even that. Thanks be to God.

Something that Bible scholars and commentators often suggest is using the psalms as a kind of prayer therapy--that is, using them as prayers that forthrightly expressed our deepest emotions, whether good or bad. I haven’t tried that too much, but it seems as if Jesus might have done that, given that He begins Psalm 22 while hanging on the Cross. We don’t know whether He continued on with it, but I suspect that He did.

As I said, I haven’t used the psalms in this fashion, but certainly have used the hymns in this way. And, I have found this to be quite therapeutic and quite helpful. Perhaps you might like to try it as well. Well, whether it is the psalms or hymns, there is much to set our minds and emotions on edge these days, so anything that might be helpful is well worth the try.

Today’s passage and meditation touch on something that is truly counter-cultural for much of our world’s actions and discourses today. Not replying in kind, not rendering ‘tit for tat’, is not the way that much of it works. Seldom is there a win-win situation, but rather a win-lose one. But Jesus is calling us to something different.

Now, to be honest, I find that advice to be, if I am frank about it, quite trying and difficult. There are people and opinions out there, not to mention actions, that I profoundly disagree with. I would prefer not to have to deal with them, much less talk to them. And, as for giving them any space or allowing myself to be inconvenienced by them, much less working and wishing their well-being, that is an entirely different and more difficult thing for me.

But, Jesus commanded it, and so, it stands to reason that it is not only possible, but that He aids us in so doing.

Jesus taught us that love of God and love of neighbour inextricably belong together, or put another way, that our faith and trust in God needs to be shown forth, evidenced, in our love and care for others. That isn’t always an easy task, especially given the ‘neighbours’ we are sometimes given ‘to work with’. However, in this we are not commanded to love them in the sense of ‘liking’ them or even being ‘favourably disposed to’, but rather simply to want and work for what is best in their lives. In other words, this love is not a feeling but an action, an act of the will. Knowing that, doesn’t make it easy or simple, but does clear away some of the barriers.

Probably the two most fundamental questions are those raised by Mark’s Gospel, namely ‘Who is Jesus (to each of us)? And ‘What does that mean in terms of our own individual lives?” In other words, if Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, the Lord, then how do we respond? There will be many who say, “So what? He’s not my Saviour or Lord”, and that makes sense. But then, what about us who claim Him as Saviour and Lord? That is the ‘million-dollar question’, a question we must address--and live out--every single day.

It is too bad that most of us don’t know Hebrew, for today’s psalm, Psalm 119, is an acrostic based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each new stanza begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line continues with that letter. Thus every line in verses 1-8 begins with the letter Aleph, lines 9-16 with the letter Beth, etc. This is meant as an aid to memorization. (You will notice that the Canadian Book of Alternative Services and the 2019 Book of Common Prayer both have these headings.)

But even apart from simply acting as an aid to memorization, this set-up wants to alert us to something so very important, namely the importance of knowing, understanding--and obeying--what God has revealed to us, His word, His commands, His teachings, His laws etc. To the psalmist, this is more than of ‘passing importance’: it is essential to our lives as God’s people.

But, herein there’s the rub: how many of us and our fellow Christians actually take the time to study and understand the Scriptures, much less meditate upon them and commit them to memory, so that they become part of our very beings, part of the way we subconsciously think and act and speak. I have to admit that, though I love the Scriptures and endeavour to read and study them every day, I am absolutely dismal at memorizing them. And, as for obeying them, well, the jury is probably ‘out’ on that one.

So, today’s Scripture and meditation are timely and useful reminders to all of us to ‘pull up our socks’ and become a bit more intentional, and disciplined, in our study and application of Scripture.

Today’s meditation put me in mind of something said in my ordination vows so many years ago, “Will you do your best to pattern your life (and that of your family) in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?” (BAS pp. 656 and 647). It is something expected of priests and deacons, but then, is this not something that all of us, lay or ordained, should also strive for? I certainly think so. After all, the entire world is watching!

Today’s psalm comes at a very traumatic point in the future King David’s life. People have let him down--again. And, worse than that, it is his own people, his own tribesmen, and worst of all, they have gone to his enemy, Saul, of their own free will, and have offered to surrender David into his hands. How awful is that!

But probably all of us have been let down by someone we trusted, by friends perhaps, or sad to say, perhaps even one’s own family. Yes, I have seen far too many family situations over the years where family members were at odds with each other--or worse!

But here we have some good news. Both Psalm 27 verse 10 and Isaiah 49 verse 15 speak of situations where someone near and dear to us has let us down. But then they assert that the Lord will never, ever do so. God will always and ever be there for us. That is the message of today’s meditation, and it is ever good news for us to hear. Thanks be to God.

Today, according to one lectionary, is Good Shepherd Sunday, and happens to be one of my favourite Sundays of the year, namely because it focuses so intently on God’s incredible and never-ending, never-failing love and care for us. To me, that truly is something worth remembering, and celebrating.

The book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Scriptures has all sorts of pithy and wise sayings. One of these is Proverbs 3:7, which reads “Be not wise in our own eyes” (also translated 'own conceit, wisdom or opinion’). Other translations render it, 'Don’t depend on your own wisdom’, ‘don’t consider yourself to be wise’, and ‘never let yourself think you are wiser than you are.’ The next phrase puts it all into the proper perspective: ‘fear/ respect/ obey the Lord.’

All of this coincides nicely with what our psalmist for today has learned: namely that it is best to seek God’s ways and God’s wisdom rather than our own, and to seek to understand it more completely and then obey it.

It is good advice for everyone, regardless of what age or place we happen to live in. God’s way is best.