Part of why some people stick in our minds over the years is because they are part of memories that stand out from the rest. You could say we have made significant memories with them.
One of the things that family traditions accomplish is the making of memories and then building on those memories over time. They become an ingrained part of our life, sinking their roots deep in our remembrances.
One of the suggestions that marriage counselors often give to couples is for them to make memories together, to go and do significant things with each other, building that pool of remembrances that bind people together. It is important to create a shared history.
That brings me to today’s question. Have you made an effort to make memories with God? One of the strong points of liturgical churches and the seasons of the Christian year (which come from the liturgy), is their history and memory. Liturgy is really common spiritual memory shared on a regular basis.
There are very few sermons that I remember anything from when I look back across the years of my church attendance, which is the mainstay of the non-liturgical church. Yet I know the Gloria, the Creed, the Confession of Sin, the Word of Consecration, and the Prayer of Humble Access and I encounter them regularly with my brothers and sisters. Yes, I get good sermons at my liturgical church, some of them are classic, and yes, I get good music and praise, but I get more. In the liturgy I get to make memories with God.
They become touch points within the service where I grow comfortable, for lack of a better word, with all that is spiritual. It is like a special family gathering and we all have our parts, but Father is the center of attention, the purpose, the reason we have gotten together. And in doing so, each Sunday, we make memories with God, and continue to build on them from repetition to repetition, from week to week.
That is the good side of the process, the thing I want to celebrate today, because we should want to make memories with those whom we love. We want to share the moment and then later remember that sharing.
As we begin moving into the final days of our Lenten experience, may you find the opportunities to make your own memories with God and have ample circumstances to build on those remembrances over the coming year.
