Transitions
“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
Over and over God’s gift to His people has been the instruction to remember. Remember His faithfulness. Remember how you have trusted Him in the past and He has provided and cared for you.
And to help people remember, God often had them make memorials– altars, a special tree, a pile of stones. Memorials are those visual triggers the get us to remember. And we have to remember how God has helped if we are going to step out in courage to what He has for us next.
On Sunday we took a pause to remember something God did in the past year– something that gives us hope for our future so we can follow Him in our present. I hope you found a spot for your rock. Tomorrow several of us will walk around our building and I plan on ‘planting’ my rock in the future spot where we will have after-service snacks. I have had so many good conversations at the snack table and I have met so many new people. It is a place that puts me at ease, makes me laugh, and makes me thankful. God has been faithful at our snack table and I can’t wait to see how He connects people to Himself and each other in the years to come.
On Sunday, July 20, we will say thanks to our incredible, 17-month hosts: Little Falls Presbyterian Church. It will not be our last Sunday to worship there, but it is a chance to deliberately put down a memorial of thanksgiving. Restoration has learned a lot about open-handed generosity from everyone at Little Falls. I hope you will join us at 5pm as we say thank you.
-David
July 17, 2014 @ 9:04 am
The hardest place for any organization is not deciding to change nor is it arriving at its goal but in between because the natural tendency is to return to the familiar. We do so because we know it and it seems easier. Israel would rather have returned to slavery so they could eat melons and onions again. God wanted them to remember their escape, the desert, and his provision at every turn; hence, Aaron’s rod and manna in the ark where He was enthroned and the annual observance of Passover. It’s also why Jesus instituted Eucharist “in remembrance of me.”
I read a long time ago that the failure to remember is the root of apostasy. Let us take our history with us as well as our continued thanks and dependence. God has prepared great things for us to do, but He has also prepared us in the bargain. As David taught us, we will do well to remember as we return, not once, but regularly, when we return to our touchstones.