Do this in remembrance of me.

Remembering is important but how good is your memory?  Some things (like riding a bike or using a knife and fork) become so deeply ingrained by use that we just do them without a thought.  Others, like birthdays and anniversaries, are best entered in the diary.  We all develop little tricks and rituals to help us.

Remembering is not only about us as individuals.  Shared experiences can build communities; so shared experiences call for shared acts of remembering.  The war memorials in our villages and churches testify to the shared loss of war, together with the need to remember that loss and the reasons for it; a visible focus to bind the community.  Memorials also serve to bridge the divide between generations; reminding us of our shared heritage, struggles and joys.

In the beginning, when God created mankind, he saw that it was not good for man to be alone.  We are created to live in community with other humans.  Community, however, doesn’t just happen; we have to work at it.  When Satan tempted us to go-it-alone he broke not only the bond with God (Genesis 3) but also with each other (Genesis 4).

Jesus came to restore that bond; his purpose, echoing earlier teaching (eg: Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18), summed up as Love God and Love your neighbour as yourself (eg: Mark 12:30,31).  That restoration was achieved at the cost of his own death and subsequent resurrection.

The night before he died he and his friends shared a meal which Jesus turned into a symbol where they would remember him, and all that they had shared together.  Breaking bread, and sharing a common cup he said This is my body, this is my blood, given for you; Do this, in remembrance of me.  This simple act echoes down the centuries; an act of self-giving intended to unite us into fellowship both with Jesus and his followers in every age.

Coming to the altar to share bread and wine can only be a communal act; an act of remembering where we have come from, (the foot of the cross), where we are going (eternal life) and above all how we make the journey: together with each other and with Jesus; Jesus who says Do this in remembrance of me.

Rev’d Philip Payne                                                                       Trinity 2024

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