In John Steinbeck’s great novel The Grapes of Wrath, a migrating Okie family is told not to waste vital packing space on photographs and other items of family history and memories. One of the family members responds, “How will we know it’s us without our past?”
Our past and heritage remind us we are not orphans, but we are heirs of a great inheritance. We have a grand “his-story.” And we are part of a long, on-going story. We need to keep alive the stories for they, in a real sense, keep us alive. We are what we remember.
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a powerful story that says it well. A young man meets and falls in love with a beautiful young lady. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. She is from outside the solar system. She asks her husband if she can go home one more time before they set up their home. When she gets back, she has with her a rather large box, and says, “We’ll get married and I’ll live here, but this box must remain in our home, and you must never look in it.” He says, “That’s okay. No problem there.” The days went by, and one day she was away from the house for a long period and he was there by himself. The box kept saying, “Come and look, come and look.” He went over to the box and got the nerve to open it up. He felt he had to know what was in it. When he opened it up, it was empty. That made him angry.
When the wife came in, he said to her, “You told me not to look into the box. It seemed to be special to you. I made a special place in our home for it. Then when I opened the top and looked in, it was absolutely empty. How could you pull a fraud like this on me?”
Tears were coming down her cheeks. She said, “You’ve missed the whole point. You remember when I went back to my planet? I went to get this special box and filled it with all the aromas of the crops and the homes, the aromas of the people of the streets–all of them are in this box. And when I get terribly homesick, I go and breathe deeply of the memories that are in that box. Now you have called what is very special to me ‘profane’.”
In the scriptures, memory is a powerful perfume from the past in which one continues his connection to God’s saving acts in history. That is why every time the Hebrews would forget where they came from, they are always reminded by their leaders of their story — how God brought them out of Egypt and how God journeyed with them in the wilderness until they came to the land promised to them by God. Who they are is partly because of their history.
For us Christians, partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a reminder how God sent Jesus to live among us that we can experience God’s “prevenient” grace.
By Jesus giving his life on the cross, he showed us the greatness of God’s love. When Jesus died, more happened than just another Jew being hanged on a Roman cross. Something of cosmic and eternal importance took place, and we are never the same again.
Christ’s love is offered to us in spite of who we are. It is given to us because God’s very nature is love. In John 15:13 Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Is there anybody who would die for you? Is there anyone whom you would die for? Christ willingly laid down his life for you and for me – his friends.
Thus, when we put the bread in our mouth and drink from the cup, it helps us remember his body broken and his blood poured out for us. It reminds us of a love that forgives, heals, strengthens and restores.
It is just but fitting that we also open SU Founders Day celebration which is also a time of remembering.
One of the reasons why alumni and friends come back to the campus is to reconnect with the past, and reconnect with friends. It is a time to be reminded of who we are. We remember those times when students knew each other personally; of the time when sweethearts came to the Vesper or Midweek service, and enjoy each other’s touch, as holding hands in public was a no-no; of the time when we had to walk in campus for the only means of transportation on campus was a bicycle; or riding in a tartanilla around the City; when Galilean fellowships meant free breakfast hosted by a faculty member.
But more than all these, I pray that it is also a time to remember and to give thanks that through Silliman University, we have felt strongly the presence of God in our lives, and our faith strengthened in a God who is always with us in times of difficulties as well as in times of celebration. The theme for this year is appropriate, for we remember God who is our fortress and our protector.
Who we are today is because of Silliman University — where we get not only an education but a life strengthened by the steadfast love of God wherever we roam.
In July 1505, Martin Luther was almost hit by a bolt of lightning. Because of that experience, he decided to become a monk against the wishes of his father. At the age of 29, he became a faculty member of the University of Wittenberg. On Oct. 31, 1517, he hurled his challenge to the Church establishment, nailing his 95-page theses at the door of the Church. Thus, Reformation began.
One of the hymns that he wrote is A Mighty Fortress is our God. This became the battle hymn of the Reformation. This became an inspiration of the leaders of the Reformation. In spite of the challenges around, he believed that God is our fortress, a bulwark never failing. If we depend on our strength, our striving would be losing. It is only with Jesus that we can win the battles in life.
As we start SU Founders Day celebration, I pray that we do not forget what God has done, is doing, and wants to do through us. Do not forget. But remember.
