Forgetfulness

I have not been particularly good at blogging lately. In fact I haven't blog much at all. That's in part due to the chaos of preparations that preceeds holy week and Easter Sunday. It's also in part because of the busyness that buying a house and moving into the house has added to my schedule. But it is also in part due to my simply forgetting to do it. But it would seem that I'm not the only forgetful one.

I have been skimming the articles on cnn.com about the recent United Nations anti-racist conference. It certainly weighs heavy on my heart that we have such a capacity within us to wound our brothers and sisters. We have this keen ability to spot the differences in one another and yet seem blind when it comes to the vast percentage of things we have in common. Maybe it's because we all want to be unique and special. Maybe it's because we've been trained since we were young kids to "choose the item that doesn't belong" or "find the six differences in these two picture." I don't really know.

At the UN conference, the president of Iran made a controversial speach about how Israel is a racist country with racist policies and even accused Israel of committing genocide. I admit that I don't know all the issues involved in the very complicate situation between Israel and Palestine. I don't know all about the president of Iran either. In fact the only other thing I really remember about him is that not too long ago he said the holocaust never happened and that it was made up by the Jews.

I think what's most ironic to me about all of this is that the day after Iran's president called Israel racist, Israel observed their holocaust memorial day. It's a day that is set aside to remember the more than 6 million Jews that the Nazis killed. It's an act of being intentional about remembering and honoring those who were killed. It's an act of forcing ourselves to remember the atrocities that were committed against so many so that we will be compelled to prevent those types of things from happening again.

Which is precisely why God commands the Israelites to keep the passover feast. In Exodus 12:14 God says "This is the day you are to commemorate; for generation to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance." The passage goes on to talk about appropriate preparation for the passover and then in verse 17 God says, "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come."

God knows that we are a forgettful people and so God provides us with ways to remember certain events. In the case of passover we are to remember that God freeded God's people from slavery and worked many miracles in the process. In the case of the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples to eat this meal in remembrance of him. We're to remember the many works Jesus did in our midst. We are to remember that through Jesus, God, just like in the passover, freeded God's people. Only this time it was from slavery to sin rather than slavery to Egypt.

We are a forgetful people. We forget that God created us all and loves us all. We forget that we were made in the image of God and to share God's love with everyone. We forget that we are no longer slaves. We forget that we don't have to hate. We forget that we don't have to hold ourselves up by holding others down. We forget that we are called to be a community. We forget that God freed us in part to bring freedom to others. We are a forgetful people and this week I find myself mourning our forgetfulness. Perhaps we ought to be more intentional about remembering.