Remembering

In her only mention in the Hebrew Bible after her story in Genesis, Isaiah reminds Israel, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.” (Isaiah 51:2, NRSV) I suspect were that story from Scripture being written in our day, more than a few might have mentioned Sarah by name. She is mentioned three times in the New Testament – Romans 9:9, Hebrews 11:11, and I Peter 3:6. One need not have an advanced degree in biology, however, to realize that without Sarah, Abraham could have never “been made many.”

Yesterday was All Saints’ Day, the day following All Hallows’ Eve. I didn’t grow up paying any attention to this day on the Christian calendar – mostly likely, I would have assumed it was one of those weird things Catholics do! Or perhaps Episcopalians – since, growing up in the lowcountry of South Carolina, there were lots more Episcopalians than Catholics.

But the older I get, the more I think about those who have now ended their lives in this world, but who have had incredible influence on me and how I have managed my life as a follower of Jesus. Why would I not take a moment or two at least once a year and offer a prayer of thanksgiving as I remember Sarah who bore you, to borrow a phrase from Isaiah?

You are reading this on the day after All Saints’ Day, but I think it not inappropriate to realize that you nor I have made it to the point where we are in life without the blessing of men and women who have nurtured our faith in ways that have had lasting impact. Like I suspect is true for you, I could name grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, siblings, friends, teachers, colleagues, my spouse – so many of whom are no longer in this world, but whose impact on my daily life shapes who I am and who I believe God has called me to be.

When I was the preacher at a local church, we eventually got to place where on the Sunday before All Saints’ Day, we would take time in the morning worship to say a prayer of thanksgiving for our fellow believers from our church who had died in the past year. I can remember a little “push back” from a few on that front, but it never came from those who were comforted by the knowledge that we thanked God for the influence their loved one had in our lives. 

Israel is in exile – life in the past seventy or so years has been tough in ways we probably can’t fully appreciate. But . . . Isaiah doesn’t want the people of God to lose heart. “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you . . .” It was, to them, the promise of a long-hoped for Redeemer that would one day be fulfilled. 

Many reading this on the day after All Saints’ Day have lost loved ones whose absence impacts our every waking moment – and sometimes our sleeping moments! May our memory of those loved ones, friends, and fellow believers serve to comfort us in the hope that is ours in Christ. If we can pull that off in our daily living, we will have much to be grateful for as Thanksgiving Day fast approaches.