PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 8, 2023

FRONT OF THE CLOSET

The last Sunday in September, the adult Sunday school class to which I belong finished our study of Rick Warren’s book, What On Earth Am I Here For?  About the second session we realized that several years ago we had studied the book.  However, then it was entitled The Purpose Driven Life.  The present book was expanded with several new features to assist one with their daily reading and meditation.

When I was president of the LaPorte County Council on Aging, I attended the Governor’s Conference on Aging at Notre Dame.  One of the speakers was a professor at Notre Dame.  He said that generally our memory gets better as we age.  The problem is not with process but with data overload.  He compared our memory to a closet.  When we are young there are not many things in it and we find them easily.  As we age our closet gets fuller and fuller.  When we arrive at our senior years it contains a lot of stuff.  Items in the front are easy enough to find.  However, if something has worked its way to the back it may take some time to discover where we put it.  I am sure that we have all had the experience of trying to remember something and all at once it pots out.

My class’s study of The Purpose Drive Life had worked its way to the back of all our closets.  Making the decision to study What On Earth Am I Here For? brought it back front and center.  On the one hand, there are some things which drift to the back of our memory closets which might just as well stay there.  On the other hand, there are important things which get lost.  It is helpful if we can devise some way of keeping them front and center.

One of the ways the Hebrew people kept important events at the front of their memory closet was by establishing festivals.  In Exodus 12:1-28 can be found the establishment of the festivals of Passover and unleavened bread to remind the people of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.. “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.  You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; … On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you.  … And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptian but spared our house (Exodus 12:14, 16, 26-27).’”

Folling in the tradition of the Hebrew people our country has established certain federal holidays and celebrations to keep important concerns and events at the front of our shared closets: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving Day.  We have days which help us remember important relationships in our lives: Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.  The Christian community celebrates Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas.  Each of these days helps us not to forget.

We live in an age of data overload.  Many bits of information and data seek space in memory closets.  They would push the important items to the back.  Thus, it is important that we make an intentional effort to keep at the front of our memory closets those things that we deem to have special importance.  Each of us may do it differently.  What is important is that we do it.

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)