Anamnesis vs. Amnesia

SCRIPTURE:  For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Hebrews 6:10 NLT

THOUGHT: Memorial Day is a day of not forgetting, particularly not our fellow Americans who gave everything to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those who didn’t just give lip service to all men being created equal, but suffered through horrific conditions, away from family and home for long periods of time, to die for humanitarian causes and the pursuit of freedom for many peoples, including us. Many of those men and women shared our faith and saw freedom as a God-given right.

Anamnesis is a Greek word for remembering, and like so many Greek words, it carries more meaning than our western concept of a mental activity. It is an active remembering, actually retrieving something from the past to breathe life and meaning into it again. Ironically, it’s quite the opposite of amnesia, although they come from the same root.

Hebrews tells us it’s part of God’s promise to practice anamnesis, remembering how hard his people have worked to show him love by caring for others. So, today, let’s not have amnesia about what soldiers do – they show us love by caring for others in this world of conflict, even if it costs them everything. Take a moment to retrieve the past in a very real way; the men and women of our military who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice deserve to be remembered, not just for their courage, but for their trust in the promise that this country was, and is, worth fighting for.

PRAYER: Oh God, will you help us in our remembering today of those who’ve given their lives so we could live in a country that’s free? Would you help us value their sacrifice enough to keep singing and praying, “America, America, God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”