Letter from the Minister

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Methodist Worship Book Pg 146)

The season of Lent which prepares us for Easter begins with one word: Remember. “Remember,” says the minister, as a cross of ash and dust is traced on our brows, “that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is a sober beginning to the serious business of Lenten prayer and penitence. As we reflect on those things that have defined our lives for good or evil and made us who we are, we also remember that we share a common fate and end. The Gregorian chant, ‘‘Media vita in morte sumus’’ (the Latin for "In the midst of life we are in death"), acknowledges human mortality and fallibility and acknowledges that death, both spiritual and
physical, is an ever-present possibility and reality.

In ‘The Notebook’ by Nicholas Sparks, memory plays a crucial role in shaping identity. Allie, suffering from dementia, is unable to recall her life or recognise her family. Living in a nursing home, Noah reads their love story to her each day from a notebook—a story Allie wrote when diagnosed, hoping not to forget. On the first page of the notebook were the instructions “read this to me and I will remember and come back to you”. Sometimes, this repetitive act activates remembering in Allie, and the person who has been lost deep within her dementia is resurrected. For Noah, by taking part in the very act of remembering, there is hope; hope that in some small way Allie will come back to him, even if only for a moment. Remembering for Noah and Allie is how together they can continue to embody their story.

Remembering what has come before is not a bad way to start anything important. We recall the milestones of our lives — the births, baptisms, weddings and graduations. They provide stability and strength and acts of communal remembrance such as services on Remembrance Day reinforce collective identity and purpose. Most of us also remember our own vulnerability and deficiencies and our failings at some of the things we have done and left undone. We recollect these things not because we can alter what has been but because in the act of remembering and repenting, we are transformed and made new. All that we do as the people of God is in some measure a recollection of what God has done for us. The Jews, our spiritual ancestors, still celebrate Passover. They commemorate events thousands of years ago when God led Moses and the people of Israel from burning bush and through scorching desert sands into the freedom of the Promised Land. To this day, the Jews begin the feast of Passover with a recitation of the great events of their history and redemption. They dare not forget who they are nor where they came from.

As Christians, remembering takes us back to our roots in the cross. That is where we come from. At our baptism, the minister signed us with the cross, and we were “marked as Christ’s own for ever;” and as you approach the altar table on Sunday morning to receive communion, the celebrant reminds you to “take the bread and wine in remembrance that Christ died for you.”

Our Lenten journey ends on Good Friday in the full meaning of the cross. We must remember and hold on to the knowledge that in the cross, the order of the universe is transformed, and evil and pain are overcome. We remember that life and its meaning are not found in length of days, but in how we live our lives.

Even though the season of Lent provides the opportunity for reflection, self-examination, penitence, and self-denial, it is, in reality, a celebration of the kingdom so close at hand. Our spiritual sacrifices and acts of penitence are not ends in themselves but an assurance of God’s love at work within us. In Matthew 6, one of the gospel readings for Ash Wednesday, Jesus tells us, “Put oil on your head, and wash your face.” Put away your gloom. In that reading Jesus advises us not to “look dismal” or smug, as some might who practise their piety before others and seek only praise and a reward for their efforts. Let us therefore remember that our spiritual sacrifices and acts of penitence are not ends in themselves but an assurance of God’s love at work within us.

Our Lenten journey has begun. During this journey of conversion, transformation, hope and new life,

Remember…

The journey takes us to Calvary, but it does not end in death.

Remember…

From the ashes of our sin God will raise us up to new life in the resurrection of his Son.

Remember…

Death and mortality do not hold any power over us!

‘‘Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’’ (1 Cor 15: 57)

Every blessing,
Georgina