On remembering and Forgetting

Please visit the Sermons 2 page to see Rev Dr Wes Campbell's latest sermon "On remembering and forgetting."
"....THE CHALLENGE OF DEMENTIA - PASTORAL IMPLICATIONS FOR LOSS OF MEMORY

 With this talk of remembering we are brought into the experience of forgetting, forgetfulness, dementia. The recalling of the texts as we have heard today will be less possible for those who are now forgetting. Some will continue to connect with hymns and other music or reading favourit stories. action.

Notice that there are two experiences here:

one for the person whose memory is being lost and lose a sense of self.,

the other for those who live with and see the effect of forgetfulness in their partner or other loved one.

Thinking about this from the side of Jesus there are two experiences here too.

First, Jesus went into the darkness alone . He died. He  did not ‘experience his own death. The dead Son was in the darkness with others threatened by death.The Son  died.

Second,  His Father experienced his death. And the Spirit carried the death of the Son to the Father, who grieves his Son.

Does that speak to the forgetting of dementia? Will it give resources for us to live through this experience? Will we together share memories as we remind each other.?

Those whose memories are now fragile or lost may nevertheless take confidence that they are known and remembered by the Spirit of life, and their loved ones..

When memories disappear for the carer, let the community of Christ gather, surround all those affected by love, and embrace them with care that springs from the eternal life of God. Let the reading aloud of Scripture draw us into the Story of God’s care for us.

We will be able to share life with others, in spite of dementia.

When the confusion has passed for the forgetter, there is still the confusion and questioning in the one who remembers. Those who are partners and carers will not forget; they will experience the distance that grows between them and their partner.

.May they (may you) likewise receive the consolation and comfort of the community of Christ and his meal.

The word of comfort here is offered in the figure of Jesus, our brother, who went into the darkness of being removed from us, into darkness and death, and is with us in the darkness. There his promise of eternal life offers his deep and unending care for all, won for us in cross and resurrection.  

Simply put, in all this, we are in the company of him who came, not to condemn but to give his life for the world. 

May we remember his gift of life to us, so that we may find in him that which generates new life here and now, and entrust ourselves to him who is both beginning and end for the world."

Rev Dr Wes Campbell

Sacred beauty, flower power and a different sort of courage

“During the Vietnam War days, at the height of the protest movement against it, a rally was held  [in Australia] to discuss strategies. The hall was packed with people who regarded themselves as the leading social activists of their day. Grim analyses were delivered of the situation in Vietnam, several leaders proposed tough action to challenge the Australian government amid murmurs of approval. Then a brave man rose and suggested that we buy hundreds of baskets of flowers and hand them out in the streets as a sign of a peace which had not yet come. There was a stunned silence. This is not what peace activists did – hand out flowers? Come on! The money for flowers would be better used to help people in Vietnam. As a minor member of the movement there, I felt deep in my heart that flowers would be a great sign of a sort of grace, something beyond grim activism. I didn’t say so be-cause I lacked the courage. Many years on, I associate those flowers with a Christ who invites the spreading of perfume over the world, the entry into and the connec-tion with a sacred beauty as well as money for the poor.”   Ian Price from Words for Worship 2001, 

Mary Magdalene marble

In the week of international women's day ....

"At Cana, the divine excess was for a wedding celebration. At Bethany, Mary's extravagance foretold of an imminent death.

           If the suspiciously similar-but-different story in Luke 7:36–50 describes the same event, the anointing of Jesus by a woman is one of the rare stories that's told in all four gospels. It was a powerful memory for the earliest believers. Jesus says her act was so singular that from that time forth, "wherever this gospel is preached, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

           And how's this for unintended irony — Matthew and Mark never name this person; they simply call her "a woman." Luke describes her as "a sinful woman." There's a long history of identifying the woman as Mary Magdalene, although the gospels never say this. John alone tells us that it was Mary, the sibling of Martha and Lazarus.

Jesus anointed at Bethany, by James Woodward.

           What is the Spirit of God saying in this story of wild excess during the Lenten season of self-denial?"

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20130311JJ.shtml

Jesus anointed at Bethany, by Donald Krause.

Many things at once.

A jewel that invites us to view many facets of living. 
Here is Jesus as the receiver of care and love, 
and here is a woman of passion 
and a sensual image and action.
a woman unacceptable in so many ways,
and yet the right one. 
Here is the righteous condemnation, 
the cry for justice and equality; 
(in some ways quite reasonable.)
The moral bitterness, maybe jealousy?
But,
at the heart of it all.
Here is the God/man 
who knows his vulnerability 
and his mortality 
and his need/desire for love.
and the power of the salve of tears.
(GJB)

El Greco, Mary Magdelane