Remembrance Sunday

I’m coming a little late to the month of November, at least as far as understanding the full impact of it being November. I was reminded yesterday of the possibility of joining NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. Technically, I’ve already blown the month because the intent is to write a blog post for every one of the 30 days of November. To write something worth reading every day is a stretch, so I offer these thoughts humbly.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday, as we celebrate in our church year. It is a day to remember those who have gone before us, to acknowledge our loss, to give thanks for the impact of their lives on ours.

The passage chosen for worship tomorrow is I John 3:1-3

"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure."

What love we have been given, to be called the children of God

That overwhelms me.

How can I be called a child of God?

Today I’ve spent my day reading and listening to the harder parts of our country's history, the parts that spell out the way racism is built into the culture of our country, and the ways that the peoples of color in our country have been and continue to be marginalized and terrorized by that racism.

The news this week has also been full of how our culture has protected those who are abusive to those less powerful than themselves. This is more of the same, treating people as less than human. It is now becoming widely recognized and called out. Things that were whispered in secret are being shouted from the rooftops. Maybe with sexual harassment and abuse, we are coming to a turning point.

When I read that God claims us as his children, it humbles me. I want to be God's child. I call myself God's child. But how can God call us his children, we who have inherited our lives on the backs of the oppressed? We who have accepted a culture where the powerful are protected from justice? I don’t know. It is not a name I can receive lightly. It is not a name I have a right to claim. It can only be by grace.

So the words that end the passage have significance;

When he is revealed, we will be like him. And we who have this hope purify ourselves as he is pure.

We can’t wait until that day when God makes us whole, but we are called to begin now to purify ourselves.

May we remember.

May we remember those things I wrote about yesterday,

those people who have nurtured us,

held us up in the hard times,

modeled for us the desire to be like Christ,

made us strong,

and aware of our belovedness.

But not only those.

May we also remember the many who have suffered and died without seeing justice in their lifetimes. And may we commit ourselves to searching and finding ways to be part of change... to be more like Christ.