New Year and Memories that Last

I was just plowing through the first sermon for the new year, researching some of the notable deaths of the last twelve months. I had forgotten many. Strange, isn’t it? People who have made such an impact in our lives for so many years seem to slip from our memory once their daily presence is gone. At least it is that way for the celebrities. “A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains,” was the depressing lament of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:4.

My mother died this year. I haven’t forgotten her. My sister passed away three years ago, and I haven’t forgotten her. I lost one grandmother ten years ago, and the other forty years ago, and they remain fresh in my mind. My cousin Jo, two uncles, grandfather, great-uncle Phil, great-aunt Gladys, cousin Ed... they never fade. Life shared in love, life bound in a cord of mutual devotion, life deeply interconnected in reciprocal compassion ties the knot of memories that never pass “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet.” (Psalm 85:10)