When our children were young, they loved watching Sesame Street. True confession: I enjoyed watching it with them. The puppets are simply the best. Forgetful Jones, dressed in cowboy attire with his girlfriend Clementine, were among my favorites. True to his name, Forgetful Jones was always forgetting things. He would forget why he was running the bath water or the name of his horse, Buster. I identified with Forgetful Jones. I forget people’s names and family birthdays. I cannot seem to remember my security passwords. I’ve had the experience of walking into a room but forgetting the reason why I went there. Surely, you can relate. My grandparents used to tie a string around a finger to help them remember. We post notes around the house and program our cell phones to remind us of important things.
Remember is an epic Biblical word. Abraham Heschel, a preeminent Biblical scholar, said, “Much of what the Bible demands can be summed up in a single word—remember.” Deuteronomy is an Old Testament book that is all about remembering. Remember appears fifteen times while its converse, “do not forget,” is referenced fourteen times. “Remember the Lord our God” (Deut. 8.18). “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Deut. 5.12). “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God” (Deut. 8.11).
Prayer, Scripture meditation, and worship are vital ways to help us remember God. The act of remembering features prominently in our observance of communion, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Mark 14.24). The following prayer expressed as a song is recent, given most of the older hymns I have featured in Prayers from the Cloud. “Remembrance” was cowritten in 2009 by Matt Maher (1974-) and Matt Redman (1974-). While the song is intended to accompany communion, it’s also appropriate to pray in every circumstance of life: