“Try to remember”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Saturday, February 11, 2023

Psalm 136 (Forward, p. 13) CEV p. 638

Back in 1960 the musical comedy ‘Fantasticks’ opened with a number by Tom Jones that had this title. It was meant to immediately prompt its audience to harken back through their lives and remember the different kinds of experiences suggested within that song—and, to set the stage for the action that was to follow.

Today’s psalmist is exhorting us also to ‘try to remember’ but to remember something else, namely the God that is at work in our world. Throughout this psalm its author takes us on quite a ‘ride’ of remembrance:

a) Firstly, he begins with God’s character;

b) Quickly following upon that he then speaks of God as Creator,

as creator of the cosmos, the heavens, and then as creator of the sea as well;

c) From there, he turns to numerous verses that speak of God as the Lord of history, and, in particular, as the Saviour Lord, the

Redeemer of Israel from its bondage in Egypt;

d) Furthermore, according to our psalmist, it didn’t end just then and there: God also brought them into the Promised Land and defeated all the enemies that were arrayed against them;

e) Finally, in verses 23-26, our psalmist brings it into the present, with our present time and generation, that is, us. God’s steadfast love, His mercy, never ends, not for them, and no, not for us either.

Indeed, as God has acted in the past, been faithful to His people in the past, so too we can expect Him to act in this way today. His love, His mercy, never fails, for them, or for us. It is something that is important for us to always remember. Amen.

Forward notes: “For his mercy endures for ever” (verse 2b).

“My daughter’s autism made some things harder in church. Sure, she could be an angel in the pageant, but reading during a service was challenging. When she was an eighth grader, and her middle brother in sixth grade, we had a youth Sunday service that needed readers.

“How was she going to read in church and not freeze up? She and her brother had done everything together since he was six months old. She walked at 20 months; her brother walked at nine. Psalm reading was no exception.

“My children read Psalm 136 together. My son read the first line, and my daughter was able to respond with, ‘For his mercy endures for ever.’ They were able to do this for the entire psalm. That is the way the two of them are. They always find a way to be in sync with one another, and in their relationship, I see God’s enduring love and mercy.”

MOVING FORWARD: “Have you thought about being a lay reader? Talk with your priest about the process.”