“Something urgent to get across”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, May 29, 2023
Deuteronomy 4:9-14 (Forward, p. 31) CEV p. 171
Years ago, in 1968 in fact, the Bee Gees came out with a song, “I’ve Got to Get a Message to You”, which described some of the last words of a man on death row, sentenced to execution for murder. He has very little time left here on earth, and so he has a heart-felt, urgent message for his wife back at home.
In some senses, God has an urgent message of all of humankind, but not however, because His time on earth is short. No, it is actually the opposite. Our time on earth is necessarily limited to a few years, which can seem to slip away, float away, almost without notice.
God’s urgent message was three-fold. Number one: we must not forget all the things that He has done, and especially, in the case of Israel, the things they had actually seen and experienced first-hand. Number two: we are to remember His commandments, His covenant, and abide by them and keep them. And number three: we are to make sure that our children, the succeeding generations, are made aware of these things and remember them.
None of this is particularly limited to just Israel but is quite applicable to all of us as well. We too need to remember His deeds and His commands. We too need to keep the covenant that He has made with us and carry out His commands. And we, too, need to transmit, unimpaired, this urgent message to our families and friends, because, after all, no one knows the future and how much time either we or they have on earth. That is why telling our stories, our stories of what God has done for us is so very, very important. And, thanks be to God, we each have a story, a worth-while story that is unique and particular to each one of us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Forward notes: “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children” (verse 9).
“My grandfather developed prostate cancer in his 60s and thought he would die. Even though he did not consider himself a Christian at the time, he ultimately became a man of deep and abiding faith, and his life was fundamentally changed.
“I know this story because I’ve heard it many times from my dad and my granddad. It was a gift that he shared his journey with us because as he crossed into his eighties. Alzheimer’s began to claim his memory. He did not want to stop sharing his faith, but his mind would no longer allow it.
“It can be hard for us to talk about our journey of faith, and sometimes it’s particularly hard with family. Sometimes it’s easier to preach to a full church than to be vulnerable with those who know me best. These are the most important conversations about faith, though, because we carry the faith of our forebears with us.”
Moving Forward: “Share your story of faith with a child or loved one.