Remembering A God Who Remembers Us, Exodus 12:1-14

Though I would not highly recommend the movie "50 First Dates," this is the illustration that works best with a point I want to make this week. The movie is about a young man, named Henry, who is a vet in Hawaii (so he gets to hang out with cool animals like seals all day long). And he meets Lucy, an art teacher, in a cafe one morning and he absolutely adores her. They hit it off and it seems like the beginning of a great relationship.

Except, the next time Henry sees Lucy, she has no idea who he is, as if they never met. Lucy was involved in a serious car accident with a cow and her short-term memory cannot conform to long-term memories. So anything that happened after October 13, 2002 (the date of her accident), she cannot remember after she goes to sleep at night.

Lucy's Father and brother work hard to help her relive every day as if it was October 13, 2002. They reprint newspapers so every day she reads the paper as if it was that day. They celebrate her Father's birthday over and over, day after day, year after year, so she does not know about her tragedy every day.

The entire movie is about the tragedy of memory loss but every single day is also about remembering, an acting out, of the same day over and over again. Every single day brings a past event into the present.

And as I was actually preaching this message last Sunday, I described for my congregation fries... the kind you pray in line for when you're in the drive through. The kind that's so hot you can barely touch them and have salt dripping down them.... and then I asked them if they could relive that moment in their head... and if it could bring the past event of eating those amazing fries into the present. They laughed... and I'm guessing that meant "Yes! And... hurry up and finish preaching, we're hungry now!"

Then I talked about remembering... and how it is so much more than an exercise of the brain or so much more than simply thinking about an event. Remembering brings a past event into the present and participates in that event. And like a story Mike Fraley tells... it is as if your spouse (dear friend, child, whatever) were to have a birthday and they said, "Did you remember my birthday?" And perhaps you were to say, "Why yes. Yes indeed. I did in fact see your birthday on my calendar and remembered it. Goodbye. I must go now." DID YOU REALLY REMEMBER? Of course not. Remembering also involves action. You must participate in the remembering of the birthday. You should say "Happy Birthday," get them a gift, or something!

This scripture passage, from Exodus, teaches us how to properly remember a God who remembers us. How to bring a past event into the present. The Israelites were really good at remembering the Exodus event in the Passover Festival and this passage is a description of that first Passover... when God brought them out, liberated them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.

I read this passage (Exodus 12:1-14) for my congregation Sunday and then said something along the lines of... "much of this passage sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Blood on the door frames, that's a nice mental picture. Or inner parts of a lamb... mmm, when's dinner. That's what I want for my Sunday meal... lamb inner organs!" They laughed and I think lost their desire for those fries!

But then I talked about the symbolism of the blood being the life of the animal (Lev 17:11) and how this was a meal to be eaten in God's presence a a sacred meal. And how every time the people ate this meal from now on... they were to REMEMBER the blood, the being dressed and ready to go, the communion with Yahweh. And they were to do more than just remember it... they were to bring the past event into the present.

And then I talked about the connections between the Passover and Communion (which we celebrated together Sunday morning following the sermon). Passover marked a new creation, verse two of this passage says, "this month will be the beginning of months," quite literally... this Passover event marks a new creation, a new year.

Creation has been fallen for a long time. Creation has been choosing itself over the Creator for a long time. But the Passover marks a new creation, a new opportunity to choose the Creator, a new month, a new year, and this is exciting! Communion is just as exciting. Communion shows us the body and blood of a person who actually did choose the Creator over himself... who quite literally LIVED OUT the new creation.

God gave us a human and divine person all wrapped up in one who could actually live as creation was intended. Who didn't mess up creation's purposes all the time. And communion not only remembers Passover as marking a new creation but also allows us to touch the bread, taste the elements, and smell the juice... as we see the body and blood of Jesus who lived out the new creation.

Passover was to be a festival, a party, that reminds us of God's redemptive deeds and plans, what God wanted to do. Communion is a physical act that reminds us of God's redemptive deeds and plans, what God wants to do. God has very different ideas than we do. God gives up life willingly... who spills blood, who lays down everything, who gives up his rightful place, who denies himself. Communion reminds us of God's plans and how they are very different than our self-preservation plans.

And Passover was when God took the people of Israel out of slavery and gave them a NEW LAND. This new land is very significant. God created the earth, the land, and it became corrupt. Think about the flood, what did it do? It cleansed the land. But the people still did not quite get it. Then fast forward to the people of Israel living in Egypt... having their hands dirty for hours every day in bricks... no labor laws, no required 15 minute breaks... and God hears their cries and says, "go to your houses, get a lamb, roast it with its guts, put some life blood on the door, get ready to leave, because I'm taking you to A NEW LAND. And this time, in this land, I want you to live as I intended for you to live! I want you to be who you're meant to be in this new land!"

Very loudly I shouted to the congreation this next part: Communion, is just as great because it builds on the Passover event! YOU ARE THE CHURCH! The community gathered are to be a piece of how creation was intended before sin, before we started choosing ourselves over God. You are to live how God wants you to live! You are more than just on a new land... you are a NEW PEOPLE, a royal priesthood! You ARE the new creation in Christ!

And then I wrapped up by saying the Passover event helped the people of Israel remember the story of God. If you were an Israelite, you didn't forget it. In fact the whole calendar of the Jewish people revolved around the Exodus event. And Communion also reminds us of the story of God. We cannot forget it when we come to the table. In fact, our whole calendar revolves around Christ's birth, death, and resurrection.

And then I invited them to partake of communion... together as a community, as the Church, the people of God today who bring the past event of the cross into the present by ACTING like the Christ they see before them. BEING the new creation. Participate in the event of the cross by acting like the Christ who lays down his life, by being a person who gives up what they want for what God wants.