Remember – and move on

I wonder what you most remember from the past? There are the happy events such as great holidays, firm friendships and moments of transcendent joy such as our wedding day – we enjoy bringing these to mind as we reminisce or flick through old photo albums. Then there are the more mundane recollections such as our first day at school, or passing our driving test, or even the colour of our old front door.

But other memories are less pleasant and may even be feared. Children who have experienced sexual abuse or witnessed physical violence may well be scarred for life, while adults who have been involved in some terrible disaster may find it replaying in their mind’s eye again and again. These folk want to banish their memories to a locked compartment at the back of their minds, but their thoughts keep on coming back to haunt them.

Well, November is a month for remembering, whether that be the two world wars or the half-forgotten tale of Guy Fawkes. And we can’t ignore what has happened in the past: those events have shaped us into the people and nation we are today. Yet I believe that there are times when we must try to forget the past so that we can be free of its clutches, times when we must recognise that our memories – even pleasant and positive ones – are pulling us back rather than propelling us forward.

This can be true of our personal histories. I suspect that husbands and wives are particularly adept at doing this – after all they know each other better than anyone else. So, when they quarrel, her drink-driving offence back in 1986, the affair he had with his secretary in 1992, or the money he lost in an ill-advised business venture are rolled out and used as ammunition. Exhumed bits of history have a very nasty way of spoiling the present, especially in this Internet age when our past activity leaves indelible traces.

It’s also true on the wider canvas of the world. For instance, many of the atrocities we saw in the Balkans back in the 90s were fuelled by memories of the Battle of Kosovo between Serbia and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire. That took place in 1389 but it hasn’t been forgotten. Equally the distrust of the West by Muslim nations, the call to jihad and the formation of the Isis, have all been informed (at least to a degree) by the Crusades which are such a terrible stain on Christian history.

And – dare I say it? – even churches can have long memories, which go far beyond people saying, “We tried that and it didn’t work”! For I have been in congregations where difficulties that had occurred more than twenty years earlier (well before the time I arrived) were still causing pain. They were rarely mentioned but still shackled decision-making: the past was crippling the present and the future.

But that isn’t the way God works, especially when he considers our multiple failures to follow him. He has the grace and goodness not only to forgive our sins, but to erase them entirely from his memory. They are gone for good: as Corrie Ten Boom, the elderly Dutch evangelist who hid Jews from the Nazis in her house and later travelled the world with a message of reconciliation and hope: “God buries our sins in the deepest sea and then puts up a sign saying, ‘No fishing’!”

We mustn’t try to erase all our memories, nor can we. Doing so would mean losing all knowledge of who we are and foregoing the opportunity of using those memories constructively. Even those of us who aren’t very interested in history should study it, as it will tell us of churches that drifted into heresy, ships that drifted onto rocks and foundered, or generals who made disastrous strategic errors. By remembering what happened we can avoid making the same mistakes!

As we all know, Remembrance Sunday this year is particularly significant as it marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1. We will try to mark it appropriately. I wonder though if there might be a place for having a Forgetting Sunday as well, a day when we can set ourselves free from memories, not just the bad ones which terrify us but also the good ones which may be holding us back. Let’s use our memories to inspire, enthuse and embolden us. Let’s use history to propel ourselves into the future. Let’s move forward trusting in God.