Remembering is Being

A couple of days ago, I went to the Holocaust Museum (of Houston). Spending time in a place that has as its sole purpose the remembrance of horror and large-scale embodiment of evil is a singular and sobering experience. But what is the purpose of the remembrance itself?

While at the museum, a quote from Elie Wiesel caught my eye; while I can't remember it exactly and am not having success in finding it right now, the essence of the quote was this:

Remembering is being.

If the Holocaust and its unfathomable, infinite consequences are not remembered, then it becomes even easier for twisted humans to repeat the whole affair again in perhaps even more destructive ways. Of course, there have been (and there are currently) other genocides since World War II. In fact, we all know and will sometimes admit that we all participate in twisted selfishness on a daily basis--the kind that, if combined with the ugliness of other humans, can easily lead to ravenous hatred and incurable passivity.

But the act of remembering teaches us to be more willing to admit personal responsibility for evil and act to stop it even if our own individual activity seems not to affect evil on a global scale. Remembering helps to stop the cycle of sin on a personal level, thereby allowing us to Be more in the essence of how God created us.

There is another aspect to remembering, one that repeatedly pops up in Scripture and which also helps us to Be, and that is this: remembering what God has done in the past reminds us of Who He Is. He is Power. He is Faithful. He is Love and Lover. He is Creator. He is Wise. He is Gentle. He is Passion and He is Shepherd.

And what is it to be His follower if not a daily reflection on His grace as displayed in His humble, forever-sacrifice on the Cross?

Remembering Him is how we know Him more intimately and trust Him unswervingly.

Being--alive, free and whole--truly is remembering our own sickness and His incomprehensible, eternal healing of that sickness.