Quiz - getting people to guess opposite words:
- Day / Night
- In / Out
- Up / Down
- Amateur / Professional
- Boy / Girl
- Dark / Light
- Innocent / Guilty
- Lack / Abundance
- Long / Short
- Parents / Children
- Young / Old
- Yesterday / Tomorrow
- Remember / Dismember (most people would say 'forget')
I would argue the opposite
of to Forget—
is to Recall, whereas the opposite of remember is
to dismember. To dismember is
to break up, or tear into pieces.
Whereas as to RE-MEMBER is to bring that which has been torn apart, back
together. To bring HEALING.
I remember someone talking about this in a Remembrance
Sunday service when I was a child, and that imagery of REMEMBERING, as a form
of healing has always stayed with me.
As the saying goes “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.” If we forget about the past,
we cut ourselves off from it. That’s
why it’s important we remember.
But
remembering isn’t always easy. It
can be difficult and painful. Some would prefer not to remember. But when we do allow ourselves to remember, we
allow healing to take place.
When Christians gather for worship, particularly around
the Lord’s table, we do it to remember the sacrifice of Jesus. When Jesus shared the Last Supper with his
disciples he said “Do this in REMEMBRANCE of me.” (Luke 22:19)
It is not just about recalling what Jesus did for us on
the cross. It goes much deeper than
this. It reminds us that Jesus came to
bring peace to the world, reconciling us to God. Remembering what
God has done for us brings healing and power; it re-members us—it
reunites us—with God, with each other, and with who God has made us to be.
That is why Remembrance Sunday is so important. It connects us to the past, as we recall the
sacrifices others have made in the past for the cause of peace and justice in
the world, but also reminds us the part we also play in bringing peace to our
dismembered, fragmented world, so that the wounds caused by war and violence
one day may be healed, because as God’s people we are called to be peacemakers
and peace givers.
