Mothers’ Union Devotion Wednesday 3rd November 2021

We re-member

In the delights of the body,

in tastes and smells, in colours and senses,

WE RE-MEMBER YOU.

In the stories and laughter,

the gossip and secrets of friendship,

WE RE-MEMBER YOU.

In the risk of vulnerability,

the encouragement and the support,

WE RE-MEMBER YOU.

In the depths of our sharing,

the hopes and insights, the longings and dreams,

WE RE-MEMBER YOU.

In our bones, in our flesh and blood,

in our struggling, our playing, our living,

WE RE-MEMBER YOU.

Jan Berry                 © Wild Goose Publications

At this time of year, we have many occasions to remember such as All Saints, All Souls and Remembrance Sunday. This year especially our thoughts turn to all those who have lost this lives during this pandemic, whether from Covid or from other causes. People who we may not have been able to say goodbye to in the way we would have wished. People whose funerals we were unable to attend due to the various restrictions at the time. People whose lives we have had to remember in different ways.

The word remember is a fascinating one as beautifully encapsulated in these words written by Jan Berry. To re member. To bring back together. Our memories, our lives together, our shared humanity, our dreams, our disappointments and most important of all our love. To remember is to re-member.

When we come together in church services to commemorate all the souls, we have known in life we re-member then.

When we sit with others who have known our loved ones and reminisce, we re-member them.

When we sit alone with our thoughts and our memories, often sensing the lost sitting alongside us, we remember them.

When we find ourselves using family phrases, listening to certain songs, eating favourite foods we re-member them.

When we cast our minds to that distant shore where they have travelled without us, we re-member them.

But where they have gone, we do not have to re-member them because they are with the one who ultimately re-members them. The one who through his death and resurrection has made re-membering a precious reality. A new birth, an eternal life where they and eventually we can dwell in the house of the Lord our whole lives long. It might be hard to picture, life in another existence but it is a promise that Jesus gave us and one that gives us true hope for all those we love both living and departed.

With all my love and prayers,

Revd Sandra