Memories
I trust many of you know that bittersweet feeling after a good vacation. On the one hand it is hard to leave a place of rest and refreshment, on the other hand there is a restlessness to get back to purpose and productivity. This is the balance that Addison talked about last week in Exodus 31. I certainly feel that tension as we come back in from a couple of weeks of refreshment, camping in Pentwater. Pentwater is special place for our family. It is where we have been going the entirety of our married life, a place where all of our kids have fond memories. One of the great features about our time away was the activating of those memories. It is has been interesting to see our kids come back as adults and relive those memories: sitting around the campfire, hitting up House of Flavors, digging in the warm sand, tossing the Waboba in the water, even making a beeline for Cosmic Candy. Memory is a powerful force to be reckoned with in our lives.
I mention this because this week in turning to Exodus 32, we are invited to activate the collective memory of God’s people throughout the ages. Contrary to Pentwater the memories are not positive. In fact it is just the opposite, in Exodus 32 Israel turns away from YHWH to embrace the gods of Egypt. In 1 Corinthians 10 the Apostle Paul recounts this specific incident and, centuries later, calls on God’s people to remember so that we may learn to “not desire evil as they did”(cf. 1 Cor. 10:6). Cultivating memory is important. Lazy forgetfulness can literally be deadly. But God is faithful and kind to provide us what we need to remember. I look forward to diving in with you this week!