Spiritual Alzheimer's

On Not Forgetting Who We Are

“Be your own person.” In spite of the craziness of these topsy-turvy days don’t forget who you really are. Don’t forget that you are a child of God and that you are deeply loved by your Creator/Redeemer God. Don’t forget!

The problem we face is that we do forget. The distractions, the busyness, and the day to day challenges of life roll over the truth that we are important and loved by God. The bold bad news of the daily newsfeed overwhelms the gentle good news of God’s steady sustenance.

So we need to hear over and over again that we are loved. We have a purpose. We are valued. We are not forgotten by the One who really matters. The political pandemonium is not stronger than the One we look to and serve. Walter Brueggemann encourages us in this direction as he reinforces who and whose we are:

Remember who you are by remembering whose we are. Be your own person even in the face of the empire, of the dominant ideology, of the great power of death. Be your own person by being in the company of the great God who works in us, with, and through the training program of the empire for the sake of God’s own people. Be your own person, because God has not succumbed to the weight of the empire. (Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes The Poet)

A Lenten Prayer for Tremorous Times:

Lord, help us not to forget who we are and whose we are. Not to give into the modern malady of Spiritual Alzheimer’s. To remember each and every day that “when the foundations shake, the waters foam, the mountains quake, and the nations roar, that you are our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way, and the mountains fall into the sea” (Psalm 46:1-3).