When God remembers
Today is Remembrance Sunday, and Tuesday will be Remembrance Day, when millions of people stop what they are doing and observe a Two Minute Silence at 11am in memory of those who have been affected in all conflicts. The timing comes from the fact that the First World War officially ended on the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918 – Armistice Day. The act of a Two Minute Silence began on the first anniversary of Armistice Day in 1919 by those who did not want to forget the millions killed, injured and affected. It is absolutely right that we remember their suffering and sacrifice; at the same time, there is a justifiable fear that we may forget and fail to remember, especially as the two world wars fade further into the past.
We can easily think that God’s remembering – and forgetting – is like ours, but a moment’s thought should help us realize that God is not hampered by a faulty memory, as we are. When God remembers something, it doesn’t mean that he had forgotten it until the moment it suddenly popped into his mind, nor that he was in danger of forgetting. No, it means that he has now decided to act on what he had previously promised. So, when Mary rejoices that God is “remembering to be merciful” (Luke 1:54) in sending Jesus, it’s not as if God had forgotten to be merciful, but that he is now acting in mercy, just as he said he would. Similarly, when God forgets something, in particular our sins, he is choosing not to act on the basis of them – which is worth remembering!