Do You Remember?

Do you remember your first car, your first home, your first job, your graduation from high school? You probably do. We tend to remember the special moments of life. For many of us they are freeze-framed in our minds as KODAK moments.

Our memories are not simply for personal moments; ours is a nation of memories. Throughout our country, there are monuments to mark the special occasions and events. If you have ever been to Washington D.C. you know we are a nation of monuments. There you find the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial; reminding us of the contributions these men made to our country in perilous times.

In 2004, our country recognized the efforts of some 16 million men and women who served in WW II with the National World War II Memorial, as a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people.

Monuments are not exclusive to Washington D.C. we have national cemeteries and Battlefields such as Arlington and Gettysburg, which remind all of us of the high price of freedom.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Memorial Day; a day set aside to remember the men and women who gave their lives for our country.

Monuments, cemeteries, battlefields and special days all designed to help us remember and never forget the sacrifices made for us to enjoy our freedoms.

Memories are not just for heroes, go into any bookstore in America and you will find an abundance of “memory books”, they are called memoirs, recollections of experiences and events people want to remember.

We have a desire to remember, for we are a nostalgic nation.

Realizing our need to make and keep memories alive, marketers have tried to cash in our desire to remember; offering a variety of products to help us mark the special events of our lives. One that caught my eyes this week was the Bank of Marian, in Marian California. The bank allows its customers to send a picture or a drawing to the bank that is placed on their checks – thus making the checks unique and highly personal. Undeterred by the high cost of such a personal item some 2,500 individuals have paid for these special checks to be created. The most imaginative customer is the man who ordered a set of the memory checks to be used solely for paying the alimony checks to his ex wife. What is the picture on his personal check? A picture of him passionately kissing his new wife – now that is a memory!

As Christians we are given a memorial to celebrate and remind us of our Lord, Jesus Christ; the Lord’s Supper. You may know it by a different name, communion, the Eucharist, the cup and the loaf. While there may be different names, the Lord’s Supper has but one purpose…

To reminds us of Jesus…

His sinless life

His sacrificial death

His special covenant with us

While the gospels tell us when Jesus established the Lord’s Supper (the night before his death), it is Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that give us the most instruction regarding the Lord’s Supper.

Today, I thought it would be good for us to be reminded once again why the Lord’s Supper is important to Christ’s followers. As we look at our text today, I want to ask you the question; Do you remember, how can you forget?

My desire today is for us to have a greater appreciation for the Lord’s Supper and a deeper love for Jesus, the one who established it for us.

1 Corinthians 11:23-29

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Let us first remember…

The Lord’s Supper is a constant memorial

Ask any woman and she will tell you men are programmed to forget things, in particular dates and events. Men seem to have three kinds of memory…