1 Chronicles 16:7-12

⁷ That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD :

⁸ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
       make known among the nations what he has done.

⁹ Sing to him, sing praise to him;
       tell of all his wonderful acts.

¹⁰ Glory in his holy name;
       let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

¹¹ Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

¹² Remember the wonders he has done,
       his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

I am inclined to believe that God’s chief purpose in giving us memory is to enable us to go back in time so that if we didn’t play our roles right the first time round, we can still have another go at it now. We cannot undo our old mistakes or their consequences any more than we can erase our old wounds that we have both suffered and inflicted. But through the power of that memory us of thinking, feeling, imagining our way back through time we can at long last finally finish with the past in the sense of removing it’s power to hurt us and other people and to stung our growth as human beings.

The sad thing that happened long ago will always remain part of who we are, just as the glad and gracious things will too, but instead of being a burden of guilt, recrimination and regret that makes us constantly stumble as we go, even the saddest things can become, once we have made peace with them, a source of wisdom and strength for the journey that still lies ahead

It is through memory that we are able to reclaim much of our lives that we have long since written off by finding that in everything that has happened to us over the years God was offering us possibilities of new life and healing which, though we may have missed them at the time, we can still choose and be brought to life by and healed all these years later.

Another way of saying it perhaps, is that memory make it possible for us both to bless the past, even those parts of it that we have always felt cursed by and also to be blessed by it.

How can the breaking of glass in one case symbolize that which is irreparably damaged, while in the other acknowledge that things do break, but in their shattering a world of new possibilities can emerge? It is because in each case we choose to remember differently and memory is always about choice.

We can choose to remember in ways that stir our anger and rage, or we can choose to remember in ways that provoke sadness and pain. We can also choose to remember in ways that challenge us to take from the past those lessons which we need in order to become who we most want to be, and to create the world in which we most want to live.

That choice confronts us in the aftermath of a fight with a loved one, a hurt they have caused us, or in how we recall those hurts that have threatened the very existence of entire communities.

Second, to appreciate the opportunity we now have and to remember those past hurts in ways that not only maintain our connection with the past, but help us build a better future. Will we remember past hurts in ways that bind us to the pain and constrain our ability to move forward, or in ways that recall the suffering, even as they celebrate the new futures born of them? Perhaps now is the time to move beyond remembering how our glass was broken and begin to break our own glasses as a reminder that we are much more than victims. Perhaps now is the time to make choices about remembering the past in ways that not only recall what happened in the past, but contribute to our ability to create a better future