Unforegettable, That's Who We Are!

….yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49.15

How’s your memory? Mine scares me. I have trouble remembering what I had for supper last night. I go into the kitchen and don’t remember what I was after. People’s names, well if I haven’t seen you for a while, please don’t be insulted if I can’t remember your name, it’s nothing personal.

Most of us can probably tell a few funny stories on ourselves about little lapses of memory. Sometimes, however, even though something may be of critical importance our memory lets us down, and the consequences are anything but a joke. There is certainly nothing funny about the dementia associated with aging, or the tragic course of Alzheimers. Getting older usually doesn’t worry me much. But I have to tell you that thought of some day not being able to remember who God is, is even more terrifying than the possibility of forgetting who I am.

Years ago I did a funeral director call me and asked if I would be willing to conduct a service for an unchurched family. I never turned downed such an invitation, believing that God’s compassion and mercy and grace are never more important than in the face of death. On this particular occasion the family had chosen a coupe of pieces of music to be played on the funeral homes sounds system at the beginning and the end of the service. As we were not in church I said they could choose whatever music they wanted to. I don’t remember what piece opened the service, but I will not soon forget the song which played after my final “Amen.” It was a recording of Natalie Cole and her late father, Nat King Cole singing a duet of “Unforgettable.” Generally I don’t like Pop tunes as part of any worship service, but I could understand how the family wanted to honor their loved one by promising to hold onto their cherished memory. But what if they did forget? I mean, all good intentions aside, it happens.

But not with God, he never forgets us. Thank goodness that in Christ our sins are forgotten, but God has promised to always remember us. The Lord knows us, he calls us by name, he never forgets who we are. That is a very good thing. Neither the passage of time, nor even death itself can erase God’s remembrance of us. In fact, God knows us better than we do ourselves, so, if it should happen that our memory should be lost, I have every confidence that he will restore it, even as in Christ God will completely renew us. You know, for a Pop song, Unforgettable is a pretty good choice for a funeral.