Memorial Day: Hopeful Memory (Joshua 4:1-9; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)
By Craig M. Watts
Yet in the Lord's Supper we see even more than that. We also see the promise of Jesus Christ that He will come again and that we will eat and drink anew with our Lord in the kingdom of God (
Mk. 14:25). The Lord's Supper points us not only to the past but toward the promised future as well. The past and the future are made into vital contemporary realities for us by the presence of Christ. The meal is a memorial that reinforces a hopeful memory.
With Memorial Day upon us it is proper to think of the past and of those who have gone from this world. But for those of us who are Christians, this is not exclusively an exercise in looking behind and dwelling upon what has been. For we believe that more wondrous things are yet to come for those people of faith who have already died. We live in light of the resurrection and we believe that death will not be the end.
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In 1969, Clarence Jordan died of a heart attack. As some of you know, Jordan was the author of the Cotton Patch Version of the Bible and was the founder of Koinonia Farms, an inter-racial community and innovative ministry in rural Georgia. His work had faced vicious opposition from many of the racists in his area during the 50's and 60's. In fact, when Jordan died, the local coroners and undertakers were of little help. Jordan was buried in a plain cedar box on a hillside on his farm. Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, officiated at the funeral. Just after the casket was lowered into the ground and the grave was filled, an unexpected thing happened. Fuller's two-year-old daughter stepped up to the grave and began to sing the only song the little girl knew.
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Clarence
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday at a funeral? How strange and yet how truly appropriate. For when a Christian dies, it is a birthday of a sorts because death is not an ending but a new beginning. And so when we think of our dead, let us do so with a hopeful memory for an amazing future still awaits them, and the rest of us as well.