Looking through the headlines delivered to my newsreader program this morning, one stuck out to me: "Thanks for the Memories...Whatever They Were." From wired.com, this article goes on to talk about a report in the latest Journal of Psychiatric Research that talks about a group of scientists from Harvard & McGill Universities who have done very limited trials involving a drug that might help you be able to forget the bad and unpleasant memories of life. I have enjoyed reading some of the things that Wired puts out, because they are not only a technology magazine, but also dabble in technological ethics. The writer of the piece, Tony Long, notes that, "The pain and sorrow of life, and how you deal with their effects, is part of what fuels your humanity. It's part of what lets you continue growing throughout that life, part of what gives you wisdom in your old age."
In one of our study sessions on worship this week, we had a lively discussion about where all we learn about God, and the fact that as Wesleyans we believe that God is revealed to us in Scripture, but we use tradition, reason, and experience to reflect upon and interpret the Scriptures, as well as experience and live out the Christian faith. Every one of you reading this message has gone through the highest highs and lowest lows of life in your own way, and every one of you, if you are honest with yourselves, will admit that those experiences help make you who you are today. As those of the Methodist tradition, we do not subscribe to the idea that everything that happens is a direct result of God's action (that is, God doesn't sit around and decide that your life shall become a living hell; rather, the things that happen in life are a result of living in a post-Genesis 3 world, a world not as God intended it), but we do believe that the way that we respond to the many dangers, toils, and snares of life are a reflection of our faith.
This is one of the most perplexing questions that people have for those of us in pastoral ministry, 'Why?' And what really is hard is that the truthful, honest, answer - and the one that any pastor should give you is, quite bluntly, "I don't know." What I do know, however, is this: Without all the memories of my life, good, bad, and indifferent, I would not be who I am today. If, God forbid, a cruel disease comes along that saps my memory, that is one thing, but I would hate to voluntarily get rid of any of my memories - for I would not be who I am, or who I am to become.
The challenging thing for us is not to eschew the painful memories of the past, but to celebrate that we have a God who redeems us from the past to prepare us for a glorious future that will be fulfilled only when the Son of God returns again.
See you Sunday!
Lamar
In one of our study sessions on worship this week, we had a lively discussion about where all we learn about God, and the fact that as Wesleyans we believe that God is revealed to us in Scripture, but we use tradition, reason, and experience to reflect upon and interpret the Scriptures, as well as experience and live out the Christian faith. Every one of you reading this message has gone through the highest highs and lowest lows of life in your own way, and every one of you, if you are honest with yourselves, will admit that those experiences help make you who you are today. As those of the Methodist tradition, we do not subscribe to the idea that everything that happens is a direct result of God's action (that is, God doesn't sit around and decide that your life shall become a living hell; rather, the things that happen in life are a result of living in a post-Genesis 3 world, a world not as God intended it), but we do believe that the way that we respond to the many dangers, toils, and snares of life are a reflection of our faith.
This is one of the most perplexing questions that people have for those of us in pastoral ministry, 'Why?' And what really is hard is that the truthful, honest, answer - and the one that any pastor should give you is, quite bluntly, "I don't know." What I do know, however, is this: Without all the memories of my life, good, bad, and indifferent, I would not be who I am today. If, God forbid, a cruel disease comes along that saps my memory, that is one thing, but I would hate to voluntarily get rid of any of my memories - for I would not be who I am, or who I am to become.
The challenging thing for us is not to eschew the painful memories of the past, but to celebrate that we have a God who redeems us from the past to prepare us for a glorious future that will be fulfilled only when the Son of God returns again.
See you Sunday!
Lamar
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