““In honor of the Lord your God, celebrate the Passover each year in the early spring, in the month of Abib, for that was the month in which the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Your Passover sacrifice may be from either the flock or the herd, and it must be sacrificed to the Lord your God at the designated place of worship—the place he chooses for his name to be honored. Eat it with bread made without yeast. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, as when you escaped from Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread—the bread of suffering—so that as long as you live you will remember the day you departed from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in any house throughout your land for those seven days. And when you sacrifice the Passover lamb on the evening of the first day, do not let any of the meat remain until the next morning. “You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you. You must offer it only at the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored. Sacrifice it there in the evening as the sun goes down on the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt. Roast the lamb and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses. Then you may go back to your tents the next morning. For the next six days you may not eat any bread made with yeast. On the seventh day proclaim another holy day in honor of the Lord your God, and no work may be done on that day. “Count off seven weeks from when you first begin to cut the grain at the time of harvest. Then celebrate the Festival of Harvest to honor the Lord your God. Bring him a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings you have received from him. This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees. “You must observe the Festival of Shelters for seven days at the end of the harvest season, after the grain has been threshed and the grapes have been pressed. This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. For seven days you must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses, for it is he who blesses you with bountiful harvests and gives you success in all your work. This festival will be a time of great joy for all. “Each year every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters. On each of these occasions, all men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he chooses, but they must not appear before the Lord without a gift for him. All must give as they are able, according to the blessings given to them by the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy 16:1-17 NLT
Stability is an act of faith. It relies heavily of God’s grace, but it is also a participatory act. God lays the foundations but expects men to build on top of them. Anything that is not built on those foundations fails. Anything that is not properly anchored to them falls apart. Yet, man still must build. Even then, the tools that man builds with are given by God. He gives us, history, the law, the prophets, poetry, and the church. Beyond this, because we are finite beings, this task requires a form of transmission. We have to communicate ideas. Not only do we have to communicate in the present, but move these ideas into the future, to others and ourselves. The ability to remember is a creatively feature of humans that God’s tools allow us to exploit. With it, we can strengthen our connections to his foundations and build stable and lasting structures that bear the weight of most anything. In a post modern world, we have often viewed this as a curse. We believe that remembrance shackles us to unwanted burden, but in truth, it lightens our load for the future. It makes the weight bearable and the pain of our finiteness reasonable. It is a gift that we should never take fore granted. We must remember God above all things.
Stability’s Foundation: Stability is built on God’s foundations, requiring human participation and the use of God-given tools like history, law, and the church.
Importance of Remembrance: Remembrance, a gift from God, is crucial for building stability and transmitting ideas across time.
Benefits of Remembrance: Remembrance, often misunderstood, lightens the burden of the future and makes the weight of finiteness bearable.
JOSH McGARY.COM 