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Holy Week resources and reflections

Faith remembered

MEMORY IS COMPLEX, YET CRUCIAL to much of life. As well as providing creatures with mental patterns of essential routines, it’s the seedbed for transmitting both personal identity and “sacred” stories. For a faith community and a faith tradition, the memory of sacred stories is identity shaping for each one and for all who are associated with the community and the tradition.

In John 21, the resurrected Christ’s questions (verses 15,16,17) to Simon Peter echo in the memory of the communities of faith through the centuries: “Simon, do you love me?” (in verse 15, specifically being, “Do you love me more than these?”). We may not be able to determine with absolute certainty what exactly the “these” is, definition-wise, but the direction and significance of the question is unmistakable: Is our relationship to God, as embodied in Jesus Christ, a relationship of love translated and embodied through our own life-relationships day by day, near and far?

The Fourth Gospel writer(s) remembered this story in order to include it. When remembered, it asserts a formative influence on individuals and faith communities as they seek to grow and serve from God’s love as disciples of Jesus.

Yet I wonder how dementia, as functional memory declines, figures into this equation.

My maternal grandfather died in 1974. His dementia eventually created effects which manifested hostility and anger very different from his general personality across so many years prior to the dementia’s onset.

Our family’s poodle was diagnosed with cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS, or “dog dementia”) after his 13th birthday. He had developed all the symptoms: restless pacing; staring into space; becoming stuck in tight places or behind doors; howling when confused to the point of frustration; and resisting affectionate expressions. His veterinarians prescribed for him a calcium-binding protein called Apoaequorin, which originates with jellyfish, and which, over several months, has minimized many of the CDS symptoms.

My maternal aunt died in 1990. She did not experience hostility, as did her father, but prolonged periods without communicating. One day when my mother was visiting her older sibling, she said to her, “Sister, do you know who I am?” Silence. In a couple of minutes, my mother repeated the same question. Again silence. Two minutes later, she asked her again, “Sister, do you know who I am?” My aunt looked my mother in the eyes and said, “Yes. Don’t you?”

Among the mysteries of the universe and of faith is the power of memory. When considering the Crucified-and- Resurrected-One’s question to Simon Peter after the fish breakfast, “Do you love me — and even most of all?” I know we forget that question and its importance at our peril.

Faith communities can suffer from faith dementia which manifests confusion, hostility, disorientation by forgetfulness, etc. No jellyfish protein can be prescribed to forestall symptoms.

As a business management professor frequently says, “We’ve got to figure it out,” or “They’ll figure it out.” Figuring out our dilemmas and our confusion is part of daily life and the challenge of “being human.” On that beach that morning, disciples remembered hearing Jesus challenge Peter to love unconditionally in the way and spirit of Jesus — the Word-become-flesh — whom death-dealing-powers could not eliminate.

Like Jesus’ original disciples (and like people of faith preceding them), we both “run with” and “pass the baton” of genuine faith across relationships and generations. We are transformed and empowered so to live by way of the presence of God’s Spirit in Jesus Christ, who helps us daily remember — and figure out — our calling to be vessels, stewards and ambassadors of God’s unconditional love, when on a beach at breakfast or anywhere else.

Ted FooteTED V. FOOTE JR. is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Bryan, Texas, and co-author of “Being Disciples Of Jesus In A Dot.Com World.”

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