Beginning today and continuing for the next five Sundays, I will be departing from the lectionary readings to address The Six Great Ends of the Church. These Six key mission objectives were outlined in the last century by members of one of the predecessor denominations. And because they have weathered the test of time, have been used recently by our present leadership to help provide focus to our current direction. A longtime Christian and churchgoer had been meaning to have a talk with his good friend who had never gone to church and was rather skeptical about religious matters. But one day he said to him that he needed to discuss something with him of a rather delicate nature.
Memory is a powerful capacity.
We take it for granted most of the time. But we also do not fully understand the extent to which is permeates our very bodies and souls. Memory provides us with the continuities of both our external personalities as well as our private sanity. Memory gives us reasons to live and overcome difficulties because we have learned, and loved and triumphed in the past. But memory goes beyond the conscious to the unconscious level.