By Sister Doreen, SSJD
Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘Recessional’ was a poem hymn that had in it a refrain ‘lest we forget, lest we forget’. As we move into keeping Remembrance Day it seemed fitting to ponder The Recessional. While written in the 1800’s there is much in it that rings true in our day and in our world today.
Recessional By Rudyard Kipling (1897)
(taken from the Poetry Foundation website)
God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battleline,
beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
lest we forget—lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
lest we forget—lest we forget!
Far called, our navies melt away;
on dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
lest we forget—lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
lest we forget—lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
in reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
and guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
As I pondered Kipling’s poem, a poem that was also set to music as a hymn, I recalled one of the sermons of Moses in Deuteronomy (4:7-10): “For what other great nation has a god so near to it as God is to us when we call? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole Law [referring to the ten commandments] that I set before you today? Take care and be diligent in guarding yourselves, that you do not forget these things which your own eyes have seen. Do not forget them as long as you live and teach them to your children and your children’s children. Never forget the day you stood at Horeb before your God, and God said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me to hear my words, lest they forget, so that they may learn to revere me for as long as they live …’”
I share this same passage from the Message Translation to add its own flavour to this message of ‘listen … lest we forget.’
“Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation [ten commandments] that I am setting before you today? Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don’t forget anything of what you’ve seen. Don’t let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you’ve seen and heard to your children and grandchildren [lest we forget].”
As I am sure this happens to you, one thought or pondering leads to another! Lest we forget also highlights for me the exchange at the Crucifixion between Jesus and the one thief on the cross “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom … Jesus’ answer, ‘today you will be with me’.” I thought of how many times in my own life have I found myself crying out ‘Jesus remember me’ … remember me … all held within the deep underlying knowledge that today, and every day, and always God is with us, God remembers us, God does not let us go. It is during those dark seasons of our life when we cry out God, remember me that we need to cling to promise “today” lest we forget … today and every day God remembers us, is with us, and does not let us go.
And then again I am reminded that at the Last Supper with the disciples before the Crucifixion and now at every Eucharist Jesus holds out his life to us with the words ‘when you do this, do this to remember me/in remembrance of me’. Remember me, remember me – lest we forget. God also reaches out and calls to us today, and every day, remember me, remember me. Let we forget! Our life is wrapped in experiences of ‘remember’, blessed each day with old, present, and new memories: remember is a covenant that we have with God. It saturates our whole life, the life of the world and the cosmos – remember, lest we forget!
Lest we forget – this covenant we have with God, the covenant that we are to live by. Today as we are bombarded by the news – our broken world at war in so many places, the uncertain ‘what is coming next’ divisive comments, statements, and changes from the leader of the United States of America, the food insecurity for so many, health care issues, and homelessness, and environmental disasters in so many places … Kipling’s words and Moses’ words, the thief’s words and Jesus’ words ring loud for us … a call to remember, remember what we have seen and what we have been told … lest we forget. In the midst of all of this we are to remember – we have a God so near to us when we call – so intimate with us the way our God is with us, always ready to listen – a covenant with God and with each other, rules and regulations that are good and fair.
Lest we forget – is a warning against pride and arrogance, a warning about how much we need each other no matter where we live, what our cultural norms are, what ethnic origine or faith understanding we live by. It is a warning against failing to continue to believe that it is possible to live together with differences, differences that bless us and grow us into more of who we are as a people.
Lest we forget – however, forgetting the past is by and large an acceptable phenomenon to us today. Life today seems to have become very fast paced, news instant via internet. The tendency for us is that we often treats forgetting the past as a quiet cultural norm, driven by a determined focus on the future. It is aa kind of silence or even perhaps a collective amnesia that encourages us to move past difficult or shameful or violent parts of our personal, communal, and worldwide experiences. It is a sure recipe for a kind of close-mindedness and disconnection from each other and all of creation. There is no healing and no reconciliation in this pathway. To sweep the past hurts will also sweep the past successes and joy under the carpet. It is remembering, acknowledging, and working through to wisdom and deeper understandings that we care called to as we seek that more of ourselves, of each other, and of our world that we so long for. The humble commitment to the values enshrined in the covenant made to God – the care, compassion, essential one-ness or kin-ship of all of us with each other and all creation, where ever we live, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, today and in all the days to come – this I believe is the root to new life and a new world – one where we continue to remember, lest we forget, and find the strength and the grace to reach out a grow, and become the people of God in the world that God loves. It opens the way to healing and reconciliation, to that merciful peace and justice that we all long for.
Our covenant task with God is the challenge quoted by William Sloane Coffin: “May God give you grace never to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, and grace to remember that the world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.” Remember, remember – lest we forget.
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.