Building One Another

REMEMBRANCE Vol 9 No 16

May 11, 2010

Dear Friend,

Yesterday I walked among the headstones of the Ott Family Cemetery in Louisiana where some five generations of my family have been buried. While there used to be huge pine trees offering shade in the sun until Katrina felled them, new trees are growing. Verdant life grows everywhere.

It is a beautiful and quiet place of deep remembrance. Many of the headstones bring to mind people I have known and still love, people who through faith in Jesus I look forward to seeing again.

It’s good for me to walk there alone and to remember and to be grateful.

In the middle of our fast-paced lives as we zoom between activities and from one conversation to the next it’s good to just plain stop – and remember the people who shaped you and embraced you and to lean into the Lord who loves you.

Of course not every memory is pleasant. Some of the experiences we recall may be quite difficult, yet our Lord in his grace can heal such memories, use them to shape us for the future that is coming to us and re-center us with our faith-memories.

When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper he said, “‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” I Corinthians 11:24-25*

Remembrance! Spend a few moments in remembrance of the Lord who loves you, the people in your life who have loved and do love you and be grateful! I know I am.

With joy - E. Stanley Ott

*Scripture from the NRSV

Building One Another

Dear Friend,

E-Letters