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Author: Kate Murray
Two weeks ago, the DC area experienced the joy of an unseasonably warm, sunny day and I decided to take full advantage of it.
I took my dog, Gus, down to the National Mall and walked around for an hour or so. We weaved around the Washington Monument and passed by the World War II Memorial. Off in the distance we could see Lincoln peering out between the columns that house him. Further up the Mall, somebody asked us for directions to the FDR Memorial and wondered if they were heading in the right direction to see Lincoln too.
As Gus and I walked that day, I thought about the early Israelites. I have been reading through the book of Joshua and the night before our walk had read chapter 4. Early in the chapter Joshua gathers twelve men, one from each of the tribes, and asks them to find a large stone in order that they might make a memorial. They wanted to remember where God had cut off the waters of the Jordan River and allowed them to pass.
Memorials are part of the city landscape here in DC, built so we remember various people, places, and events in our country’s history.
I wonder though, what are the memorials we build in our faith lives? Where can we point and tell our friends, family, and neighbors what God has done? Do they look more like buildings or stones, physical constructions? Or are they a bit less tangible, say the smile that reminds us of a good friend who sat with us after our grandfather died or a particular song that played while we were mucking out houses during hurricane relief?
What are the things we can and do point to in the world that remind us and those who come after us that God was here?
I’ve begun to wonder, specifically in my own life, what these memorials look like. What I can come back to when I need to be reminded that God has been and is active in my life.
I’m finding them mostly to be intangible things: smells, songs or hymns, and memories. But occasionally something a bit more tangible reminds me of a time I encountered God – something like Juarez, Mexico where I spent a fair amount of time meeting the people who live there and building houses for those who couldn’t afford them. I can now point to those houses as concrete markers of God’s presence.
What are those memorials for you in your relationship with God?
