Remembering 101 for Amnesiacs

I've been reading the Psalms lately and I'm dumfounded by the role that remembering plays in the worship-lives of the authors. They were still praising God for things he did a zillion years prior.

"You, O God are my king from old... It was you who split open the sea... It was you who opened up the springs... Your path led through the sea... You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron... [You] guided them with a cloud by day and with light from the fire all night."

Remembering is key to faithfulness: knowing that what's before me NOW doesn't necessarily define what's real. Remembering brings stability and sobriety to the way we process our present experiences. I can remember what God has done in my life and realize how subjective my perception is.

For a long time, I wanted to be a spiritual rogue: someone who figures everything out by himself and doesn't need help from anyone. Nowadays, I find tremendous comfort in knowing that the spiritual journey I'm on is one walked by countless others before me. I used to hate Christian history because of all the abuse that church history has recorded. But now I love it because I realize that even in medieval, byzantine, or renaissance cultures, God genuinely reveals Himself to humble hearts and works powerfully on their behalf. History recorded the abuse, but that's no surprise. Newspapers love Fred Phelps, but no headline will read, "Grandma Still Godly after 90 Years." So, I've made a choice to walk away from faddish buffet-style spirituality. I'm choosing to remember who God is and how He's shown Himself to countless generations.

Has God worked in your life? Have you glimpsed His love and power? How about your parents or grandparents? When was the last time we praised God with elation for the Welsh Revival, The Great Awakening, Irish Monasticism, or the early Catholic missions movement? That's tough, when I can hardly remember what He did in my life last year. When I consider His faithfulness in my life alone, I have no reason to doubt his presence and power and love through my life and the scheme of human history. But I forget easily. The psalmists seemed to understand our propensity toward amnesia. That's why in the midst of authenticity about pain, and doubt, and confusion, the mantra of those old worship songs seems to be, "Remember. Recite. Repeat."