A Minute Hardly Seems Enough

Scripture

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”  (Mark 14:32-38NIVUK)  

A Minute Hardly Seems Enough 

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old”.  My Uncle Norman is 22. His photo gazes at me as I write. Norman is proudly dressed in his RCAF Uniform, wings prominent on his breast pocket. He was among an elite group of pilots – of the 230 pilots receiving their wings in 1940 only 20 were sent to join with the RAF in the early war years.  He left Canada on a troop ship in February 1941 and four months later he died in a fiery crash landing on returning to England.  

He loved to fly, he loved life, and he loved God. I carry with me the love and blessing of his life that my parents desired.  At Orangeville’s local Remembrance Day service on Saturday the names of those who died in action in World Wars I and II were read again this year. The list doesn’t change, they are frozen in time and lost to memory for all but a few. A minute of silence hardly seemed enough at that moment.  

Remembrance is important. We live because so many have made our opportunities possible. Remembrance is central to our faith life as well. We pray with the thief on the cross “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom”. In response Jesus invites us to remember Him in bread and wine and in all of our living out of what we say we believe. 

Remembrance is reinforced in our stories, stories of lives lived, sacrifices made, and graces given. We need to take more than the occasional minute to connect deeply to Jesus’ story – his life, his suffering and his resurrection. A minute occasionally is hardly enough. 

A Prayer for Today

O God our Father, we fall silent and remember him who came because words were not enough. Setting our wisdom, our will, our words aside, emptying our hearts, and bringing nothing in our hands, we yearn for the healing, the holding, the accepting, the forgiving which Christ alone can offer …. For Jesus’ sake