Do This In Remembrance of Me

Maundy Thursday, April 5, A.D. 2007

Widows in Darfur, internally displaced in Bosnia, discarded brides in India, the still-struggling-to-survive in New Orleans. No matter where I go in the world, I always hear the same plea: "Please don't forget us." We gather this evening to claim, once again, the divine mandate to love one another. We will also share a meal to commemorate the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. Just as the earliest Christians - followers of the Jesus movement - would meet to share their stories of him, remembering his life and ministry and how he had impacted their lives, we, too, will gather together to love one another, in memory and honor of him.

One of Week of Compassion's main objectives is to remember: the poor, the marginalized, the displaced, the destitute, the traumatized, the hungry, the at-risk-of-being-forgotten. This objective is patterned after our Lord's ultimate example and sacrifice. We strive to remember the least of these because we remember Christ. Through Week of Compassion, we all participate in the breaking and sharing of bread with those who have no bread; we pour out the cup for those who thirst and have no access to enough clean water; and we do so in remembrance of Jesus and the abundance Christ offers all of us. Week of Compassion remembers those in disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis, whenever they occur. Week of Compassion remembers refugees who have had to flee from those disasters, whether natural or human-created, forced to find new life in strange lands. We remember those in countries where there is a lack of food, water, adequate health care, education, jobs, or peace. Every week of the year, all around the world and in our own country, Week of Compassion feeds and serves the least of these.

In the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane season, while we are still desperately trying to feed and house and employ our own, we leave room at the table for suffering Sudanese, hungry Haitians, and a deprived developing world. Through our many gifts, we make room at the table for all members of the body of Christ. Rather than showing up having already eaten and full, we show up hungry and willing to give all we have to a shared, common fund. Together, our resources multiply. While we cannot be everywhere in the world, Week of Compassion, working through thousands of local partners, churches, and organizations, can be in many places of need throughout our world. Our gifts, entrusted to a common fund at a common table, become greater than we ever could have imagined when put together with other gifts. They ensure that the world is fed and that we are not and will not be forgotten.

It is only what we remember that matters because that is what motivates us to take action. We can only make meaning out of that which we remember. Jesus didn't just ask his disciples to remember him; he asked us to do so accompanied by the act of breaking and sharing the basic elements of life. How will you remember those who are at risk of being forgotten? How will you share your resources? With whom will you break bread? For whom will you give what you have at Christ's table, trusting that God will use it to provide for all?

Let us embody compassion and love by not forgetting one another. Just as Jesus and his disciples did at the Last Supper, let us gather at our many tables, give thanks, break bread, distribute enough for all, and feed each other. In so doing, we are not only being nourished spiritually, we are sharing bread with those who have none and thus bringing about the Just Realm of God for which Jesus gave his life.

Amy Gopp