|
Written by Jill Carattini
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
The word "souvenir" comes from the French word meaning "to remember." Browsing through crowded airport souvenir shops or overstuffed booths of t-shirts in tourist-likely places, it is hard to remember the almost romantic origins of the word. A fuzzy magnet bearing the words of my latest destination may serve to remind me of a another land, but I still feel like I've sold myself out as the prototypical, easily-targeted, junk-buying tourist any time I leave a souvenir shop receipt in hand.
Creators of a souvenir shop in Buchenwald, Germany, claim, though controversially, to be bearing the less-materialistic origins of the word. The shop opened in time for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp where an estimated 56,000 people were murdered at the hands of the Nazis. Their souvenirs range from plaques embedded with stones from the camp to sprigs taken from the surrounding forest to be planted elsewhere. Moneymaking was never the point, the founders maintain; the project has always been about building bridges of memory, actively confronting history, and hoping to extend the somber lessons of the Holocaust to future generations.(1) From outrage to appreciation, reactions have been understandably varied. My own are admittedly mixed. Can materialism be set aside in a souvenir shop? Can history only be "actively confronted" with an object in hand? Most notably, how do we best go about the vital act of remembering?
I remember looking at the gold cross around my neck differently after spending some time in the tourist-ready sites of Jerusalem. Amid the constant sounds of bartering beside some of the holiest places of history, the image of Jesus turning over the moneychangers' tables was easy to bear in mind. But it was my own tables he was overturning. Remembering had become for me an action I had taken as lightly as the delicate cross I put on each day.
A great amount of Scripture calls us to the act of remembering: remembering the story we are a part of, the moments God has acted mightily, the times humanity has learned in tears. "Remember this," God uttered in history, "Fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come" (Isaiah 46:8-10a). God has moved; God is yet moving. Remember. But how?
"Actively," the answer seems to come, and with great weight, for it is possible to forget. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Teach them diligently to your children, talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deut. 6:4-9). Memory plays a vital role in the story God continues to tell.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. "Remember me," he asked, "as often as you do this." Whether we are holding again the broken bread that is passed among us, clasping again the chained crosses around our necks, or reading again the story of God's coming, as often as we do this, let us remember.
Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
(1) Andreas Tzortzis, "At the Gift Shop: Souvenirs of Buchenwald," The New York Times (September 15, 2004).
|
|
Secretary-General calls on people of faith for support in climate change battle |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
13 November 2007 – People of faith can help inspire millions of others worldwide to take better care of the planet, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for a concerted global effort ...
|
|
University ban on Muslim comedy attacked |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
) MUSLIM comedians have been banned from performing at a Scottish university in a move described as "ridiculous and undemocratic". Glasgow Caledonian University backed out of hosting Allah Made Me ...
|
|
University's banning of Muslim comedy attacked |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
FIONA MACLEOD MUSLIM comedians have been banned from performing at a Scottish university in a move described as "ridiculous and undemocratic". Glasgow Caledonian University backed out of hosting Al...
|
|
Survey Shows Disparate Views on Cultural Impact of Islam on London |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
Mushtak Parker, Arab News LONDON, 14 November 2007 - A wide-ranging survey on the impact of Islam on London culture commissioned by London's main evening newspaper, The Evening Standard and published ...
|
|
Presiding Bishop, China Christian Council exchange expressions of friendship |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
. Today's ELO Newslink includes: * TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop, China Christian Council exchange expressions of friendship * DIOCESAN DIGEST - OHIO: Bishop highlights mission work locally and globall...
|
|
NCC assembly celebrates new leadership |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
. By United Methodist News Service* Emerging from cuts in budget and staff, the National Council of Churches celebrated the future and installed new leadership during its annual general assembly. Unit...
|
|
United Methodists get their game on to fight malaria |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
. By Steve Smith* RICHLAND HILLS, Texas (UMNS) - Under a cloudless Texas sky, the Rev. Claude Davison, 75, dribbles his basketball to the chalk "foul line" on his driveway, aims at the hoop,...
|
|
Saudi religious tourism market poised to grow 20% annually |
|
Written by BigNewsNetwork.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
Dubai: Saudi Arabia's religious tourism market is expected to grow by about 20 per cent annually over the next decade and hotels in Makkah and Madinah are forecasting strong occupancy rates this year,...
|
|
New Filmmakers Give Us a 'Glimpse of Grace' Director Says |
|
Written by Christiannewswire.com
|
|
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
Contact: Abigail Davidson, 360-802-9758,
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
MEDIA ADVISORY, Nov. 13 /Christian Newswire/ -- Just as Moses lifted a flaming serpent on a bronze pole before the children of Israel, pointing onlookers to Messiah, the theatre and film arts today are capturing the modern imagination with their craft, focusing it on Christ and His victory over evil in our world, says midlife convert, director Paul Kuritz. His newest book, "The Fiery Serpent," is one of an emerging few that s Source: WinePress Publishing Group
|
|
