Redemptive Remembrance

The following is based upon part two of a brief devotional and discussion I was invited to lead for the staff of God’s World News Group (gwnews.com). It builds upon the Structure-Support-Challenge paradigm, also found in this blog space.

Psalm 77:9-12 provocatively asks,

“Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

Then I said, ‘I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.’

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

When Karen and I were newlyweds, I was in the car alone driving into town in Bozeman, MT where we were living at the time and the Eagles’ “Take It to the Limit” came on the radio. It was one of those moments. The lyrics stirred a deep place in me. Looking out the windshield at the stunning beauty of the Gallatin Valley which is surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains, the sight, the song, the longing almost confessional lyric, sung passionately was indelibly imprinted in my memory. Ever since that day, whenever I hear the song, I see the Valley in my mind’s eye, I feel the emotions and longing it evoked when I first heard it sometimes as strongly as I did then.

I’m sure you can think of a song like that for you, and possibly some that you would rather were not so poignantly remembered….

But what I want to explore with you is the role of redemptive remembrance and cultivating something more robust than what a pop song can evoke for the developing of a healthy Structure-Support-Challenge (SSC) triangle in work, school, or home.

Last time we introduced the Structure Support Challenge paradigm, and I asked you all to do this exercise:

Think back to your best experience of working together with a team whether a Christian team or not—when you were giving as well as receiving, using all your gifts, and growing in your faith. How would you describe what made that experience exciting, fulfilling, encouraging, alive, involved, connected, and understood?

Think about what were you doing. Who was around you? What were they contributing? Without false humility, what were you able to contribute?

Next I asked [the participants] to take a moment and share brief versions of those stories. As a few did so there was an evident sense of simple enjoyment, encouragement, and even excitement in the remembering and the telling.

We observed together that these stories almost certainly had Structure, Support and Challenge in good tension—equal or nearly equal—where challenge was high, support and structure were equally high allowing for a thriving, fruitful season of service or work, and that examples in scripture like the Great Commission demonstrate that these elements were present in the Lord’s wise construction of the ideal learning and growing environment. To better understand this concept see the short paper Structure Support Challenge

For those who have been with us in coaching or a coached cohort, this guided exercise in remembering is a key part of the work we do together. Whether with Christian leaders, pastors and their spouses, teams, or large groups, we’ve had the privilege of helping them to rediscover what tends toward the greatest fruitfulness in their endeavors. This is the work of Appreciative Inquiry.

What I want to help you observe is that when we remember these high point stories they move us toward hope and possibilities for the future.

What happens in your heart when you remember such a high point? We often hear comments like, “It made me want things to be like that again.” “It made me grateful.” “It was exciting and encouraging to remember that time”.

I submit to you that this is at least a part of what it means to engage in redemptive remembrance—when we step outside of the present challenge, out of this moment, and reflect intentionally upon what God has shown us is true about himself in his Word. We may journal, or pray out loud on a walk, have a conversation with a spiritual director or friend, (buy especially walk through the structured process we use). What happens in this remembrance is that after remembering, we move from the past back to the present and to worshipful, grateful reflection, which moves us toward aspiration. Faith, hope, joy, and desire are gently triggered.

So remembering our stories in this way provides more than examples of a helpful paradigm: I believe this is in part why God has exhorted us to remember so many times in scripture: to remember his deeds, his faithfulness, his Father-love as recorded there, but also when we knew and experienced his faithfulness personally.

So I’ve learned and observed that this kind of remembering is true gospel work, and it can help us take steps to shape our work, ministry, school, or home environment in the direction of that fruitful season: to capture and to cultivate the elements that contributed to it.

We love to go through this process with leaders and I am always personally moved by the stories we’ve heard. It is a privilege to walk with leaders in the process of discovering ways that the can lead authentically, humbly, and with hope.

We’re always looking for opportunities to gather a group of leaders to do this work and more. We would love to offer it to you, your leadership team, or congregation. If this sounds like a journey you would like to begin, let’s talk!