Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Despite the careful efforts of historians to record the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor and of movie makers to capture the drama of the day, the common remembrance in the minds of the people is beginning to fade. I recently read that in the United States a thousand souls a day of the World War II generation are dying. Less than 1 million of the 16 million US citizens who served in World War II are still alive. A generation is passing. My parents were alive at the time of the attack, but I was not. I used to have a lot of friends who had first-hand remembrances of the day, many of whom were teenage or older at the time of the attack. Little by little the memory moves to a different place in our national psyche. It was 73 years ago.

The attack was a surprise and the results were harsh. 2,403 people lost their lives and another 1,178 were wounded. 21 Navy ships were destroyed.

The attack has been compared to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which resulted in 2,996 deaths and caused $10 billion damage.

In a similar way, the memory of that attack has less edge than it did a decade ago. The youth entering our youth group were born after that attack. Our high school seniors were in kindergarten when the attack occurred.

Our memories are like that. Even the things that we know we will remember for the rest of our lives, take on an altered meaning and carry a decreased emotional impact as the years go by. Life goes on. We make new decisions. New priorities are established.

At the time of a loss the grief is so intense that one can be convinced that the grief will be a constant companion. Then years pass and one day you realize that you’ve gone a whole day without thinking about the grief. Then another passes. And another. It isn’t that you have forgotten. Rather the memory of the loss has been joined by other memories. We are not defined by a single event or a single moment in history. Our lives are shaped by many different events and experiences.

Who we are today, however, has been shaped by the events of the past. The way we celebrate Advent today has been influenced by the events of nearly three quarters of a century ago. The World War II generation came home from the war and dedicated their lives to building up community institutions. The energy, enthusiasm and leadership of that generation was a big factor in the congregation I serve to move out of the World War I era building where it worshiped and construct a new church to accommodate the growth produced by the post World War II baby boom. We forget the relationship between the historical events and the lives we live, but those links are a part of our identity.

This season - Advent - is about anticipation and looking forward. We are invited to focus our attention on what is coming and on the new things that God is doing in our world. Part of looking forward, however, is encountering the reality that the relationship between God and people is not a single-generation event. God has been with us from the beginning and the promise of a bright future has been with faithful people since Abram and Sarai left the land of their parents and headed out to discover the newness that God had yet to reveal. The promised land was something unknown that was in their future.

We can’t celebrate Advent without remembering that in the time of Jesus’ birth, Israel had been anticipating a messiah for thousands of years. Generations lived and died without seeing first-hand the fulfillment of that promise. The people had gotten so used to waiting that the waiting seemed to be more real than the fulfillment. More than a few were surprised by the holy birth. It hadn’t seemed like something that would happen in their lifetime.

We, however, are living in a different generation. Some of the most important events in the life of our people are so far back in our history that we have to study the sacred texts and re-learn our own history to discover the truths that were revealed. As one of my teachers commented, a lifetime of studying a single book of the Bible would be too short to gain full understanding.

If we have trouble remembering the events of 73 years ago, it shouldn’t surprise us that it requires study to have clarity about the events of 2,000 years ago.

Knowing the events, while essential to understanding, doesn’t change the simple fact that we are shaped by those events. Everyone living in the United States today has been affected by the events of December 7, 1941. The lives we live have been shaped by those events and the response to them. We are shaped by history even when we are unaware of our history.

Today gives us the opportunity to look back and to remember. And it gives us the opportunity to once again recall that our history stretches beyond the short span of the lives we live. We are shaped by the events that happened to our ancestors and our lives have an impact on generations that are yet unborn. We belong to a long line of history making that did nto begin with us and will not end when our time on this earth has passed.

Awareness that we belong to such a great history can be humbling. It can be intimidating. But the perspective can be very helpful as we make decisions in the present and anticipate the long-lasting effects of the choices we make. How we live our lives today and the choices we make has an impact on the lives of people for generations to come.

Advent anticipation goes far beyond what will happen on December 25. It is about being aware that God’s presence with our people goes on for all of the generations of the future.

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