My grandmother passed away a few days ago. Her name was Rosie Randolph Yates. She was a wife, a mother, a sister, aunt, neighbor, and friend. For me, my sister, and cousins, she was Mamaw Yates.
The Old Testament reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost is Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9. Verse 9 couldn’t help but jump out at me this week…
But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.
Moses is delivering a sermon in this text recounting the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness shortly before the Israelites arrive to the Promised Land. Moses himself will not enter this place. He led the children there, but he is a part of a different generation. In this final sermon, Moses is again telling the story of all those who have gone on before. He is telling the people, “don’t forget, tell the story!” It’s now up to a new generation to live out God’s love for the world. Anathea Portier-Young writes…
We share Moses’ hope that our children will have the blessing of life. We want them to cross into a place where we will no longer carry them, where they will enter and claim the inheritance God has prepared for them. Our children stand at a threshold. We — preachers, parents, catechists, neighbors, priests, deacons, elders — are their teachers. We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony. May our preaching and our life together show to our children the wisdom and justice of God’s teaching, so they may trust in God’s promise and receive abundant life.
We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony.
We’re fortunate to live in Jonesborough— the Story Telling Capital of the World. We know how important stories are. There are reminders everywhere and if we dare forget the Storytelling Festival each year speaks like Moses, “do not forget what you have seen, do not let them slip from your mind.” We know it’s through stories that we pass on to the next generation who we are, where we have come from, how important people have been in our lives.
We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony.
My Mamaw Yates was absolutely incredible. She had so much energy and was so full of life. Rosie was an artist. She could create things out of nothing. Her yard and her house were her canvas. She was always taking something old and making it something new. She planted a tree in her front yard that was perfect for children to climb on. Next to the tree she and her sister Gail built a fish pond that was in the shape of a heart. So many summer evenings of my childhood were spent in that yard with my sister making s’mores with Mamaw and Papaw and catching lightening bugs. It was magical. She created that for us.
She used to make us shirts to wear to school. She made my sister Delilah a shirt with lights on it that really lit up and once she somehow took some of my baseball cards and put them on a sweatshirt for a custom look. In the hallways of Lamar Elementary, kids and teachers stopped Delilah and me to ask, “where did you get that shirt?” The answer was simple, Mamaw Yates.
Mamaw was naturally good at making people feel special and loved. She gave of herself completely for her children and grandchildren. Caring for others, especially children, was a huge part of Mamaw’s life. And not only us but many other children who grew up in her community can attest to this fact. A relative once shared with me that when she was going through a difficult time she had some peace because she knew Mamaw was caring for her children. She was Mamaw to all she met.
It’s so hard to think of her being gone, but of course she is not gone. Jesus defeated death a long time ago. The cross is a reminder that we are made new and that God has prepared a place for us, a home with room to spare. Now we look through a glass dimly, then we will see face to face.
Moses called the Israelites not to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children. This truth extends to us and our experience of God. We all experience God’s grace in many ways. We are called to tell that story, to tell of our experience.
We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony.
What will I tell my children and my children’s children about their great grandmother Mamaw Yates? I’ll tell them that she loved Elvis and Days of our Lives. I’ll tell them that she made the props and the sets and costumes for our church Christmas plays. I’ll tell them she was at all of my baseball games and she made every Christmas and birthday special and unique. I experienced God’s grace through Mamaw Yates. She gave to me what God gives to us all, unconditional love.
