Do Not Forget

September 13, 2026 homily on Deuteronomy 4:9–10 and Luke 2:25–38 by Pastor Galen, for Grandparents’ Sunday

“…make them known to your children and your children’s children.” – Deuteronomy 4:9b

A Clean Plate

One of the things my grandfather taught me when I was growing up was how to clean my plate. And I don’t just mean to finish every piece of food that was on my plate. I mean to leave it spotless. He taught me that when you were eating a meal, you should save a little piece of bread until the very end. Once everything else was gone, you could take that bread and wipe up whatever gravy or sauce was still on the plate, to make sure that absolutely nothing went to waste.

I remember him mentioning that this was something that had been taught to him by his father, or maybe even by his grandfather. And while I don’t know the story behind it, I would guess that there were times when food was scarce, and so he wanted to make sure nothing got wasted. 

My grandfather knew something about hard work. He was a pastor who always worked other jobs — what we might call “bi-vocational.” When my dad was growing up, my grandfather worked on the railroad. Later he worked as a dairyman for the Milton Hershey School, milking the cows whose milk was used in Hershey’s milk chocolate.

Out of that whole life, one small lesson that ended up getting passed along to his grandson was to save a piece of bread until the end of the meal, to wipe the plate clean.

And I still often do it today.

I’m sure that for many of us, there are things we carry from our grandparents and from the generations before us that we probably don’t think about very often. Some are stories we heard growing up. Others are habits that have become so ordinary that we hardly notice them anymore. Then one day we catch ourselves doing something and realize, “That’s exactly what Grandma used to do.”

Do Not Forget

And this reminds me in many ways of what Moses told the people in the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses says to the people, “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” (Deut. 4:9).

These words were spoken to the Israelites when they were getting ready to enter the Promised Land. Throughout the past 40 years they had been wandering in the wilderness. They had been through some incredibly difficult times, but they had also seen God work in some amazing ways. They had seen water come out of a rock. They had eaten manna — bread that miraculously appeared seemingly out of nowhere. There had been many times when they were tempted to give up, but God had always provided for them.

And Moses knew that after they entered the Promised land, another generation would come along who wouldn’t know the difficult times they had been through. They wouldn’t have experienced hunger in the desert wilderness. And in the midst of the abundance that they were going to experience in the promised land, they may not realize how everything they had was a miraculous blessing from God.

So Moses tells the people to pay attention to what they have seen and make sure they pass the stories along to their children, and to their children’s children — their grandchildren. He wants to make sure the people don’t forget, so that they can pass it along to the next generations, so that as a people they would not forget God’s faithfulness.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

And that reminds me of another memory that I have of my grandfather. 

My grandfather had retired from pastoral ministry before I was born, so I never really knew him as Pastor Zook. To me, he was Grandpa. I knew that he had spent years in ministry, but I had never really seen that side of him. But then one summer, when he was already in his eighties, someone invited him to preach at this old-time outdoor campmeeting. By that point he had become rather frail. He was hunched over, and he walked with a cane.

I remember when it was time for him to preach that everyone in the tabernacle watched him make his way up the stairs to the pulpit. When he got there, he put his hands on it and used the pulpit to straighten himself up. And then he began to preach a powerful sermon.

To be honest, I cannot remember what he preached about, or even what text he preached from. What I remember was the passion that was in his voice. The energy that coursed through his body as he proclaimed the goodness of God. Although I don’t remember the words of that sermon, I have a vivid image in my mind of him pulling himself upright behind the pulpit, and I remember how passionate he was about God.

And maybe this is how faith gets passed down from generation to generation. Certainly, we hope that younger people remember the things we tell them, and some of those words certainly will stay with them. But they are also watching our lives to see what matters to us. They notice what captures our attention, and what gets us most excited. And the truth is, that will probably stick with them much longer than any of the words that we say.

Simeon and Anna

And this brings us to our Gospel lesson, where Mary and Joseph bring baby Jesus to the Temple. And there in the temple they encounter two people who have lived long and full lives. 

Simeon, Luke tells us, was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him” (Luke 2:25). It had been revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died, and so it is often assumed that he was rather advanced in age. When Simeon saw Jesus, he took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God, and then spoke blessings over Jesus’ family.

A little later, Anna comes into the scene. Luke tells us that she is eighty-four years old and has spent many years worshiping in the Temple (Luke 2:37). When she saw Jesus, she too “began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

While we don’t know if Simeon and Anna were grandparents, Anna was certainly old enough to be a grandmother, or even a great-grandmother. I’m struck by the fact that they had been actively longing for and awaiting the Messiah. Over the years, their passion and enthusiasm had not waned. They had not become jaded or cynical, and their sense of expectation had not diminished. They were alert to God’s presence in their midst, and ready to receive the baby Jesus into their midst. 

And this is a good reminder for us on this Grandparents’ Sunday, because one of the gifts of growing older is the long view. The sense of perspective. Grandparents have lived through things that grandchildren have never experienced. They have experienced seasons when life was good and seasons when life was hard. And over time, you see connections that are difficult to see when you are younger 

And that perspective can be a real gift to the people who come after us. Our children and our children’s children. 

Sometimes we pass on those stories and lessons with words. Other times the lessons get passed down through actions. Grandchildren may remember something you told them, but they also carry on those things that they watched you do. They get excited about things because they saw they were important to you, even if they don’t fully understand why.

My grandfather probably had no idea that I would remember him wiping his plate with a piece of bread. And he probably didn’t imagine that decades later, I would still be able to picture him standing straight and tall behind that pulpit. But those memories have stayed with me, as have the lessons that were inherently passed down to me: that every morsel of food is a blessing from God and worth being savored, and that the Gospel is powerful, and that the good news of Jesus is worth proclaiming our whole lives long.

Do Not Forget the Things Your Eyes Have Seen

Moses told the people, “Do not forget the things that your eyes have seen” (Deuteronomy 4:9). There are grandparents here today who have seen a great deal. Some of you have lived long enough to look back on prayers that were answered in ways you could never have expected. There are also things you have learned the hard way. Those experiences have shaped who you are.

And for those of us who had grandparents or grandparent figures who shaped us, today is a chance to recognize that some of what they gave us is still alive in us. Maybe you have a family recipe that was passed down to you from your grandmother. Perhaps your grandfather taught you how to fix something. Maybe what stayed with you was the way they treated people or the faith you saw them practice.

We often discover these things gradually. Years later, we realize how much of somebody else’s life became part of ours.

Forget-Me-Not

Later in the service, we’re going to give our grandparents and grandparent figures a little pot with soil and forget-me-not seeds. That flower seems especially appropriate today because its name sounds a little like Moses’ message to Israel: do not forget.

The seeds are small, and for a while there will not be much to see. Eventually, with care, something begins to grow. That seems like a fitting image for the influence grandparents have as well. You may plant something in the life of a grandchild and never know exactly what will become of it. A word of encouragement may remain with them longer than you expected. The way they see you live your faith may come back to them years later.

My grandfather’s lesson about the bread traveled through at least a couple of generations before it reached me. And I have no idea what he preached about that Sunday when I watched him stand behind the pulpit, but I remember the passion with which he preached.

So perhaps Grandparents’ Sunday gives all of us a reason to think about what we are carrying from those who came before us, and what may be taking root in the people who are watching our lives now.

Moses told God’s people to guard their memories and share them with their children and grandchildren. Simeon and Anna show us lives that remained open to God well into old age. And today we give thanks for the people whose lives have helped us recognize God’s faithfulness.

May we not forget God’s faithfulness in our lives, and may the seeds of faith continue to germinate and grow as they are passed down from generation to generation. 

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. When you look back on your life, where have you seen God’s faithfulness most clearly?
2. What habits, values, or ways of living have you inherited from the generations before you?
3. What might younger people be learning from the way you live, even when you are not intentionally teaching them?
4. Simeon and Anna remained attentive to God throughout their lives. What helps you stay open to what God may still be doing in your life?
5. What “seeds” of faith, encouragement, or wisdom would you most hope to plant in the lives of those who come after you?