Commemoratives
Originally scheduled for
February 6
Unless you are an avid collector, you are probably unaware of the
number of commemorative coins issued by the United States Mint. It
seems that Congress regularly authorizes the issue of such coins to
honor various people, events, and places. That list of places
includes some familiar ones, such as Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone
National Park. Others are less known, such as the National Visitors
Center in Washington DC. Some of the events are quite famous, such
as various Civil War commemoratives. But did you know that we have a
coin that commemorates the National Botanic Gardens? People range
from the famous (such as Abraham Lincoln) to various anonymous
groups, such as women who have served in the Armed Forces. You can
get these coins in a variety of materials, including silver and
gold.
Human beings, it seems, need something to symbolize their
memories. Even the earliest of cultures had something resembling a
gravestone. Often enough, the Memorial item is in and of itself a
rather expensive thing — gold is running over $1000 an ounce as of
this writing, and we are issuing gold coins as commemoratives. It is
as if we were saying to ourselves, "don't forget this."
Communion likewise is a commemorative. The place it commemorates
is rather a dusty one; it's a small hill just outside the old city
of Jerusalem. Yet we have many hymns that speak of Calvary; we
remember. The event that we are remembering was a common form of
criminal execution of the time; the locals would have seen it as
ordinary. We see it for what it is: the sacrifice of the Lamb of
God. Most important of all, we commemorate the person of this event:
Jesus, the Christ.
Commemorative coins exist to bring your memory back to the surface;
when you see them, you remember. Communion does the same thing for
the Christian, so that we might remember the sacrifice of our Lord
that brought us salvation.
