Our medieval forebears’ sense of belonging was shaped by the land they tilled and the parish in which they worshipped. Above all, they knew that at the end of their lives they would be buried in the churchyard alongside their relatives and neighbours. The community of the dead, through which they walked on their way to church, fashioned a powerful sense of belonging. Some of these sensibilities were transferred from the villages to the new industrial towns of Britain, and in the Victorian era this was reinforced by a strong sense of civic pride. Well into the twentieth century families continued to live in close proximity to one another. Auntie might live round the corner; and grandparents, parents, and children might all live in the same house. A network of relationships provided care for elderly and children alike. But over the last forty years family networks have come under strain and sometimes fragmented. Fewer people remain in the same job or town during their lifetime. And unlike earlier generations, many people do not know where they will die or be buried.
This service of Commemoration is about belonging. It is about roots and identity. It is about the self-understanding of this community of learning we call Trinity College. Its umbilical cord stretches back through the centuries and holds us firm. Its rituals are designed to foster a sense of belonging in an age of cultural diversity and in a society which is increasingly anonymous. It is by the things we remember and the way we remember them that we identify ourselves. Which may be why in the Bible the sharing of memories is viewed a matter of religious obligation. If I were to ask you what is the most frequent commandment in the Bible, I wonder what you would say? To love God? To love your neighbour? To obey God? They would all be worthy answers, but they would be wrong. The most common commandment in the Scriptures is to remember. Zakhor, the Hebrew verb to remember, occurs no less than 169 times. In the Book of Deuteronomy, following the escape from Egypt, Moses instructs the people in these words: ‘Do not forget the things that your eyes have seen or let them slip from your minds all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children’ (Deuteronomy 4.9).
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Com memor at ion
Small wonder that television series such as ‘Who do you think you are?’ attract such huge audiences. People need to belong. They want to discover their roots. They are fascinated with plotting their family trees. On the day the national archives at Kew went on line, the website crashed because of the huge interest from the public.