How memorabilia can trigger memories of important moments

Reverend Steve Jones of the Mission Community of Exmouth, Littleham and Lympstone (Image: Steve Jones)

In the Harry Potter stories a ‘Portkey’ is an everyday looking item with special powers.

It might be a cup or a book or a dinner fork. When the characters in the stories touch such a portkey, they are instantly, physically transported to another location.

While the concept of such a transportation device is, of course, fictional, there are certain things that I have around my house which I have collected over the years that seem able to transport me, mentally, to somewhere else. One such thing is the album Welcome to the Cruise by Judie Tzuke.

When I sailed south with the Falklands Task Force in 1982, that cassette tape was the only piece of music that my Royal Marine troop had with us on the ship. Consequently, it was played repeatedly.

Now, when I listen to the title track from the album and close my eyes, I am instantly transported back to the deck rail of the Landing Ship Sir Percivale in the middle of an angry South Atlantic Ocean.

I can even smell the salt of the ocean and sense the surging and heaving of the deck. It is now 38 years since that uncertain journey, but through this one song, it is, for me, as if it were yesterday.

Another memory portal for me is a small painting of St. Paul. In 2015, I was in Ely attending an Anglican three-day interview board.

A picture of St Paul which holds sentimental value for Reverend Steve Jones (Image: Steve Jones)

The direction of my future in God’s Church would depend upon the outcome of that board. Between the interviews and assessments, I went over to Ely Cathedral for Evensong.

Sat in that ancient service, I was able to surrender all my hopes and dreams into God’s safe hands and was able to find a deep inner peace in whatever outcome He determined best.

Following the interviews, and before I knew the outcome, I purchased a small painting of St. Paul in the cathedral shop.

I wanted to remember my feelings of trust during those three days. In the Bible, St. Paul talks a lot about surrendering one’s life into God’s trustworthy hands, and that was precisely what I was doing. Following those interviews,

God launched me on an amazing journey that has brought me, joyfully, to Exmouth.

That image of St. Paul now sits on the windowsill in my office at The Rectory, and I see it multiple times each day. Now, I only need to pause and think for a moment about that day in Ely Cathedral, and I can recall, and inhabit once again, that special sense of peace in God’s direction.

I think that the ability to look into our past can be a real gift from God, and also that special items from our pilgrimage of life can help us to reconnect more easily with important and fading memories.

I wonder today, as you look around your own home, whether your eyes fall upon items that bring back some special memories for you.

Maybe a treasured gift that you once received from someone you love very much, and who may no longer be in your life. Perhaps, you are looking at a photograph of yourself from a certain time in your life, which was filled with incredible joy, hope, bounty, and adventure.

You might be looking at something given to you by your work colleagues to thank and commend you for your excellent service to an organisation of which you are, or were once, part.

Perhaps, right now, you are looking at a possession that you inherited from one of your ancestors, which helps you stay connected with your heritage and your broader family. If you think about it, you may be surrounded by portals to many treasured memories. So, I would like to encourage you, today, to let your mind transport you back to a thousand destinations and moments that matured you into the special person that you are today.