Getting Ready for Memorial
1 Why will you attend the Memorial this year? Surely one reason would be to show appreciation to Jehovah for providing his Son as our Ransomer. It is a happy time, one of rejoicing, for the occasion reminds us that Jesus “conquered the world,” by keeping his integrity right to the death. (John 16:33) Our appreciation for the love that has been shown to us should move each of us to be in attendance and to help others to be there on Thursday night, March 23, after sundown.
2 Did you know that last year, in the United States alone, the Memorial attendance exceeded by 720,705 the number of publishers sharing in service during the same month? Will all of these and more attend this year? It depends much, does it not, on what we do to make the occasion widely known and personally help persons to be there? Perhaps for a week or two before Memorial we can use our service time to concentrate on inviting friends and interested people to attend. We may wish to use the telephone to reach those we cannot visit personally, or we might send an invitation through the mail. Perhaps we can even arrange to pick them up and bring them to this most sacred occasion.
3 Although we want to give due attention to the cleanness and repair of the Kingdom Hall for this event, it is most important to be concerned with the talk itself. Hence, the speaker will want to give special attention to his material so that the talk will be understandable even for new ones. He should also strive to build up the faith of all in attendance. When the time comes for the Memorial, each of us can help by warmly welcoming newcomers and making all feel at home so that they will want to come again. Discussing together the significance of the Memorial will help remind us of the need to show love toward one another and others.—John 13:34, 35; 1 Thess. 3:12, 13.
SPECIAL PUBLIC TALK
4 It is appropriate and timely that our special talk on March 26 deals with the subject “The True Religion—How to Identify It.” Those who are with us for Memorial can be enthusiastically encouraged to come again and learn from the talk why Jehovah’s Witnesses are different from other religions.
5 Actions can speak even louder than words, so we will want to display Christ-like qualities at all times, but especially when dealing with the new ones. Our friendliness and warmth at the special public talk can make others feel the way one woman recently expressed it, “I have never gone to any religious meeting in my life where I felt so welcome.” She went on to describe the thoughtfulness shown to her by “total strangers” and looked forward to attending other meetings.
6 Surely we will be busy during the Memorial season. But what joy we have to follow in the footsteps of our leader Christ Jesus, preaching and making disciples as he did. May we be strengthened to continue imitating in all our actions the same spirit of self-sacrifice and love that he showed for sheeplike ones.