Making Events Present

If you use the "search" on this blog there are several posts on anamnesis (remembering).  As God's people  gather in worship God comes with memories of his mighty acts, events which become present in liturgy.  Because God is in eternity, this is more than a re-representation of past events.

Sarna says this about remembering in his comment on Exodus 2:24: 

The Hebrew stem z-k-r connotes much more than the recall of things past. It means, rather, to be mindful, to pay heed, signifying a sharp focusing of attention upon someone or something. It embraces concern and involvement and is active not passive, so that it eventuates in action. As Menaḥot 43b has it: “Looking upon leads to remembering, and remembering leads to action.”

Remembering leads to action.  How does this happen?   The worshiper relives the events, as described in Sarna's notes to Exodus chapter 13:

This section continues the process of historicizing existing institutions by reinterpreting them in terms of the Exodus experiences. The revitalized ancient rituals, now charged with new historical meaning, serve to perpetuate the memory of those events by making them living realities for succeeding generations.

Nahum Sarna,   The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus שמות (Jewish Publication Society, 1991).