Memorial Day

       As a nation, we like to remember…and there are memorials that have been erected and dedicated all over this country that remember those who served within the military and armed forces. The story behind the Memorial Day observance is this:

       America was experiencing some of its darkest days as a nation, for there was a great civil war that was dividing this nation and “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure” (Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg). It was on a pleasant Sunday in October of 1864, that a teenage girl by the name of Emma Hunter was found gathering flowers and placing them on the grave of her father who had died in service to the Union Army as a field surgeon.

       At a nearby grave was Elizabeth Meyer who was placing flowers on the grave of her son Amos, a private who had fallen at the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. On that October day Emma took a few of her flowers and placed them on the grave of Amos and Elizabeth, in turn, laid some of her flowers on the grave of Dr. Hunter; upon doing so, both women felt a lightening of their burdens by their act of honoring each other’s loss…and they agreed that they would also visit the graves of those who had no one left to honor them.

       The following year, on Independence Day, 1865, nearly the entire town joined Emma and Elizabeth…the pastor offered a sermon and the community joined in decorating every grave in the cemetery with flowers and flags. It was in 1868 that General John Logan, first commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a General Order establishing May 30 as an official Memorial Day to pay respect to all those who had died, in war or in peace.

       One of the best ways to remember the events of the past is through speeches and songs. The following is a quote from General Dwight Eisenhower in a letter he wrote to his wife a few weeks before the Normandy landing: “It is terribly sad business to total up the casualties each day…and to realize how many youngsters are gone forever…war demands real toughness of fiber, not only in the soldiers who must endure, but in the homes that must sacrifice the best.”

       One of the most powerful songs that I know that describes the loss of life, and the intense grieving that it creates, was expressed by the Statler Brothers in the song titled “More Than A Name On the Wall”. The song was about a young soldier, named Claude Allen Smith, who had died on September 23, 1967, as a result of small arms gun fire. Here are the lyrics from that song:

I saw her from a distance, as she walked up to the wall
In her hand she held some flowers – as her tears began to fall
And she took out pen and papers, as to trace her memories,
She looked up to heaven, and the words she said were these:

She said, “Lord, my boy was special,
And he meant so much to me
And oh, I’d love to see him, just one more time you see
All I have are my memories and the moments to recall, so Lord,
Could you tell him, he’s more than a name on the wall.”

She said he really missed the family
And being home on Christmas Day
And he died for God and country – in a place so far away,
I remember just a little boy, playing war since he was three
Lord, this time I know, he’s not coming home to me.

She said, “Lord, my boy was special,
And he meant so much to me
And oh, I’d love to see him, just one more time you see
All I have are my memories and the moments to recall, so Lord,
Could you tell him, he’s more than a name on the wall.”

       Margaret Mead was a famous anthropologist back in the 1960s…and as she was watching and assessing the response of the American culture to the Vietnam War, her perceptive question was:  “is there anything worth dying for?” Throughout the history of our nation, there have been men and women who thought that there was something worth dying for:

     +. 625,000 died in the Civil War
     +. 110,000 died in World War I
     +. 420,000 died in World War II
     +. 54,000 died in the Korean War
     +. 58,000 died in the Vietnam War

       Behind all of these conflicts, there is a hidden reality that was verbalized in a song from the Civil War:  “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”

       God is seeking to establish justice and punish oppression and evil through His terrible swift sword. Soldiers and nations are His instruments who seek to end tyranny and punish evil (as God uses one sinful nation to punish another sinful nation -- yet there is a mystery in all of this -- since the victor is not always the most righteous nation…Martin Luther).

       In closing, these famous words from Abraham Lincoln, spoken at Gettysburg…may these words be helpful to you as remember this Memorial Day:

     Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

     Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.  We are met on a great battle-field of that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

     But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.  It is for us living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  

     It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

       We pray…

     Lord God, in whom there is life and light; accept our thanks this day for those who died for us and accept our prayers for those who mourn.

     Forgive us when our patriotism is hollow, when our nationalism is arrogant, when our allegiance is halfhearted.  Stir within us thanksgiving for all we have inherited, vigilance for the freedoms of all people, willingness to sacrifice for fellow citizens.

     Comfort us with the joy that Christ died for all those who died, bringing life and immortality to light for all who believe in Him.

     O blessed Lord, our Rock of Ages, we ask You to guard our nation constantly and to defend her especially in times of crisis.  May love and justice everywhere in our country, and grant that we may ever seek Your will.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.