Memorial Day
We have come to another Memorial Day weekend.
Memorial Day often means different things to different people. For many it is the unofficial beginning of summer with its extra day of the week-end. Lakes will be filled with swimmers, boaters, people fishing, and others zooming around on jet skis.
For others it’s a time for sports. In Indianapolis, some one will say “Ladies and Gentleman start your engines,” and another Memorial Day tradition will begin as 33 drivers will risk life and limb in the Indianapolis 500.
There will be baseball games played and millions of shots will be taken on golf course.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with those activities, we are remiss, I believe, if we do not give pause this weekend to ponder the true meaning of this day.
After all the word is “Memorial” Day. It is a time we remember the sacrifices of those who died in defense of our freedom.
There are various accounts of the origins of Memorial Day.
The general consensus is that it began as Decoration Day, a time in which persons both in the North and in the South would decorate the graves of the dead following the War Between the States.
While the date often varied from community to community, it is fairly clear that the day took on a more national scope following World War I though it did not become an official holiday until 1967.
Regardless of its roots there is no doubt that this is a time in which we as a society are called to come together and collectively remember that there are those who made the ultimate sacrifice in order to establish, protect, and strengthen the freedom that you and I enjoy today.
It is not uncommon to build monuments venerating the memory of those who have given of themselves in defense of our freedom.
Nearly every community in the South has its monument to the Confederate dead of the War Between the States. There are monuments to those who have died in other conflicts.
It is not unusual to find that some churches have plaques in them commemorating those who died in war. I recall in the church in which I was raised in Macon there was pew dedicated to the memory of a member of our congregation who lost his life in Vietnam.
St. John United Methodist Church in Augusta has two plaques honoring those from St. John who had died in military service.
One morning, during my tenure at St. John, I observed a young boy asking his mother why those names were on those plaques. The mother said, “Those are the people who died in the service,” to which her son responded, “Which one the nine o’clock service or the eleven o’clock service.”
Many of us may have traveled and visited the various memorials in Washington dedicated to the memories of those who died in the two World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.
We are a grateful people and we strive to say thank you even though our thanks rings hollow in proportion to the sacrifice that has been made.
So it is on this upcoming Memorial Day that we say thank you to those who have died in defense of our freedom.
Yet, let us not for a moment think that we only say thank you to those who died in the heroic moments of battle. We also say thank you to those who died doing unassuming tasks in unassuming ways in unassuming places serving our nation. Whether one died in the heroic moments is relatively unimportant. It is the valor of their commitment that we honor.
What is important is that all we remember died serving. All of them died in giving of themselves so that today we might worship as we please, we might speak what we believe and that we might vote for the leaders we choose.
They died so that we might hit a golf ball, go for a boat ride or sit on a bank and fish.
All of them died for you and for me. In giving of themselves they are the living embodiment of the example of Christ who also gave of himself so that you and I might have life and have it abundantly.