My Memorial Day

Despite my frequent and repeated criticisms of Memorial Day, I did, in fact spend part of this morning at the cemetery with one of the members of our church, helping him find the headstones of his relations that served in the military. We cleared away the weeds and tall grass and broken branches and twigs and picked up the little bit of litter that was there. I've done this with him for the past several years. My criticism of Memorial Day is not with the dead soldiers, but with the conflation of Nationalism / Patriotism and the Christian faith. My criticism is for those who say war is necessary, not for those who have died in those unnecessary wars.

I know that several of my critics (and I have a few) may not believe that. The nuance is usually lost in the shouting.

I came home from the cemetery and worked in my garden and the yard for a while - pulling weeds, and etc. I few weeks ago I shared a photo of the newly tilled garden plot. The plot now has plants and vegetables of various kinds growing in it, including: mustard greens (which have already graced our dinner table a couple of times), radishes, squash (which, until yesterday I had thought were a failure this year), potatoes, and sunflowers - along with wildflowers of many kinds for the birds and the bees.

One of my neighbors stopped by to help me identify a plant that's growing in the garden. We both agreed that it could be a weed or it could be foxglove. Or not. We're pretty sure of that much.

After lunch I spent some time reading (a book from the library as most of my books are packed away in preparation for our upcoming move) and playing in the yard with the dog and the cat.

So - yeah, we're packing to move and I'm still working in my garden as if that's going to matter. I'm trying to figure out what and how I can transplant to our new place at the end of next month.

This evening I'm going to take the dog for a walk with my wife - we'll talk about the house that we're trying to buy, the jobs that are and are not yet quite lined up, about our daughter who'll be going away to college at the end of the summer, about our son, about this that and the other.

All in all, it's been / will be a pleasant Memorial Day (even if I have been and will be critical of it as a holiday.)

Memorial Day Parade

If we must have a Memorial Day parade, as it seems we must, then let us do it right.

There should be no marching bands in this parade; we will not play boisterous Sousa marches. Play only dirges on wailing bagpipes and somber, heavy drums. And no cheerleaders or baton twirling drum majors. This is not a day for flash and dazzle. This is not a day for cheers. If there must be flags, then let there be only one-at the head of the procession.  Everyone else will hang plain black bunting.  Have no floats, no fire trucks, no waving beauty pageant queens smiling from the back of red convertibles.  Do not throw candy, confetti, or ticker tape. 

Let the parade be a solemn procession of those who called for war, those politicians who sent our boys and girls to fight and die.  Let those leaders walk down Main Street with their heads uncovered.  Let them parade through town dragging the boots and helmets of those who died.

And let them ask for our forgiveness.

Memorial Day with the Early Church Fathers

The Wrong Blood

We had no special recognition of Memorial Day during our church service this morning.  We did not make mention of those fallen soldiers who died in battle.  We did not sing patriotic songs.  We did not pledge allegiance to the flag.  We did none of these things because they do not belong in a Christian worship service.

These things do not belong in a Christian worship service because they honor and attribute power (wonder working power) to the wrong blood.  It is not the blood of fallen soldiers that makes us free.

Only the blood of the Lamb should be celebrated in a Christian chapel. 

Memorial Day Is Not a Christian Holiday

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. – John 15: 13

It’s Memorial Day weekend again, and, though I have said it before, I will say it again.  This verse has nothing – NOTHING- to do with military service. 

Men and woman do not enlist in the military to lay down their lives.  They may be willing to risk death – but they do not join with the intent that they will deliberately die.  They are, in fact, trained to avoid death and, what is more, to inflict death upon others.  This is not love – at least, not the kind of love described in the verse above.

This verse is speaking of Jesus’ death - a voluntary sacrifice of the self, expressly to the point of death without the killing of others.

While we might wish to honor those who have served in the armed forces of the United States, Memorial Day is not a Christian holiday.  It is a Nationalist holiday.  

We should not confuse the two.

This is Not "No Greater Love "

Can we be honest a moment?  I realize that people get caught up in a swell of patriotic warm fuzzies on Memorial Day with all the flags and ribbons and red-white-and-blue bunting, but can we try to put that aside for a few minutes?

Can we put that aside long enough to realize that John 15:13 has nothing to do with military service. And it is inappropriate to apply it that way. 

Because, let's face it, those who serve and die in military action are not "laying down" their lives.  No.  They may be willing to die if they have to, but they are not "laying down." 
Soldiers approach the battlefield to kill the enemy. They are there to take lives.  They might be willing to die in the effort but they are not going there with the purpose of dying.  Our example for that is Jesus, who did not go into a field of battle with a just willingness to die if he had to - but with the specific purpose of dying.  And Jesus didn't try to take out as many of his enemies as he could before he was forced to lay down his life. 

Can we stop the misapplication of Jesus' words? Please.