I had the honor of once again speaking at the Memorial Day ceremonies here in Greene. Here’s the message I gave this year.
Good morning, and thank you for being here today, taking time on this beautiful morning to honor those who have given their lives in service to our country.
It’s an honor to be with you today to share a reflection on the meaning of Memorial Day, especially since I don’t have a personal connection to Memorial Day.
Isn’t that strange? Not that I’m the speaker, but that we live in a time and a place where that can be true, where the vast majority of us can be spared from the experience of war, living our lives in blissful ignorance of the cost of battle.
My entire connection to the armed forces is a Marine Corp windbreaker I got in high school for talking with a recruiter. But I had the freedom to say no, to take a different path. And that’s because of the sacrifice of others.
So let me begin by saying thank you to those of you who have served on behalf of us who have stayed home. Whether you volunteered or answered the call when your number came up, thank you for your service.
In preparation for this morning, I spent some time reading stories of Medal of Honor recipients—our nation’s heroes—and I noticed that many of them are honored not for the number of people they killed, or the great strategic decisions they made, but for rescuing others, for refusing to abandon the wounded.
Michael Edwin Thornton in Vietnam, awarded for rescuing removing a seriously wounded and unconscious lieutenant from under fire, then inflating the lieutenant’s life jacket and towing him seaward for approximately two hours until picked up by support craft.
Gary George Wetzel, a helicopter door gunner also in Vietnam. Blown out of his helicopter and bleeding profusely due to the loss of his left arm and severe wounds in his right arm, chest, and left leg, he used a machine gun to eliminate an enemy automatic weapons emplacement, then passed out from loss of blood while trying to aid his aircraft commander.
Regaining consciousness, he persisted in his efforts to drag himself to the aid of his fellow crewman. Assisting his crew chief in dragging his wounded commander, he lost consciousness once again.
Ernest West, who died only a few weeks ago, honored for fighting off three hostile soldiers in Korea while dragging a wounded officer to safety, losing his own eye in the process.
In the midst of all its horrors, war reveals heroism, and in so many cases, heroism looks like putting others before yourself.
We gather this morning not to celebrate the violence of war, but to give thanks for those who have endured it for the sake of peace.
We gather to remember those who have paid the price of freedom with their lives, and let us not forget the costs of war paid by the living as well.
In remembering the sacrifice of others, may we be moved not only to tend their graves, but to honor their sacrifices with the way we use our freedom, to put others before ourselves as well.
In 1982, President Reagan ended his Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery by saying, “I can’t claim to know the words of all the national anthems in the world, but I don’t know of any other that ends with a question and a challenge as ours does:”
“Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
Many of you know the origin of that question. Poet Francis Scott Key witnessed the British bombardment of the American Fort McHenry during the night of September 13, 1814.
Not knowing how the battle had turned out overnight, he saw by the dawn’s early light the United States flag triumphantly flying above the fort. The British bombs bursting in air had not overcome the American defense.
Over 200 years later, the question we face today as civilians is not whether the banner is still flying. Especially on a day like today, you don’t have to look far to see the symbols of our nation surrounding us.
The question we face today is what sort of a nation that banner flies over.
Are we the land of the free and the home of the brave? Are we living up to the ideals of our nation, a nation whose pledge calls us to unite as one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all? Are we living up to the ideals inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Are we a nation where people of all races and creeds and backgrounds, people of all education levels and party affiliations and occupations can come together and find opportunity, a nation where—in the words of Dr. King’s dream—people “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”?
Will we see other people as people created in God’s image, as beloved children of God redeemed by Jesus, even when we disagree with them?
In this last year, we’ve seen some of the best and worst of our nation.
We’ve seen people come together and support one another in unprecedented times, neighbors checking in on neighbors, the resilience of our health care and nursing home workers, teachers and students discovering new ways to learn, small businesses supported in creative ways. I’m grateful we no longer need to have drive-by birthday parades for children, but they were a beautiful thing last year.
And at the same time, we’ve seen the worst aspects of our American self-reliance, as in too many cases people have put their own comfort and convenience ahead of their neighbor’s health and well-being.
We continue to reckon with racial injustice, divisive politics, and disinformation spread by those more interested in outrage than solutions. We’ve seen both the value of protest and the challenge of defending the rights even of those with whom we might disagree.
The question for us today is how will we use the freedom been given to us.
How will we use the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness endowed to us by our Creator and defended by those whom we remember and honor today?
Will you use your freedoms, your rights to assembly, to free expression to lift up and help those in need, to give voice to those on the margins, or only to protect your own wealth and privileged status? Will you use your freedom of self-defense to protect your neighbor, or to threaten others? Will you use your freedom of religion to participate in worship, or to judge those who worship differently?
As we come out of the pandemic, especially for those of us who claim to follow Jesus, will we value and work toward the common good of all of God’s children? Will we be concerned about the people around the world who long for the same liberties and opportunities we so often take for granted?
Will we be concerned about our neighbors right here at home who don’t share the privileges we enjoy? Will we defend the ideals of liberty and justice for all by questioning and challenging systems and patterns of injustice, looking for wrongs to right, challenging our leaders when they fall short?
How will you act in your liberty? Will you put others before yourself, honoring the sacrifices made by those who gave up their lives for others?
In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul writes, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Paul speaks of spiritual freedom, the grace given in Jesus Christ who sets us free from the law of sin and death, but that spiritual freedom—which cannot be restrained by any human government—is lived out in the world, in service to others.
As the Lord said to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Our nation has been blessed to be a blessing. You have been blessed to be a blessing, set free in order to set others free.
We rightly honor the sacrifice of those who have died in freedom’s cause by using our freedom to set others free, by spreading the cause of liberty and justice in both far-away lands and in our own backyards.
Gathered here in a cemetery, we know the price war has and continues to demand. Especially in the times when war may be necessary, we long for peace.
We look forward to the day foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Micah, when the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, when nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
We look forward to the day promised in Revelation, the day when God will wipe every tear away, when death will be no more, when mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
We look forward to the day when horrors of war will be overcome forever by the beauty of flowers, the promise of peace, and the realization of liberty and justice for all.
As we today remember and honor the sacrifices of others, may we be inspired to work towards that day. God bless you.