Last Memorial Day weekend I read this to our morning worship service. I wanted to share it with you again, in print. Here’s what I read:
This is Memorial Day Weekend. Memorial Day is observed every year in the United States on the last Monday of May… but it was not always so. In 1968, Congress moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a Monday, in order to make a 3-day weekend. Before this, Memorial Day was always on May 30th, and was called Decoration Day.
Decoration Day originated after the Civil War. The sheer number of dead soldiers, from the North and the South, made remembering and honoring them a matter of great importance to their countrymen. People in towns all over America began decorating the graves of fallen soldiers. Following President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, memorial observances for the dead began to be held in May. As time passed, May 30th became the traditional date to remember fallen soldiers by decorating their graves. It became known as Decoration Day, though by 1882 some also began calling it Memorial Day.
In the aftermath of World War I, Decoration Day was extended to honor all Americans who had died in any and all wars. After World War II, the name “Memorial Day” became more common, with Congress making that the official name for the holiday in 1967. As the 20th century passed, Memorial Day became an occasion to remember and decorate the graves of all loved ones, whether military or not.
Memorial Day has come to be seen as the official start of the summer season. The wheels of commerce have rolled over the holiday, turning it into a weekend of 3-day sales. And traditionally, families mark the beginning of summer with barbeques and get-togethers. Many people don’t even know how Memorial Day began.
Just like on other good holidays, there will always be those who care only about making a fast buck, or using any excuse to have a drunken celebration. There are lots of people who don’t know the original meaning of Memorial Day. But that doesn’t mean that those of us who do know the original purpose of this holiday must simply play the part of the dour, disapproving elder, frowning and shaking our heads at all the feasting and fuss.
I can’t help but think that every soldier who died in the service of his or her country wouldn’t be delighted at the prospect of families gathering and children running around, covered in ketchup and mustard stains, everyone engaged in a heartfelt celebration of life. I know for a fact that the ones I have lost in death so far–Grandfather, Grandmother, Uncle, Mother–would take far greater satisfaction in us spending the day with the family we still have, than only in grim remembrance of those we have no longer.
The truth is, there must be room in our hearts for both. As the generations each spend their time on this earth, and move on, to be replaced by new generations born after them, we must both remember the deceased and delight in the young. Especially for Christians, there is that real sense of connectedness between the generations. Even those we love who have died are not “lost”: They are now a part of the Church Triumphant, with the Lord Jesus in Heaven! Those of us Christians still here, alive on this earth, are part of the Church Militant: believers in Jesus, still on mission for Him. And the children who follow us are the “apples of our eyes”, and are the heart of our mission: to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!
So, teach them about Jesus. And tell them about the ones who are already with Him. And share a good meal with the ones who are still here, still together, and laugh and delight in all the little ones running around under your feet, making a mess. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Memorial Day.
You might even be thankful for that sale when you go to buy hot dogs for them all!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David