Pastor’s Point: A Memorial Day tribute in praise of the fallen

He cried at the grave of one he loved.  Fully God, and yet as a man, Jesus chose not to bypass the valley of grief which we all experience at the loss of one dear to us.  And how much more profound is the loss (and love) when that one has chosen to sacrifice his own life for others...specifically for us.  Jesus said it best:

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

This weekend, our nation pauses, if ever so briefly, to honor just such persons.  In America, much of what we have come to appreciate about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has come at the expense of others far more noble than ourselves.  These heroes, even in death, stand head and shoulders above the rest of us.  The rest of us, whose main instinct is self-preservation, often live for that which benefits us, for that so-called American dream which can be viscerally experienced right now. It is the rare few who choose cause over comfort, the greater good over self gratification.  It is for those we pause and offer praise and thanks this weekend.

Countless words of wisdom have been penned to give voice to the dignity of such giants and the nature of their task.  Here are but a few:

On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation.

 Thomas William Parsons

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  

 Elmer Davis

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.  

Billy Graham

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

Joseph Campbell

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who kept the faith and fought the fight; the glory theirs, the duty ours.

Wallace Bruce

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one. 

Baltasar Gracian

So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants. 

 Publius Cornelius Tacitus

If our country is worth dying for in time of war, let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. 

Hamilton Fish

It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

 Norman Schwarzkopf

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:

Their courage nerves a thousand living men.

Minot J. Savage

Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth;

Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth…

Thomas Moore

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.

Thomas Campbell

Cover them over with beautiful flowers,

Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours,

Lying so silent by night and by day

Sleeping the years of their manhood away.

Give them the mead they have won in the past;

Give them the honors their future forecast;

Give them the chaplets they won in the strife;

Give them the laurels they lost with their life.

Will Carleton

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation

Henry Ward Beecher

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.

Francis A. Walker

Scripture teaches us that as bad as war is, and as great its distortion of God’s original intent for humankind, there is a time for it.  The wise King Solomon once wrote:

There is a time for everything, 

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

 King Solomon

In fact, there are things worth fighting for…worth dying for.  It is no accident that Jesus led the greatest battle ever fought against the dominion of darkness, sin and death, and willingly laid down his own life so that we could be truly free.  Sometimes battles must be fought, wars must be waged, and, yes, lives laid down.  This weekend, as we remember those who gave their lives up for us, let us resolve to not let their sacrifice be in vain.  And let us be reminded that as costly a price as Jesus paid for our liberty, it is trampled afoot if we choose not to accept His grace and follow our truest Hero.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     tad