Lest we forget... Let us take into our hearts… In remembrance… three phrases that will guide and frame the homily this morning. It is Memorial Day weekend and many are off on mini-vacations enjoying the somewhat wet, but significantly cooler weather. Yet it is still Memorial Day weekend, where tomorrow we set aside a day to pay tribute to those who have fallen in service to this country. And no matter where you may come down either supporting or protesting a war in Iraq or where we stand on war in general, I would like to take a few minutes this morning to remember those who have fallen, who we are, how we got here, and why this weekend is so important. I ask us to begin in prayer. God of creation, on this weekend when we stop to remember, we are thankful for those who have chosen to serve for the sake of freedom. Be with them, undergird them, and encourage them. Guide their commanding officers and the Commander in Chief not take their lives for granted but protect them as he would his own. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, for you are our Lord, our rock and our redeemer…Amen.
So, this morning I’d like to do a couple of things. I’d like to remind us of where we live and what that means. I’d like to give us multiple opportunities to take into our hearts, minds and spirits some of those who have served us with such honor. They have names and faces most of which we don’t know. They have taken actions and spoken words that are all too often forgotten. They have lived out occupations worthy of recognition yet often go unheralded. And given we don’t know many names, don’t know of specific actions, I’d like to instead, lift up some of the things we may all too often take for granted; freedoms and securities brought about and retained by the actions of a few, and then pause for a minute as we remember them in our prayers. In the midst of it all, I would like to offer a look at our Christian faith and the needed cost of our discipleship. I will do this in a kind of litany form utilizing the three phrases I lifted up at the beginning: lest we forget, let us take into our hearts, and remember.
Friends, lest we forget that Memorial Day is but one day in the year set aside to remember, remember and memorialize those who fought bravely and paid with their lives, so that we and others throughout the world might have opportunities and freedoms not otherwise gained or known we stop for a moment and remember. Tomorrow is a day when hundreds of thousands of flags will be set on graves as a reminder, as tribute, and in honor of their service. And friends, we can’t forget nor can we ignore the cost paid by these precious friends and neighbors. I know of those in this congregation who lost loved ones, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, even mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers. This morning we remember those lost and those who lost them… let’s take them into our hearts and remember them. I invite us to take a few moments right now – in the quietness of this sanctuary to lift the names of those we know and those we have loved that have fallen in the line of duty…lift them up out loud or in the quietness of your mind…let’s share this moment together.
And lest we forget the day and its purpose…I was struck in preparing this homily that Senator Inoue of Hawaii has for years now had before Congress a bill that would have Memorial Day moved back to its original roots and celebrated on the last day of May. He is asking that it be removed from this three day weekend that all too quickly allows us to pay attention to our time away rather than focus on the purpose of the holiday. This morning I encourage us to take some time tomorrow to stop and be thankful, and pay tribute to the fallen…let’s take them into our hearts and remember them.
Lest we forget that dying comes in a variety of forms, and we all too often forget those who have been so influenced by their service to country that they can no longer function as they did before they went to war; those who have been injured or maimed, those whose mental fatigue and mental struggles have taken over and now define who they are; those whose memories wake them up every night with the nightmares of what they’ve seen or done, those who so desperately want peace that just doesn’t seem to come and no longer seems possible…let’s take them into our hearts and remember them.
Lest we forget…that we were able to come freely and unimpeded to church this morning when there are places in this world where we have friends and colleagues in ministry who, if the officials of that country found out that they were preaching or teaching faith, found them to be feeding or assisting the needy, found that they were training those without skills, skills that will assist them to live healthier lives, found that they were very literally living out their faith in service to others, our friends and colleagues would be arrested or worse. Let us take these friends and colleagues, those they seek to serve, and those we would prevent them from serving into our hearts and remember them.
Lest we forget that we live in a country where we can march down Main Street with placards of protest, where I can carry a placard that opposes war and others can carry placards that support war, and others can carry placards that support our troops as they battle, and others can carry placards that encourage troops to lay down their weapons; a place where we can come face to face, argue and oppose, even be civilly disobedient without fear, let’s remember that there are those that fight to keep that freedom alive. Let us take each of these groups, each of these ideals, each of those who would protest into our hearts and remember them along with those who keep this freedom alive.
Lest we forget that we live in a country where on any given day at any given hour I can turn on free and unimpeded radio or television; hear or see Howard Stearn or Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs or John Hannity; Jerry Falwell, Rev. Wright or Billy Graham; or Hilary Clinton or Ron Paul, Barak Obama or John McCain. We talk of our diversity as though it is a right. Let us remember that it was and continues to be a hard fought, came at a price kind of right. And let us take into our hearts and remember those that have in the past or who continue to place their lives in harms way to keep that right alive and well.
Lest we forget that we live in a country where a black man, a woman and an older American are now in the final stages of running for President of the United States – and a country where populations can choose to not vote for them because they are a either a black man, a woman, or an older American. Let us take into our hearts those that practice or encourage racism, sexism or ageism, and those that fight to keep each in check – even those that have fought for freedom from racism, sexism, and ageism and lost their lives in that fight. Guide us, help us take all of these into our hearts and remember them.
Lest we forget that there are those who we know who have fallen in duty to country or community that do not have a day set aside to remember them and yet have no less given their lives for us; like those currently serving or who have served in our police departments, other law enforcement personnel, members of our FBI, our CIA, NSA and Secret Service; our fire fighters who battle blazes in homes, in fields, in forests or high rises; and others who seek, by calling and profession, to keep us safe from harm. Let us take them into our hearts and remember them.
Lest we forget that we gather in this place on this Memorial Day weekend to remember, not only those that have fallen but the one who lifts us up and guides us…who stood in front of his congregation one day, opened the scroll of Isaiah and read these words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor and oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; the proclaim this to be the year of the Lord’s favor. (Isaiah 61:1-4) Let us take his words in to our hearts, remember, and seek in every way to go and do likewise.
Lest we forget that God’s blessing comes when, and only when we choose to live out those words as Jesus did. Lest we forget that Jesus lived so that we might understand the revolutionary nature of discipleship – of being his followers, where real and true discipleship will always come at a cost to our comforts. What if it’s up to us to help the rest of the world to trust God, to move beyond worry because of us and be the reason for the words penned so beautifully by the gospel writer of Matthew? Where we might clearly understand that as long as there are those in need of food, or shelter, or freedom, or love; as long as there are those whose children are suffering or who have diseases that go unchecked; as long as there are those who are imprisoned by every manner of injustice, as long as there are those in need the life-changing love and acceptance, and as long as there are those who just don’t get it – and the combination is why we say God bless America – not for power but for service and peace. This is the work of the disciples of Jesus Christ who are seeking to transform the world. The good news we seek to share must always have more to do with the needs of the people than it does with our need to share, more to do with feeding, housing and clothing than just talking about some relationship with Christ. In many cases, that is the relationship with Jesus Christ – taking the actions of love – that will lead to trust. It is what Jesus did. He provided us with the pattern of behavior that brings us to this table this morning, the sharing of this covenantal bread and this cup of salvation that reminds us every time we share it together that we both still have work to do, and that we have a guide to help us in that work – Jesus Christ. It’s why we take it in…to remember.
Friends, and lest we forget that we are not alone in this work, we have those who serve and who have served all around us, and for each of them we are thankful. We have a God who has provided everything we need – as long as we remember that the “we” is not those of us sitting in this sanctuary or even just those who call the United States home. God has no boundaries. The “we” is all of God’s creation. And we know that we can’t do this alone, so it is in God that we place our trust – but it is in and through each other that we expand the “we” beyond these walls, beyond these borders, and into the world – knowing that God is already there: in South Central LA, in the wild fires up north, in the damaged cities ravaged by flood and storm, in the rebuilding of New Orleans, in the Iware District of Nigeria, in Myanmar, in China, here in Santa Monica, and throughout the world. Lest we forget that we serve a God who seeks to bless all, love all, serve all, and create health in all parts of the world, let us take these elements – this bread and this cup – into our bodies and our hearts…and let’s remember. Amen.
© Brad Beeman, 2008. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
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"In God We Trust"