[Much of this post was reprinted from a blog entry that quoted “America’s Federal Holidays, The True Story,” by John De Gree of Classical Historian.*]
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
(John 10:28 NIV)
Today is Memorial Day, a day that many take for picnics and recreational activities, but that has very serious origins. To memorialize something is to remember, and on this day we remember soldiers who have fallen in battle defending our nation. One writer explains it this way:
”Memorial Day is a federal holiday set aside to honor all American soldiers who have fallen in battle. In 1967, Congress and the President Lyndon Johnson set aside May 30th as Memorial Day, but the history of this day goes back at least to the end of the American Civil War. Americans remember our fallen soldiers by attending church services and praying for military families, visiting war museums, and remembering loved ones who died fighting by placing flowers on graves of deceased American warriors…. But what started the practice of Memorial Day was not an official governmental act, but thousands of individual acts of tenderness and care that survivors showed to the graves of fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Communities held “Decoration Days,” where everyone would walk to the cemetery to decorate the gravestones of the dead soldiers.”
Remembering can take many forms, but speeches are one.
“On June 6, 1984, on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in front of the U.S. Ranger Monument at Normandy, commemorating the Rangers’ charge up Pointe du Hoc.
“Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge – and pray God we have not lost it – that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
“You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty.” – Ronald Reagan
Similarly, after the Battle of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech which closed with the following:
“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Today, let us remember those who have died – not in vain – for our freedom.
God of Freedom,
Blessed are you, O Lord or God, you who has done wonders and has planned great things for your people. No one can compare with you. Your miracles and wonders, your love and justice, your liberty and peace are so much to declare! We thank you that where your Spirit is, we have freedom. We thank you that you have placed within us the capacity to remember. We thank you for your admonition to teach to our children the things of the Lord, and we thank you for Jesus’s command to remember him whenever we take the bread and the cup. We remember and meditate on your deeds and miracles and works. We thank you for the calling to defend your Kingdom and defend our nation through the ages. We thank you for the men and women who have given their lives in battle so that faith, belief, loyalty, love, democracy, and liberty could continue. Today we pray that you would pour out your Spirit within this nation for renewal, revival, and reformation in Jesus’s name. We pray you will strengthen this nation from within so she is again a beacon of light, hope, and freedom to the world. May these dead not have died in vain, but may this nation under YOU have a new birth of freedom. We ask this in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NIV)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV)
“I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77:11-12 NIV)
“Blessed is the one
who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
Many, Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.” (Psalm 40:4-5 NIV)
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].” (2 Corinthians 3:17 AMP)