Memorial Day 2015

John 15:13  (NIV)

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

Memorial Day doesn't mean what it once did. For most, Memorial Day is just another Monday holiday meaning a three day weekend. It marks the beginning of summer. It's the weekend of the Indy 500. School's out. The pools open. It provides the first real chance for picnics, BBQ's, and maybe an outing to the lake. It hasn't always been that way.

Memorial Day grew out of the human need to remember where we have been. Only then can we figure out where we are going. The cherished memories of a nation, a town, a church, or a family provide the values and dream that one generation passes on to the next. Forgetting means dropping the torch.

All of this was on the mind of President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 as he made his way to the Pennsylvania battlefield. He feared that he might be the last president of the United States. The country teetered on the brink of self-destruction. The ceremony that afternoon would dedicate the site of the cemetery for the over forty thousand soldiers killed at Gettysburg in the three-day battle the previous July. Lincoln's remarks provided the seedbed for what would become Memorial Day.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," he began. Less than two minutes later, he concluded, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here (referring to the sacrifice of the soldiers). It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that 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."

Over the next few years, many communities set aside special days to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Some services were held with little fan fare. Others involved marching bands and speeches. All included decorating soldier's graves with flowers and flags. Most towns referred to the event as Decoration Day. After World War I the day expanded to honor the American heroes of all wars. Gradually the custom of decorating the graves of relatives and friends became a part of the day.

Eventually the official name was changed to Memorial Day. Originally, the day always fell on May 30. In 1971 congress moved the date to the last Monday in May. 

Let us never forget those that sacrificed their life so we may have the freedoms we have today.  Also remember the Lord Jesus Christ that gave His life so that we may have eternal life.

Dear Lord, thank You for the men and women that have given their all for the freedoms we enjoy. Be with their loved ones that have suffered the great loss, hold them in Your loving arms. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.