I woke up this morning thinking about my grandfather. Grandpa Bert was in his early 30s with 3 kids at home, running a business when he was drafted into World War 2. He missed years with his little kids and his wife, faithfully writing letters to his family during those years away. He served his country well, earned a purple heart and other medals of honor. He came home years later and from the stories I have heard, he was never quite the same. Grandpa never spoke of the war. When we as young kids would run upstairs to look at his uniform and touch his purple heart, he never came with us. While we longed to hear his stories, he kept them to himself.
Throughout my years of ministry, I have met veterans of varying types: the silent ones, like my grandpa and those who tell stories about their experience and wear proudly the hats, or t-shirts with the words, Navy, Army, Marines and Air Force across the front, and those who mention it from time to time, but don’t say much more.
As someone who has never been to war, I have no idea what this experience is actually like. The veterans I know have helped me gain a greater appreciation for the importance of Memorial Day and what this day is really about. A colonel at my last congregation would buy flowers for every Memorial Day weekend with these words written upon them: “All gave some. Some gave all.” While the Colonel would tell me about his days in the Marines and training regimes, he never told me the stories of friends he had lost and the pain he endured, even though I know it was there. Another veteran in my first congregation would reposition the flags on Memorial Day weekend. I admit in my early years of ministry, I didn’t quite understand it. But today, as I think about it, I recognize that this was an important moment of remembering and honoring. Remembering and honoring lives that had been lost and sacrifices given.
Our freedom that we enjoy so much is tied to sacrifice. We cannot have one without the other. In a time when there is much protest about the freedoms of our nation, I think it is important to remember today the sacrifices that have been made for us. Some of you are people who have sacrificed so much. Perhaps you have fought in wars and served in the army forces. While I know today is not Veterans Day, I still give thanks for you. Others of you have waited for loved ones to come home, like my grandma did, and sacrificed time as a family and so much more. I give thanks for you too. But today especially, I give thanks for the men and women who never came home and gave their lives to serve our country and fight for our freedom.
Martin Luther writes in his essay on Christian Liberty this: A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all. As Christians we live in this duality every day: being both free and also a servant. Our freedom is tied to the freedom of our neighbor. The Christian faith is a communal faith. It is not only about our personal relationship to God because God continually calls us to love and act on behalf of our neighbor. This is how we live, giving thanks for the grace of God: the freedom to be who we are, forgiven, loved and claimed by God, and people called to serve others in Jesus’ name. It means putting our neighbors’ well-being above our own. It means making sacrifices in order to care for others. Jesus shows us what this servanthood looks like in two visual ways: 1) in washing the disciples’ feet 2) in dying on the cross for the world. Freedom and sacrifice are connected. It doesn’t just happen in war, it happens daily in our homes, in our neighborhoods and in our community.
There have been many sacrifices made over the past few months as we have faced this pandemic together. People giving of themselves in order to serve others. It happens in times of war, and it happens in times of crisis. I give thanks today for all of the women and men who have given of themselves in order to serve others and preserve our freedom. I give thanks for you. I hope that today you can join me in remembering the sacrifices that have been made and consider what sacrifice you might make (or already making) in order to love your neighbor and recognize that all of these sacrifices were given for our collective freedom.
Please pray with me:
God of freedom, you have claimed us with your love and named us as your beloved. As your beloved children, you have called us to live into the freedom given to us, inviting us to care for others, to wash their feet, and follow the ways of Jesus in bringing healing and care to all. Thank you for the men and women who have given their lives in order to protect, defend and preserve our freedom. We lift up these prayers to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
