The Whisper of Hope

Why do many churches celebrate Memorial Day during Sunday morning worship? It doesn't seem to belong there. Maybe it has something to do with sacrifice, the presence of God, and hope...

Memorial Day is a day when Christianity and the ways of the world crash headlong into one another. We cannot escape the reality that at the heart of Memorial Day is war: violent, bloody, and destructive. On the other hand, at the heart of Christianity is Jesus’ way of peace. The two simply don’t fit together. That’s why many churches don’t give Memorial Day even a nod during their worship on this last Sunday in May. Memorial Day isn’t a church holiday. It has nothing at all to do with Jesus. And Christians already have a day when they remember the saints who have gone on to glory: All Saints’ Day, which we celebrate on the first Sunday in November.

Why, then, include Memorial Day in our worship? It’s a good question. Christians are called to renounce violence in all of its forms; and Memorial Day recalls some of the worst bloodshed in human history. Names like Chickamauga, Flanders Fields, the Battle of the Bulge, Midway, and the Tet Offensive send a chill up our spine. But even as we remember those names and deplore the violence that is associated with them, we also recall the sacrifices that were made during those bloody conflicts. The men and women that we remember on Memorial Day laid down their lives for a cause that was far bigger than they were.

Some of you may be familiar with the letter that Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2^nd Rhode Island wrote to his wife Sarah before the first battle of Bull Run. Filmmaker Ken Burns highlighted this very letter in his epic series on the American Civil War. Here is what Major Ballou had to say: “Indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps to-morrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battle-field for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged; and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution; and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help to pay that debt.” Millions of other men and women have echoed his sentiments; and on Memorial Day, we give thanks for their willingness to sacrifice their lives on behalf of others whose names they would never know.

But where is God in all of this violence? The ancient Israelites had an answer. They were convinced that God not only went to war with them, but also fought on their side! You heard what Deuteronomy has to say about that in the scripture reading this morning (20:1-4). “When you go to war, don’t worry when your enemy outnumbers you and points their weapons in your direction; because God is right there fighting with you!” I’m not so sure that they're completely right about all of that. After all, everyone who goes to war believes that God is fighting on their side! Abraham Lincoln wrestled with that very issue during our American Civil War. His opinion was that, “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God's side.” Are we on God’s side? That is a tough question to answer; and one that we should always be asking ourselves, especially when we engage in armed conflicts. Regardless of the answer, though, I am certain that God is there whenever a man or woman offers himself or herself as a soldier or a sailor or a pilot – whenever anyone puts himself or herself in harm’s way for the sake of others. The ancient Israelites got that absolutely right! Whenever someone is willing to die for others, God is certainly there, giving courage and comfort and the deep peace that comes from knowing that you are doing the right thing, no matter what the cost may be.

God is there with something else, too. God is there with hope. Oh, certainly the hopes that you will survive the battle and that your side will be victorious. But these are very human hopes. I believe that God puts another kind of hope into the hearts of those who are at war: the hope that soon, humanity will realize that war is not the answer to our problems. It is the hope that maybe the next life that is sacrificed will be the very last one. Sometimes that hope is only a whisper, especially in the heat of battle; but it is a whisper that cannot be silenced. That hope was whispering amid the musket fire at Bunker Hill. It whispered as the wind blew away the smoke from the cannons during Pickett’s Charge at the battle of Gettysburg. Hope whispered in the mud-filled trenches of World War I, and as the men waded ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day during World War II. It whispered amid the napalm and Agent Orange in the tropical jungles of Vietnam; and it is still whispering on the dry, desert wind of Afghanistan.

Hope will never be silenced; and one day, its whisper will grow to be a thunder as men and women from every nation, region, and ethnic group demand that war stop, and with it, all of its sacrifices. There will be no more “might-have-been”s as the potential of young men and women are cut short. There will be no more grieving mothers and fathers who have to bury their children. There will be no more lonely sons and daughters who grow up with only the picture of a parent who was killed in a faraway place when they were infants. We look forward to what God promised through the prophet Isaiah: “No more shall the sound of weeping be heard, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime… for they shall be blessed by the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:19, 20, 23) We cling to that whisper of hope, not knowing when it will be a reality. And while we wait for God’s promise to come to fulfillment, we pray three things: may God protect those brave women and men who are putting their lives at risk for our sake right now; may their courage and unselfishness fill us, too; and may God’s kingdom of peace come soon. Those are my prayers. On this Memorial Day, I invite you to make them yours, too.