One of my
favorite songs was recorded by the bluegrass group Balsam Range. It is sung by
someone who has very few possessions to leave behind when he dies; but who hopes
that his songs live after him. With just a little imagination, we can imagine
this song being sung by an American soldier who anticipates going into battle,
and who knows that he – or she – might not make it home. The chorus goes like
this:
At the end of this life that I've been given,
After the prayers and the bells have rung,
I ain't afraid of where I'm going;
But what will become of the songs I've sung?
What'll become of the songs I've sung?
“What will
become of the songs I’ve sung?”
That’s an
obvious enough question for a country singer to ask as he faces death; but what
songs would a soldier, a sailor, or a pilot be talking about? Military
personnel have always sung songs that were popular in their own times – “Yankee
Doodle,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Over There,” and “Praise the Lord and
Pass the Ammunition” – but I don’t think that they care about those popular
songs. The songs that are on the minds and hearts of our soldier are the songs
that they sang with their very lives; the songs they sang by the actions that
they took white they were in uniform.
For example,
they sang songs of commitment. Soldiers are famous for their commitment to
their comrades. The creed of the Army Rangers says, “I shall never
leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy”; and members of the
Marine Corps promise, “We will leave no man behind.” When you are in a
life-or-death situation, somebody needs to have your back; and you need to do
the same for the others with whom you fight. But that commitment to comrades is
just a glimmer of the commitment that military personnel feel for the cause for
which they fight! Our soldiers, sailors, and pilots serve because they believe in
the values that we hold dear, such as equality and justice for men and women of
every race and culture. They are committed not only to their comrades, but to
all the people they serve and protect. Their song of commitment is one that
they want to live on after they are gone.
They sing a
song of courage, too. Commitment isn’t easy. It takes courage to stand by
someone through thick and through thin, especially when that commitment puts
your own life on the line. We who live comfortably at home have no idea what
our military men and women face every day, especially when they serve in
hostile territory. Throughout our nation’s history, those men and women have
faced bayonets, cannon balls, mustard gas, Kamikaze suicide planes, and IEDs; and
they have faced all of those dangers with courage because they are committed
both to the well-being of each other and to the values in which they believe.
Their courage is a song that is worthy of being sung for generations to come.
But the song
that we remember with most gratitude on this weekend is their song of
self-sacrifice. A total of over 1 million American troops have been killed in
uniform during the course of our country’s nearly 250-year history. One million
troops! That’s a lot of sacrifice! The list of the places where they died is
like the tolling of a funeral bell.
·
Bunker Hill
·
Lexington and Concord
·
Antietam
·
Gettysburg
·
The Argonne Forest
·
Omaha Beach
·
Iwo Jima
·
Hamburger Hill
·
Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan
We will
never forget the song of sacrifice that they sang; nor should we. Their commitment
and courage even to death is what inspires us today.
And since
their tongues are now silent, I ask you on their behalf: What will become of
the songs they’ve sung? What will become of courage, commitment, and
self-sacrifice when the men and women that embodied those values are gone? I
don’t know what your answer is; but here’s mine. Those values of courage,
commitment, and self-sacrifice are the same values that we hold as followers of
Jesus Christ; and we need to keep singing those songs so that those values
remain alive even when the ones who sang them are alive only in our
memories. When the fire of prejudice flares up in our society and threatens to
engulf us in its flames of hatred, we are called as Christians to have the
courage to take a stand against it, whether it appears in the form of
derogatory jokes, a system that discriminates against people of color, or an
organized rally by a hate group. When we are tempted to neglect the commitment
that we make to one another as Christians, and begin to care only about our own
well-being, we are called to remember the admonishment of Jesus himself that we
love God only by loving others. And when we are tempted to take the easy way
out, afraid to take a risk on behalf of another that might affect our
reputation, our social standing, or our job security, we are called to remember
that on the last night of his life, Jesus said, “No one has greater love than
the one who lays down his life for another.”
What will become of the songs they’ve sung? With God’s grace, we will
sing those songs with our own lives: songs of commitment, courage, and
self-sacrifice. Their songs will be sung for as long as we remember the men and
women who willingly put their lives at risk for all of us. And that will be
forever; because we will never forget.
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