Memorial Day is quickly approaching. It marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season. Communities across the nation organize and host various activities to commemorate the day. The graves of those who served in the military are decorated. Parades take place. We gather for solemn ceremonies of remembrance.
After the Civil War, ceremonies honoring the fallen began to take place. May 30 was designated as Decoration Day. This was a day in which no major battles had taken place during the Civil War. Also, flowers were blooming for their use in decorating cemeteries. Since that time, the name has changed to Memorial Day and is celebrated on the last Monday in May.
Honoring those who died in battle goes back hundreds of years. The ancient Greeks would annually memorialize those who had fallen in war. Pericles, an Athenian statesman and general, gave a funeral oration after the first year of the Peloponnesian War in 429 BC. His words were recorded by Thucydides. Pericles spoke of honor and sacrifice. Those same notions of honor and sacrifice remain in evidence today.
Though Memorial Day is a secular holiday, the sense of honor and sacrifice and remembering are not lost to Christianity. We are called to honor our parents, those in authority and God. We are certainly able to honor those who have lost their lives in the protection of freedom.
Sacrifice is a tenant in Christianity. It is someone giving something up for the benefit of another. We are to embody sacrificial love. This reflects the love God has through Jesus who sacrificed himself for humanity’s sake. Putting oneself in the place of danger, where injury or death can occur, shows sacrificial love.
People remember and share their memories. These stories of the past inform us of events and also honor those who were involved. We tell the stories of our personal and communal history. Some are told to inform, others to entertain, others to share profound truths of the human condition.
Jesus tells his disciples before his crucifixion to “love one another.” He also states, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15).
On Memorial Day, we take some time to reflect upon those who have given themselves and remember the sacrifice of others.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. John Tabaka is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Monroe.
