MEMORIAL DAY

          Chances are you have participated in or watched some activity geared toward Memorial Day, or you yet plan to. Which thought brings us to ask what Memorial Day is and why we as Americans celebrate it. Over the years it has lost some of its specific definition. Memorial Day was established to remember and honor those men and boys who fought in the American Civil War. It has become somewhat obscured, of late and been made to remember all veterans of all wars, foreign and domestic. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, though I am a bit of a purist about the original meaning and purpose of it. It was celebrated for many years on the thirtieth of May as a day when we remembered those who fought in our nation's Civil War or The War Between The States (circa 1861 - 1865).

          The idea of honoring the dead of the Civil War had been spawned by a number of people around the country, most notably, these: A Pharmacist in Waterloo, New York, named Wells is credited with having made the first formal suggestion that such a day be observed in 1865. In the North "Decoration Day" was observed on May 5, 1866 as citizens decorated the graves of fallen Civil War troops. In the South, ladies of Columbus, Mississippi placed flowers on the graves of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers, alike, April 25, 1866. The two traditions continued until after World War Two, when the two days were joined into a single observance across the entire nation called "Memorial Day" and celebrated on the thirtieth day of May. Its observance has most recently been moved to the final Monday in May.

          We had plenty of reminders in the vacinity, when I was a child; the Old Dunckard Church, Miller's Cornfield, Harper's Ferry, Burnside Bridge, Bloody Lane (the old sunken road from Miller's cornfield to the Hagerstown / Sharpsburg Pike). We had a parade from Sharpsburg School up Main Street, up the hill to the Union Cemetery at Keedysville. The whole school got to march in the parade. It was almost worth being in school just to march in that Memorial Day Parade. Then, we'd go to the City Park in Hagerstown for a picnic. Where I grew up there were many commemorations and re-enactments, picnics and festivals, parades and band concerts in the park to remember those who served and fell at nearby Antietam (Sharpsburg), Harper’s Ferry, Gettysburg, Carlisle, Manassas (Bull Run) and others. If your imagination was fairly good, you could almost see the troops riding or walking along the road-side enroute to the conflict, in full infantry or cavalry regalia.

          My Uncle Jim was a re-enactor in the Sharpsburg Rifles in the 1950’s and 60’s, which staged the battle of Antietam as a tribute to the 23, 000 who fell on that field September 17, 1862. There are hundreds of monuments which were erected to those strugglers who bravely fought and died on both sides. There are other monuments in parks around the country and around the world to honor those who went off to fight their countries’ battles, living and dead. I have always tried to be aware of the monuments and memorials and what they mean.

          The Bible mentions several memorials that should be of interest to us. There is the Mizpah, a cairn of stone erected by Jacob and Laben as a boundary of distrust over which neither was to cross. When I was a little child in Sunday School, I remember having to quote “The Mizpah Benediction” with the rest of the group in our departure from class each week; “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent, one from the other” (Genesis 31: 49). This is not a suitable benediction for dismissing Sunday School or church services. This is a benediction of two men who don’t trust each other asking God to make each honor the agreement to stay away from each other and each other’s property. The ephod and the breast plate of stones worn by the Old Testament priests, the altar beside the Jordan, the Passover feast are all memorials about which the Bible has much to say.

          The New Testament is not silent on the subject of memorials, either. I think of the cross upon which Jesus died and shed His life-blood for the sins of many, the righteous for the unrighteous (Romans 5: 8, ff). The Communion celebration is also a memorial to His death and the shedding of His blood for our sin. It is given to us as a memorial to keep until He comes again. It points to the past and also the future to be remembered in the present (1 Corinthians 11; 1 Thessalonians 4-5). The next memorial demonstrates Jesus’ power and His ability to come again as He said. The tomb (the burial place) of Jesus is empty (1 Corinthians 15: 20). No decaying pall was ever there. He arose on the third day with victory over sin, hell and the grave, forever. He can and will grant you eternal life if you will confess your sin to Him and receive Him into your life as your Savior, right now.