Memorial Day - A Lesson of Service Before Self

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and this Monday, in particular, is Memorial Day. What does Memorial Day mean to you? To many people, maybe most, it means the day off and hot dogs, hamburgers, and the pool opens. Generally, these are the things we look forward to on this day, family, friends, picnics, the beach, and maybe a beer or two. 

What should Memorial Day mean to us? Why do we have Memorial Day? 

It’s Not About Us – a Story 

The Patriot Guard Riders is a volunteer organization that provides motorcycle escort of the dead bodies of those who have died while serving in the military. They provide escort from the airport to the funeral home or from the funeral home to the cemetery. They will also stand a perimeter around the burial site during the funeral itself in silent respect while holding an American flag. 

Many are veterans themselves who recognize the tragedy the family is facing and want to bring a sense of meaning and honor to their sacrifice. Their motto – “Standing for those who stood for us”. Their unwritten byword – “It’s not about us”. 

With just a few days’ notice, the Patriot Guard Riders of Texas received the call that a military aircraft from Dover AFB would be arriving at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport at 6:00 pm carrying the remains of a fallen soldier. The call went out. Many volunteers answered the call. 

The mission: to provide motorcycle escort of the casket from the Houston Airport to the Lake Jackson area, the Restwood Funeral Home in Clute, TX to be exact, a 74-mile trip where the family would be waiting. 

Twenty-five men or more awaited the arrival that evening. Men, many who had served in various branches of the armed forces, some who had lost comrades, a few who had had them die in their arms on the battlefield. Men who loved their country and fellow patriots. Rain was in the forecast that night, heavy rain, torrential rain. The Patriot Guard leader announced that those who preferred not to continue under such conditions could be released. The number dwindled to a dozen who were still willing to make the ride in the rain, in the dark to honor this young man and accompany him home to his Momma and his family. 

It reminds me of when Gideon was forming an army to go up against the Midianites. He started out with 32,000 men and then made the following announcement: 

Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. (Jdg 7:3) 

 Was this young man a hero? They didn’t know. They didn’t know how or why he died. The how and why didn’t matter. What mattered was, his mother was waiting on the other end. She was waiting for her boy who just a year earlier had left to join the Army and she hadn’t seen him since. 

The family had given him a sendoff with such fanfare and swelling pride in the choice he had made to serve his country. And here they were just a year later waiting on a rainy night for his return in a simple pine coffin wrapped in a cardboard box. 

And what an insult on top of tragedy it would have been for a single, lonely hearse to have arrived in the dark of night to deliver the body to the funeral home without any formalities, without any acknowledgement of the sacrifice that had been made, without any recognition of the shattering sense of loss the family experienced. Just a simple pine box wrapped in cardboard dropped off like some ordinary delivery. 

The men of the Patriot Guard were led in prayer that evening by one of those remaining as they always did. Asking for God’s protection and God’s blessing on the family that awaited on the other end. 

It was a most treacherous ride. The rain that had been forecasted did come and it was torrential as predicted. It came down in a deluge upon the riders. At times they could only see the tail light of the motorcycle in front of them in the procession as they rode through the dark, uncertain of the roadway beneath them and of the depth of the water they rode through. Each motorcycle with just two small patches of tire just 4 square inches each making contact with the highway holding them upright and on course. 

They could have given up at any point along the way, forsaking the mission in favor of safety and taking shelter under an overpass or at a gas station. No one would have thought less of them if they had. But they pressed on, determined, with the family ever in mind and the loss they surely felt for their beloved son. 

When they arrived, the whole family was there at the funeral home awaiting the arrival of the hearse containing the son they loved and lost. They had no idea anyone else was coming, just the hearse. They did not expect to see the dozen brave souls who had risked their own lives to make sure this boy was not forgotten but arrived with proper respect and honor. 

The boy’s mother hugged each and every rider so tightly, water from their rain-soaked clothing drenched the floor. She thanked them profusely over and over that they had not allowed her son’s arrival to have been in vain, a mere package dropped off at the door. She immediately understood the profound meaning of what these men had done for her son and for her and for her family. 

Virtually to a man, their response, “It’s my honor, ma’am. So sorry for your loss.” 

Meaning Behind “Memorial Day” 

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. 

 Every year at the end of the month of May, we take time to remember those who have died in military service to our nation defending the freedoms and values we hold dear. Their service should not go unnoticed, nor their sacrifice unacknowledged. 

There’s nothing wrong with loving the country that God gave us and so richly blessed when he fulfilled his covenantal promise to Abraham. 

God put a hedge of protection around our nation and it’s our military that stands guard to enforce that protection. It is by God’s grace that we get to live in America and because of the sacrifice of those who serve that we get to live and enjoy a life of relative peace and safety. 

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, it was started in the years following the Civil War. The date of Decoration Day, May 30th, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle. 

But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday. 

This change contributed to the loss of the true meaning of the day as it became about the three-day weekend, parties, picnics, trips to the beach, and the official opening of the swimming pool. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season. 

Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War I, World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, and participating in parades. 

 Just 17 months prior to Robert E. Lee’s surrender marking the end of the Civil War, then President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, gathered a congregation on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the location of one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War to dedicate the cemetery there where they buried the dead. He read these following words. Many of you have probably memorized some or all of this speech in grade school, as I did, known as "The Gettysburg Address". It’s words still ring true today. 

Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg 

 Abraham Lincoln 

 November 19, 1863 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

 I wonder if we’ve learned that lesson as we stand today on the precipice of what many believe will be another civil war to tear our nation apart. 

Yes, we honor those who have fallen in war. Their service makes the freedoms we hold dear possible. Abraham Lincoln described such men and women as those "who gave the last full measure of devotion to that cause,” that all men are created equal, created in the image of God. 

We too have a devotion to a cause, the cause of Christ and yes, a new government, the coming Kingdom of God. Where man shall beat his weapons into plowshares and pruning hooks and neither shall they learn war any more. 

Memorial Day does not glorify war. We’re not glorifying war by observing it. If anything, it reminds us of the futility and the senselessness of war. 

 Where does war come from? Why do we war? Man has not learned the lessons of war. Why not? He has a heart problem. Until God’s law is written in his heart, we’ll always be at war. 

James 4:1-4 KJV (1) From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? (2) Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. (3) Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 

All war – national wars, civil unrest, church wars, hate of all sorts. We want what we want and we want it now. And we’re willing to fight for it. 

We’ll always have war in this world as long as the present god of this evil age rules in the hearts of men. Until Christ comes. 

Some believe there is never a justification for war. They believe we should always be able to talk it out in a rational conversation, to work out our differences. They may be right. I wish they were but I think we see now that both sides are not always rational. So, will we say, “Peace, peace at any price?” 

We may think that honoring those who have fought and died in war is a terrible thing to do, that it somehow sanctions war. We hate war. We avoid war if at all possible and go to war only as a last resort. The loss of life is an inevitable, unavoidable consequence of war and we know that at the outset. So, we try every means possible to avoid war but all too often our grievances are too great. Once we convince ourselves there’s no other way, we steel ourselves for the inevitable and the unavoidable. 

So, instead of learning our lesson, we set aside time to visit the graves of those lost in war. We don’t visit the graves of our lost loved ones for their sake. They’re in their graves and the dead know nothing. 

No, we visit their graves for our sake. We mourn their loss and we remember their lives. We miss the individuals we knew and loved and we’re thankful and grateful for their sacrifice. We’re grateful for the sacrifice made by all those who took the war to the enemy in a foreign land and kept the horrors of war from our shores. We take the time to reflect and to appreciate the freedoms we have because of their efforts to ensure those back home can live in peace and safety. And hopefully, we’re reminded of the senselessness of war. Hopefully, this time we learn the lessons that war brings. 

There are those who decry our military. They call them warmongers, baby killers, and hawks and any sort of demeaning name you can name. They have that right. And yet it’s interesting to note, they do so from the comfort of their nice warm homes with a hot meal on the table, and no enemies pounding on the doors. 

 George Orwell is quoted as having said, “People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. " 

 I think he’s right. It’s easy to renounce violence when the evil hordes aren’t invading your neighborhood. 

Orwell cited a phrase from Rudyard Kipling's poem entitled, “Tommy” when he said, "making mock of uniforms that guard you while you sleep" (Kipling, Tommy), and further noted that Kipling's "grasp of function, of who protects whom, is very sound. He sees clearly that men can be highly civilized only while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard … them." (1942)” 

Unfortunately, we live in a world that requires that men stand guard over us. 

In the famous scene from the movie, “A Few Good Men”, Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan Jessep says this in response to Tom Cruse’s character who shouted, “I want the truth!” – 

“You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You?... You have the luxury of not knowing what I know:… And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said 'thank you' and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post.” – Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan Jessep in the movie, “A Few Good Men”. 

These men, “rough men” as Orwell calls them, are willing to stand in the gap to guard us because they believe in the values and freedoms with which we’re blessed, that our way of life is worth defending. They love their country and their fellow countrymen and are willing to die for it. 

 It’s okay to love our country. God gave it to us. We’re just sojourners here, it’s true, and we seek a better country, a heavenly. (Heb 11:16) But until that day comes, we live in this country and we should be thankful that we do. We live in America by the grace of God. We could live in China or Iran or North Korea or some other country where Christians are losing their lives for their faith. 

The prophet Samuel tried to warn the nation of Israel what would happen if they insisted on having a king to rule over them like the other nations. 

1Sa 8:10-22 KJV (10) And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. (11) And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. (12) And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 

 (18) And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. (19) Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; (20) That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. (21) And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. (22) And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. 

The king we, the nation of Israel, insisted upon has indeed conscripted our young men into military service. And they have been shipped off to strategic locations around the world. We can debate as to whether or not each war is just or unjust without ever coming to a consensus. 

But I think we can all agree that we should grieve for those who have died in those wars and that their families are worthy of our compassion and respect for the sacrifices they have made. 

We are all grateful for the sacrifice of the men and women who provide that blanket of freedom we sleep under, or at least we should be. And unfortunately, some have made the supreme sacrifice. They laid down their very lives for their families, friends, and countrymen. 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 

The Ultimate Memorial Day 

The children of God have another “Memorial Day”, a spiritual one that supersedes all others, mandated by Christ himself and carries eternal significance, and ramifications, and expectations. 

Jesus Christ told his disciples, and us, many things the night before his crucifixion. We rehearse them and are reminded of them every Passover. 

He told us to remember, and to memorialize the occasion, AND to continue to do likewise every year. To DO! Not just remember but to do it. Do as he did, the bread and wine of the new covenant to refresh our memories of the vow we made and agreed to. 

Luk 22:19-20 KJV  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (20)  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

 Paul reminds the Corinthians and us – 

1Cor 11:23-26 KJV (23) For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: (24) And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (25) After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (26) For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 

When we memorialize someone, we remember things about them, the things we did together, what they were like, how we felt, the emotions. We relive it in a sense. 

We’re told to relive that moment, to feel the sense of loss yet at the same time the love and compassion Jesus has towards us. That while we were yet unworthy He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, might live for righteousness— and by whose stripes we were healed. (1Pet 2:24; Isa 53:5) 

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, made the ultimate sacrifice dying in our stead that we may live and have life more abundantly. We’re reminded that he did this for us. He did it for all mankind, but personalizing it, he did it for you, he did it for me. Remembering that touches us deeply on a personal level. 

Christ showed us an example of how to love others - love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. On these hang all the law and the prophets. (Mark12:30-31; Matt 22:40) And he told us to love one another. (John 13:34-35) 

John 15:10-17 KJV (10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (11) These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (12) This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (13) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (14) Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (15) Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (16) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (17) These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

He told us that we should love each other as he loved us - watch over each other, care for each other, provide for each other, protect each other, even lay down our very lives for each other. 

1John 2:5-6 KJV  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  (6)  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1John 3:14-16 KJV  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.  (15)  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.  (16)  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

So, you see, when we observe Memorial Day, we get a glimpse of what that’s like. To stand up for someone else, to put their needs, their happiness, their safety before out own. 

Memorial Day isn’t about war. It’s about service. Service before self. 

We are to band together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Those Patriot Guard Riders, had it been a single rider he might have given up. But because they banded together, each fortified and strengthened the other. They were on this mission together to serve the cause, focused on the goal of the mission. 

We as brothers and sisters in Christ band together and fortify and strengthen each other too. We’re in this together to serve the cause, focused on the Kingdom. 

God gave us a number of – 

Memorials to Look Forward To 

We rehearse them every year lest we forget their true meaning and they devolve into little more than vacations and family gatherings. 

God has a Memorial Day Plan for us instilled from the foundation of the world. He instituted his Sabbath Day at the Creation. He dedicated it. He consecrated it. He hallowed it. He set it aside and made it holy to be remembered every seven days, every seven years, every fifty years. 

He instituted his annual Holy Days to be memorialized every year – Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day, that Last Great Day. 

God tells us to remember his Sabbaths and to keep them holy. (Eze 20:12) 

God has a great plan of salvation and hope for those lost in war and for their families. Mankind’s prayers for peace and an end to war will finally be answered. The prophet Isaiah writes that nations will one day "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4). 

Never again will a heartbroken mother take receipt of her son in a pine box covered in cardboard. God will remove the scourge of war from mankind forever and install His great peace—the Kingdom of God. 

Amazingly the innumerable casualties and victims of war will experience physical life again: 

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. (6) I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD." (Eze 37:5-6 NKJV ) 

You can imagine that distraught mother, seeing her son in the resurrection for the first time since he left for boot camp. It's difficult to picture this great reunion without choking up. 

Any injuries inflicted during war will be instantly healed. Blindness, hearing loss, and amputation will no longer scar and afflict these men and women of the military. 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. (Isa 35:5-6 NKJV) 

That young man will be just as strong and able-bodied as his mother once knew him. 

The Ride Home 

The rain had passed and a starlit night guided the rider’s way home. It was a glorious night! I’ll never forget that ride home, the balmy evening, the fresh air that dried my clothing, and the sense of accomplishment of a good deed done with a right heart and a purpose pleasing to God in heaven. 

I recalled the momentary smile on that mother’s forlorn face when she saw those twelve men bringing her son home with honor, braving a torrential rainstorm. I think God brought that rainstorm just for her. It made the sacrifice of the riders that much more precious to her. I have no doubt either that God watched over us that night to ensure our save arrival. 

On the ride home, at times it was equally as difficult to see the road ahead as it had been on the way down. Not because of the rain for it was now a clear night but it was the tears that were streaming down my face that clouded my vision. Tears of sadness, yet tears of joy for men willing to lay down their lives for the cause of freedom and everything we hold dear, and for mothers who made the supreme sacrifice and gave their sons and daughters to that cause. 

What is Memorial Day all about? It’s about service. Service before self. 

This Memorial Day, while you’re enjoying your family gatherings, remember those who have died in service to their country. 

Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time. There’s a movement called, Taps Across America, where those who have the ability step out of their homes and play Taps at 3:00 pm local. 

If you can’t play an instrument, take a minute at 3:00 pm to observe a moment of silence, a moment of remembrance for those that have made the supreme sacrifice. 

The God of the Bible has a clear vision for their future: freedom from war. And for the most heartbroken mother, He has the most powerful message of hope: you will see your son again. 

There will come a day that all creation’s waiting for, when God will wipe away every tear and man will war no more. May He hasten that day.

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See also - To All Of The Military Men That Fought, Bled And In Many Cases Died, We Salute You! (Video)

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