PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

May 28, 2023

REMEMBERING THE LOST

In Genesis 14:1-31 can be found the story of the Hebrew people crossing the Red Sea.  After they had successfully crossed the Red Sea, the “Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. He (the Lord), clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty…. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth.  As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that followed them into the sea; not one of them remained (Genesis 14:23, 25a. 27-28).”

There is a Hasidic story that there was a great celebration after the Israelites were delivered from the Egyptians.  The angels could be found singing and dancing.  One of the angels asked Archangel Michael “Where is God?  Why isn’t God here celebrating?”  Michael answered: “God is not here because He is off by Himself, weeping.  You see, many thousands of his children were drowned today.”

The origins of our present day Memorial Day go back to the decorating of the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.  Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic proclaimed the first national observance Decoration Day should be held on May 30, 1868, to honor Union soldiers who had perished in the Civil War.  In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as Memorial Day and prescribed that it be observed the last Monday in May.

It is estimated that between 620,000 and 750,000 perished in the Civil War.  The enormity of these numbers were brought home to me when a number of years ago Diane and I visited many of the Civil War battlefields.  At the battle of Gettysburg some 51,000 perished; 34,624 died at Chickamauga; 30,000 at Spotsylvania; 29,800 at The Wilderness; and 24,000 at Chancellorsville.  In each of these battles there were charges after charges in which thousands were slaughtered.  Disease also took its share of the Union and Confederate soldiers.  More than once I thought to myself what a useless waste of life.

The focus of the many yearly decorations days that were held following the ending of the Civil War were not the battles but the individuals who perished.  Each one of them had their own constellation of mourners.  All, on both sides, were children of God.  There must have been much weeping in heaven following each of the battles.

This Memorial Day weekend, people across our country will be decorating the graves of those who paid the ultimate price with flags.  This is a way to honor and mourn the individual soldiers who died while serving in the United States military.  Personally, I will put out American flags in my front yard to remember those who died.

I would invite all of us to remember those who paid the ultimate price in the service of our country.  They were persons who had parents, spouses, children, and loved ones.  They were individuals who had hopes and dreams.  They could have been our next door neighbor.  They were all God’s children.