Memorial Day seems to have lost its meaning for many people. To some, it’s just another holiday… a day off from work… the beginning of summer… a chance to go to the pool, the lake, or the beach… a day for picnics and cookouts… or maybe something else. What is Memorial Day all about, and why do we recognize it anyway?
Memorial Day grew out of a need to remember where we’ve been. Only then can we understand where we are going. The cherished memories of a nation, a town, a church, or a family provide the vision and values that one generation passes on to the next. Forgetting means dropping the torch — failing to pass the baton to the next in line to run the race.
Perhaps this was on the mind of President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, as he made his way to the Pennsylvania battlefield. He feared that he might be the last president of the the United States. The country was teetering on the brink of self-destruction. The ceremony that afternoon would dedicate the site of the cemetery for over forty thousand soldiers killed at Gettysburg in the three-day battle the previous July. Lincoln’s remarks provided the seedbed for what would later become Memorial Day.
Lincoln began his address with these words: “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.” Less than two minutes later, he concluded: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here [a reference to the sacrifice of the soldiers]. 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 the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
Over the next several years, many communities set aside special days to honor the fallen soldiers of the War Between the States. Some of the services were held with very little fanfare, while others involved speeches and marching bands. All included decorating the graves of soldiers with flags and with flowers. Most people referred to this event as Decoration Day. After World War I the day was expanded to honor the American heroes of all wars. Eventually, the name was officially changed to Memorial Day. It was originally celebrated on May 30, but in 1971 Congress moved the date to the last Monday in May.
Why Memorial Day? Because we don’t want to forget. But we know we do.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave the church a celebration, if you will, to remember His sacrifice for us. We call it the Lord’s Supper, or the Lord’s Table. Some call it Communion. As we eat of the bread and drink of the cup, we fulfill our Lord’s command to “do this in remembrance of Me” (I Corinthians 11:24). But we should not leave our remembrance at the Lord’s Table. Living our lives for Jesus Christ is an indication to those all around us that we will never forget the great sacrifice He made for us. Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
While the brave men and women who died in the service of our country fought to give us physical freedom, the Lord Jesus Christ died to give us spiritual freedom. Both are significant and both are important. Let us not forget either!