A Memorial Day Reflection

My college Greek professor was fond of saying: 

“Confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation.” 

Confession can indeed harm one’s reputation but sometimes one must take that risk.

So here goes . . .

As a pastor, especially near the end of my career, I became conflicted over being expected to shape our Sunday worship services around two of our National holidays. The two holidays in question are:

Memorial Day in May and Veterans Day in November.

A caveat of sorts is in order before I proceed.

I love America. I served in the United States Air Force and Navy for a total of twenty years of active military service. I’m proud of my service. I believe as a nation we must have a military for reasons that are often forgotten: National defense as opposed to offense! You may disagree with that but you cannot question my patriotism. 

I thought it was important to mention this.

I was born on May 30 sixty nine years ago, the day that Americans used to commemorate Memorial Day. In 1968 it was moved to the last Monday of May. Memorial Day and Veterans Day are quite different however. One honors veterans killed in war while the other honors those who are still living.

Though these two days are often confused they are still valued as important days for us to remember. I proudly honor them.

Yesterday in church the pastor said what I have said a hundred times before as a pastor:

“We honor those who gave their lives so we could be free to worship here this morning.” 

The usual chorus of “Amens” and enthusiastic applause followed.

He was expected to say something that validated a common American narrative that so many assume to be true without ever once questioning the validity of such a claim:

That all our American wars were about our American freedoms—or the preservation of our freedoms.

As a pastor I was expected to pay tribute to this common narrative by at least mentioning how so many have died to preserve our American freedoms.

Look, it’s an easy narrative to uncritically embrace. In fact, to question this popular freedom narrative would be a risky thing to do. Being branded as either a traitor or one who no longer loves America is not very appealing.

Yet I must question the narrative that all American wars were fought to protect our freedoms. Even the ruling elites in Washington know this is to be untrue and often play the “national interests” because they know that our freedoms are not always at stake in the wars they authorize.

As a pastor and an armature historian of sorts, I found it increasingly difficult to bend a knee to this freedom narrative. History, I’ve learned, simply does not support such an idea.

Yet I still consider it important that we as a nation honor all those who have served in our Armed Forces, especially those who died in service to our country. The truth is:

Military folks are not the ones who start the wars. 

Wars are begun as the result of political conflicts not because military personnel are itching for a fight (well at least most aren’t). They know firsthand the real costs of war.

As a pastor I became increasingly uneasy with these two holidays simply because they do not represent the honest truth about our nation’s addiction to war. The common narrative represents a denial of this addiction of course. Is it right for American citizens to honor their war dead? Absolutely. I do and so should you.

But I found it very difficult to craft a worship liturgy around the theme of war no matter how many of our brave ones have died on the battlefields of the world.

As a pastor my job was to proclaim the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to call attention to the Shalom of the living God. It was not my job to be a cheerleader for a common narrative that is not altogether true.

Patriotism is honorable. But it has no place in Christian worship. Our allegiance is to one Lord. Our faith is not in America or even Democracy but in the resurrected Christ who is in fact the Prince of Peace. 

Let us honor our fallen veterans. It is a good thing to do. But let us honor them with a confessional heart asking God to forgive us for the wars we humans seem to love so much. Go to a national cemetery today; lay a wreath, say a prayer, honor the fallen dead.

But remember this:

Only Jesus Christ the resurrected One can give true freedom.

Christus Victor (Victory of Christ) was the cry of the church for the first one thousand years. It was his death on the cross that provided real freedom to all those who embrace him as Lord. 

For Christians the real Memorial Day is Good Friday! 

Let us honor the death of the fallen One whose sacrifice provides us all real freedom.