A simple reason why Memorial Day is so important …

What’s a “memorial” moment like in the military?

Pastor Scott Jensen describes one such experience:

“It’s 3 a.m. on a cold winter day. Patchy snow covers the landscape as loudspeakers overhead blare telling everyone to get to their places. Surrounded by sandbags, concrete barriers, and roughly 10,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, Bagram Air Base has flipped a switch and turned from a deployed city in sleep, to a sea of green and tan military awaiting further direction. Some just woke from a few moments of sleep, others leaving their duties to attend to more pressing concerns, all focused on the events that are about to unfold. Down the three mile main road of this Afghanistan base, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, men and women in arms, awaiting to pay their respects to a fallen comrade. Soon, the lights of emergency vehicles can be seen slowly making their way up the boulevard. Escorts, leading a flatbed trailer to an awaiting C-17 cargo plane on its way back to the United States. On the trailer are three caskets draped in U.S. flags and as the trailer approaches the lines of servicemen lining the streets, each pays their respects by saluting sharply the men and women who have paid the ultimate price. Once the trailer reaches the plane, the formation is dismissed. Thousands of servicemen in the middle of a war zone, paying homage and respect the best way they know how. Similar ceremonies are played out in other parts of the world. All to show the love and respect for the sacrifices and dedicated duty our military servicemen and women show on a daily basis.”

Why is Memorial Day so important?

Because what happened in the past matters.

The freedom we continue to enjoy in the United States of America came with a high cost — the sacrifice of the lives of men and women dedicated to protecting our freedom, as well as fighting to set others free from the tyranny of evil men elsewhere.

BUT …

Today, we don’t just remember the acts of bravery by making the ultimate sacrifice for their nation because what happened in the past matters, we specifically remember and honor the men and women who took the action in the past — they matter!

It’s important we not separate the person from the action and only appreciate the outcome of their action, it’s important we remember that real people gave real lives for the sake of others.

The greatest proof of what happened in the past really is important, and who carried out that action is important, is the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. No greater sacrifice was ever made, no more important act ever carried out, than Jesus Christ offering Himself on the cross for our sins. And no one else could do that — the act, and the Person completing the act, was vital for our being saved. That’s why we remember that Jesus offered His body to be broken and His blood to be shed each week when we gather as His disciples to observe communion.

Today, as Americans, we remember the people and their actions – the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedom – because what happened in the past matters to our lives today.

Have a meaningful Memorial Day.

Scotty