Memorial Day

 "Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for the mourning of U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces."  - Wikipedia

I was born very close to the beginning of the Vietnam War and spent the first 18 years of my life seeing scenes of Vietnam on the evening news nearly every night.  Each Memorial Day, growing up, my family also made an annual trek to the cemetery with irises in tow to place on the graves of my grandparents, noting all the flags on the graves of my uncle and other's family members lost (mostly) in World War II.  By the time I was old enough to vote, I was opposed to all war.  With each "police action," "military excursion," and war after that, I was on the side of pacifism and conscientious objection, reaching a nadir in seminary, feeling hostile toward all military matters, expenditures, and people.  So Memorial Day has ground my gears for a long time. 

One of the ways I wiggled around the military aspect of the day, especially when I was pastoring, was to widen the lens to include all people in the memorial (giving my churches two days with All Saints Sunday to recognize their departed). One or two veterans would invariably complain about "watering down" their sacrifices.

More recently, I've softened in my sympathies toward those who have served in the military or families who have lost someone in military actions. Military service is a major fork in life that would have been. So, I would regard my present state as one of profound reflective respect, not so much for the acts committed by our leaders who order the military, but for the choices with which military personnel face - from unbidded duty assignments to permanent injuries to death. Also, a visit to Tahoma National Cemetery one May a few years ago and seeing the vast expanse of white funeral tombstones with hundreds of flags was sobering.

So, this weekend I'm deeply present with all military folks living and dead.  Especially so for those in the Persian Gulf right now. Few things could test a soul more than to be under constant threat with no discernible purpose. I'm deeply present with all those who still live with an ever-present felt loss in their life or in their family. Some of that pain may go back decades across a generation or two. 

Each and every life lost frames the past and shapes the future for those choosing to remain in a relationship.  That relationship might be one very close, like a spouse or a child..  Or it may be more distant, like a citizen to the military. Each life, each death alters the future, and the vibration of those feelings reverberates across the sands of time, just like Jesus' death still ripples through the world to this day.  I thank all for all they have given and for all the unmerited gifts that I benefit from daily, though I am blind to the many lives that contributed to me having the life I have. 

Blessed Memorials!

A Farcical Show of Christianity

But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which god decreed before the ages for our glory.  None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (NRSV) 

On May 17, 2026, the "Rededication 2026" of America assembled a cadre of white nationalist quasi-Christians on the Mall in Washington, D.C., aimed to return America to its "Christian Roots."  I'm going to ignore for the moment the thinly veiled right-wing political propaganda purposes that were rife under a not-so-carefully hidden charade of faith.  Instead, I'll focus on the sincere Christian faith principles this media-intended spectacle ran over with a ten-ton truck.

Flaunting religiosity has never been an accepted Christian practice among the sincere followers of Jesus. (Mark 12:38, Luke 20:46)  To do so obliterates all notions of humility.  Jesus was carefully humble almost all the time, and when he wasn't, his actions were always about taking a stand for others or for a higher principle.  His most obvious act of humility was his silent defense before Pilate, and the crucifixion that ensued because powers felt threatened by his growing following. 

The leadership of the rally in D.C. revealed their inauthentic Christian aims by the scripture they chose for their theme: 2 Chronicles 7:14: "...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  They chose a verse from the Testament that is rife with chosenness throughout, and they avoided the entire New Testament, filled with such honest Christian themes as the Beatitudes and loving your neighbor as yourself.  From their egoistic belief in their own righteousness to define "wicked ways," they suggested an us-them dichotomy - drawing an exclusive circle around themselves and leaving out the rest of America.

America has been its moral strongest when it has followed Jesus' example, including acts of charity, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, sheltering the poor, being a refuge for immigrants, defending the weak, and bringing people together.  But under this President, America has become a sick, twisted caricature under the weight of extreme corruption, violence toward neighbors, and the fomenting of division based on unadulterated lies.  Pretending there is some special remnant of holiness controlled and manipulated by these theological hoodlums masquerading as holy men of God should sicken all of us, and I suspect it does God as well. 

If you are not familiar with Christianity, I invite you to open biblegateway.com and search, then read 1 Corinthians 13 for starters.  Then ask yourself if a nation with a true belief in Christianity holding that ideal would be "wiping Iran off the map" or imprisoning humans in concentration camp-style "detention facilities."

Social Incoherence

In what possible way is anything in the American body politic coherent? How is anyone living in America, much less being reared in this culture's mileau able to make sense of ethics or moral grounding? 

Spirituality and morality loosely inform and interact with each other to help form a "social contract."  How is anything spinning out into our present American culture's life conducive to such a rational contract? Let me pull up three words and their Webster definitions.  

Sanctity"

Noun: "sacred or hallowed character."

Fidelity

Noun: "adherence to fact or detail." "strict observance of promises and duties." 

Mercy

Noun: "kindly forebearance shown to another." "the disposition to be compassionate or forebearing." 

Most of us have probably come across these three words more commonly in our church lives than in the vernacular of the everyday world. My perception is that they've been nearly lost in our everyday vocabulary.  Two other words that are also invisible are honor and respect, while the word truth is wildly compromsed. 

If you think about it, these six words - virtues if you will - form basic assumptions that should form the foundations of any humanitarian social contract, be it religious, social, or political.

So, I  feel that the incoherence we are experiencing with the decisions and rhetoric emanating from the leaders of our nation is largely due to their wholesale rejection of these six bedrock terms.

Perhaps the reason we more commonly bump into these words in church life is that they are tightly woven into definitions of faith and spirituality.  When national leaders abandon the basic concepts these words represent, they're, in fact, rejecting the spiritual basis inherent in our communion with humanity in general. Sadly, to make this incoherence coherent requires the rejection of an old-time life-respecting social contract that is now corrupted by wholesale idol worship of money, power, and violence, none of which Jesus lived or taught.

In realizing this, to maintain our fidelity to the Holy One, we, like Daniel and so many other Biblical characters, have to respect and honor the truth, mercy, and sanctity that faith has taught us is what holds the world together. Loving neighbor as ourselves cannot occur by locking them in a prison gulag. Healing the broken-hearted doesn't happen by bombing them. Feeding the hungry is rejected out of hand when the programs that feed the hungry are dismantled, and the money is diverted to the conquering "excursions" of the Empire.  In a very real sense, we're drifting rapidly into the same spiritual and social quagmire present in ancient Rome at the time of Jesus. And like the Romans and compromised religious hierarchies of that time, the nails and hammers to crucify mercy (and sanctity) are being primed.

So the biggest question facing us today, as people of faith, is the decision before us - as it was in First Century Rome, and in 1935 Germany - does fidelity to Christ's mercy still hold us to Jesus' healing, honor, and respect for humankind? regardless of race, gender, or creed? Or, will we be like the crowds that turned on Jesus after Palm Sunday? Do we flee and cry for a criminal Barabas to be unleashed while we watch from afar the crucifixion of the Sanctity of Life?