Memorial Day and Veterans Day: There is a Difference

(This is a repeat post from seven years ago, but it bears repeating. Have a meaningful holiday!)

Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day

Decoration Day was celebrated first in the north and south following the Civil War. Today, as well as back then, this day of remembrance was to memorialize our war dead. It wasn’t until following World War I that May 30 became a common observance of the day–later becoming a national observance in 1971 by an act of Congress set for the last Thursday of May. Memorial Day has historically been a day of remembrance for those who gave their lives in defense of our country. A little known fact remembered from an Act of Congress in 2000 is the National Moment of Remembrance–a minute of silence at 3:00 pm local time to collectively remember  those who died in the service of their country–to help put the “memorial” back in Memorial Day.

Veterans Day, originally Armistice Day

Veterans Day honors all American veterans, both living and dead, for their honorable and loyal service to America. It is celebrated on November 11 of each year. There was an unpopular 10-year period (1968-78) when it was moved to the fourth Monday of October, but was changed back to the original historic day. Armistice Day commemorated the end of World War I–“the war to end all wars”–on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour of the morning when the armistice was signed. Of course, World War II shattered all hopes of the end of world-wide war.

 

The Christian world awaits the end of all war, but not through any act of man or nation or united nations, but through the return of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Scripture admonishes us and gives us hope:

Psalm 46:9 – He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.

Isaiah 2:4 – And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

Micah 4:3 – And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war.

Revelation 21:4 – And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

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Memorial Day and Veterans Day: There is a Difference

Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day

Decoration Day was celebrated first in the north and south following the Civil War. Today, as well as back then, this day of remembrance was to memorialize our war dead. It wasn’t until following World War I that May 30 became a common observance of the day–later becoming a national observance in 1971 by an act of Congress set for the last Thursday of May. Memorial Day has historically been a day of remembrance for those who gave their lives in defense of our country. A little known fact remembered from an Act of Congress in 2000 is the National Moment of Remembrance–a minute of silence at 3:00 pm local time to collectively remember  those who died in the service of their country–to help put the “memorial” back in Memorial Day.

Veterans Day, originally Armistice Day

Veterans Day honors all American veterans, both living and dead, for their honorable and loyal service to America. It is celebrated on November 11 of each year. There was an unpopular 10-year period (1968-78) when it was moved to the fourth Monday of October, but was changed back to the original historic day. Armistice Day commemorated the end of World War I–“the war to end all wars”–on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour of the morning when the armistice was signed. Of course, World War II shattered all hopes of the end of world-wide war.

 

The Christian world awaits the end of all war, but not through any act of man or nation or united nations, but through the return of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Scripture admonishes us and gives us hope:

Psalm 46:9 – He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.

Isaiah 2:4 – And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

Micah 4:3 – And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war.

Revelation 21:4 – And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

Thank a Vet

What we now call Veterans Day, was originally Armistice Day celebrating the official end of World War I on November 11, 1918 at 11:00 AM Paris time–historically remembered as 11-11-11–the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Today, 11/11/11, is a unique day of remembrance. Every American should take time to thank a vet and whisper a prayer of thanksgiving and dependence on the One whose providence has favored us and protected us through the centuries.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7 

Memorial Day

This will be a special summer for our family as we make a first-time “pilgrimage” back east to the Philadelphia and Boston area. Lord willing, we will stand where Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address, where the “shot heard round the world” was fired (Lexington to Concord), where they battled the elements at Valley Forge, and where over Fort McHenry the “bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” We will also visit the sites of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Boston Massacre, and those famous places where our revolutionary fathers not only pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, but where many gave their last full measure of devotion. In years past, I have been moved at Arlington and Jefferson Barracks. A dream of a future trip is to walk the beaches of Normandy. Last night and today, I watched movies depicting Gen. Douglas MacArthur and other brave soldiers as well as brave Filipino partisans defending their homeland. I marveled at their focused devotion and the difficult and mortal sacrifices that were made. These as well as other places are what Memorial (“Decoration”) Day is all about. I can walk and talk freely today because of those who have defended my liberty with their own lives. We must never forget.

Today, we need a new birth of freedom in our beloved land. I believe that God births liberty in our hearts with His amazing grace. This grace is seen in the face of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave His blameless life so that we might live in liberty. That liberty is enshrined in our American history: it is thoroughly documented from Columbus to our pilgrim fathers, from fledgling colonial communities to to the halls of state and federal government. Our form of government will not survive without acknowledging it. We are one nation under God, and it is in God we trust. We must rededicate our “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” Proverbs 3:5,6 admonishes us,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths

His direction and protection come as we acknowledge and trust Him. It is my prayer that God may continue to bless America.

The Infamous Date

Today as we remember the event that brought America into World War II–the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor military installation on December 7, 1941–I was drawn to revisit President Roosevelt’s dramatic speech, “A date which will live in infamy,” delivered to Congress on the following day. Roosevelt concluded,

“…we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.”

Sixty years later, September 11, 2001, this generation saw another attack which would indelibly write another infamous date on America’s calendar. But this time the attack would be upon a civilian target and from a more nebulous and subtle enemy. President Bush concluded his address to Congress with these words:

“I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. Fellow citizens, we’ll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may He watch over the United States of America.”

America does have a date with destiny. Her history, virtue, and resolve shape her future. Remembering this day and others like it should strengthen us, our faith, and our determination to seek God’s providential hand of protection and blessing and a renewed reliance upon His infinite wisdom and guidance.

To Our Vets

On this Veteran’s Day… 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

(This song never gets old.)

On This Memorial Day

I am grateful today for our armed forces, past and present, who have given their lives to protect America and the great freedoms she has enjoyed.  Today we memorialize their sacrifice for the cause of liberty. Memorials are good, but just remembering is not sufficient. Gratitude is good, although gratitude is still not enough. So, then, what is it that fulfills our responsibility as grateful citizens? It is the  personal and individual expression of our citizenship in dedication to those same principles and protected freedoms for which our servicemen have given their lives. As citizens of the freest nation on earth, as we memorialize our heroes, we must also dedicate ourselves to the preservation and continuation of our American ideals–ideals that reach back into time immemorial, past God’s finger applied to stone tablets, on to the earliest  of days as God created man in His own image. Liberty in law was given birth even as Adam’s nostrils were filled with the Breath of Life. Freedom is not just to be appreciated, freedom is to be lived. All mankind yearns to breathe free.

Nearly 150 years ago, Lincoln’s immortal and inspired words rang across the bloody battlefield  and burial grounds of Gettysburg during his brief dedicatory address. He began with what have become familiar words to us recalling the birth of a nation “conceived in liberty” and dedicated to individual equality. He moved quickly to make an extremely personal application of the purpose for which they had gathered.  Lincoln’s memorial address concluded as he resolutely commissioned his audience to dedicate themselves by taking up freedom’s battle cry:

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. 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 here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

On this Memorial Day, America once again needs our dedication and devotion. There is great resolve and dedication to fundamentally change our way of life.  We are all soldiers on that battlefield. We fight for truth, but it is a truth that is greater than our own; it is God’s truth. And with God’s strength and direction, freedom can ring once again from sea to shining sea. This is my Memorial Day prayer and resolution, and I hope and pray it is yours also.