Land and Liberty
Memorial Day, May 25, 2025
One of the last sites we visited on my trip to Jordan was Mt. Nebo, the place God showed Moses the promised land. Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jerico and the Sea of Galilee formed a geographic array from atop this peak. It was a sunny day with a bit of haze as we gathered around to hear the passage just read. We stood at the base of a giant staff with a serpent twisted around it to recall Moses and his life of service. As you know, Moses’ staff was miraculously transformed into a serpent and back again during a confrontation with Pharaoh in Egypt (Exod. 4 and 7). This moment established Moses’ authority, and this staff was used to part the Red Sea ushering in their liberty. The Promised Land is the archetypal account of being devoted to place, geography, land. Centuries after Moses, 33 centuries to be exact, people are still willing to die to protect or secure the Promised Land.
On this Memorial Day weekend, I think it is fitting that we remember and honor all the women and men who have died for this, our promised land, the United States of America. Listen now to our Lord Jesus’ words coming to us from the Gospel of John 15:12.
“Rejection can be one of the most painful experiences any of us can have. Ralph Keyes in his book, “Is There Life after High School?” writes that Mia Farrow has never forgotten the time every girl was asked to dance but her. Nor did Charles Schulz of “Peanuts” cartoon fame, ever forget that the yearbook staff rejected every cartoon he turned in to them. Henry Kissinger is best remembered by his classmates as the kid nobody wanted to eat lunch with at school.
Rejection can be one of the most traumatic things that can happen to any of us. Rejection is painful” (Sermons.com, Donald B. Strobe). Yet so often, the valent men and women who have served this nation experience rejection after they serve, because we fail to love them as Jesus has commanded. Serving our nation in one of the six branches of our military, The Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force or Coast Guard, warrants our respect, our gratitude and yes, our love. Because each person who wears our uniform is willing to lay down their life for you and for me. Lay down their life for our way of life, for our security, for our nation’s wellbeing, and the Constitution of the United States. They have shown us the greatest love, being willing to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, one’s nation. Today we honor those individuals who were not only willing, but ultimately did, give their life for our freedom. Surrendered their lives for our liberty. They showed us the greatest love of all.
The late Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam tells of giving the annual Memorial Day address at the National Monument at Gettysburg. Like most other speakers, he felt the need to conclude his speech by reciting Lincoln’s famous address. (One I memorized in 5th grade, Four score…)
After he finished, he felt all had gone well. That is, until an old, old man made his way forward and remarked: “Son, you made an awful mess of Lincoln’s speech.” Oxnam asked: “What do you mean? I didn’t miss a word of it. Here, look at my notes.” The old man replied: “Oh, I don’t need your notes. I know it by heart. You see, I heard it the first time ’round.” By now Bishop Oxnam realized that this man had been present when Lincoln originally delivered his words. He was curious about how his recitation had differed from that of the president. The old-timer explained it this way: “Abe put his hands out over the people like a benediction, and said, ‘That the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, should not perish from the earth.’ You got the words right, son, but you missed the message. You emphasized government; Lincoln talked about people” (Sermons.com, James S. Hewett). “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
As a den mother for Cooper’s Cub Scout troop, we placed American flags on each of the graves of the fallen soldiers buried in Calverton National Cemetery. I was humbled seeing all these flags, all these graves of men and women who had died for our nation. This act of service helped my family see the people, the magnitude, the love their lives represent. Sight played an important role in Moses’ final act of service. Sight was mentioned four times. God caused Moses to see the land, and God tells Moses, “I have caused you to see it with your eyes” (v. 1, 4). Moses’ sight was unimpaired (7), and Moses’ powerful deeds were performed in the sight of all Israel (12). Moses was seen, mourned, and remembered as the one “whom the Lord knew face to face” (10). I think most veterans wish to be seen and not forgotten for their service. The best way we can love the people of our military is to see them, truly see them, for the courage, strength, and their devotion to our nation. And to truly see them means we see their injuries, visible and invisible, and care for them, and love each one of them, because they have earned that right. Just as God showed Moses, literally causes him to see, we may also need to ask God to show us, reveal to us, how to truly see our veterans.
There is a startling fact about Moses’ burial. Not just that no one knows where he is buried, which is a bit strange because of Moses’ importance as the liberator of Israel. The one God knew face to face. Our translation passively states, “he was buried,” but “the Hebrew reads, ‘and he buried him in a valley …’ Because Moses is dead, the ‘he’ most likely refers to God. Hebrew indicates an almost startling intimacy with the imagery of God being the one to bury Moses and lay him to rest” (Working Preacher, Sara Koenig). I find comfort in this image. For all those lost in battle who never made their way home, I like to think of God being the one to lay them to rest. For all those the tomb of the unknown soldier honors, let us pray God buried them and laid them to rest as well.
“Gene Simmons of the group KISS visited the Pentagon to promote military service on May 16, 2019 where he talked about his mother, who recently died at the age of 93. As he spoke, he had to stop on numerous occasions to gain his composure. This is what he said:
‘I was born in Israel. I am a proud son of a concentration camp survivor, Nazi Germany. My mother was 14 when she was in the camps. My mother just passed at 93, but if Americans could see and hear my mother talk about America they would understand. I’ll just cut to the chase. When we first came to America my mother let me stay up and watch TV with her. I couldn’t speak English very well and my mother could barely get by. She worked 6 days a week and at night we would watch the news and whatever and by 12 o’clock the 3 or 4 TV stations would go off the air and we would hear sssssss, just noise and people would presumably go to sleep. Before then we saw a jet flying through the sky and a man with a very deep voice was saying something, I couldn’t understand it, and the jet then turned skyward and flew seemingly into the heavens through the clouds and I remember what the man said, ‘…and saw the face of God.’
And then it melted into a black and white, because in those days we didn’t have color TV. The flag was full screen, billowing, and I heard, ‘da da da da da da,’ you know the National Anthem. I didn’t know what it was or what was going on. It was late. And, every time, my mother saw the flag, she would start crying. As an eight year old boy, I didn’t understand why, but from my mother’s point of view we were finally safe. I may have been born in the country that people throughout history have referred to as the promised land, but take my word for it…America is the promised land. For everybody. And don’t be ashamed. Don’t hesitate. We need to teach young people to be comfortable saying, ‘God bless America.’” (Sermons.com, Brett Blair). Amen.
