Veterans' Day

This is a very awkward article to write. How does a pastor write about Veteran’s Day and the birthday of the United State Marine Corps? For those of you who may not know, every Marine’s birthday is November 10^th because 236 years ago the Marine Corps was founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA on this date, and for those of you who missed it, Veteran’s Day was Friday, November 11^th. Most of you probably didn’t think about it until you opened your mail box on Friday and found it empty.

What is the appropriate way for one who is a follower of the Prince of Peace to, at the same time, show proper appreciation for those who have helped keep war outside our own borders for the vast majority of our history? A simple thank you hardly seems sufficient. However, even that is more than some vets get.

Throughout these most recent conflicts I struggled as to how to pray for our troops. Many of you know that two of them were my own sons. Oh, I have no problem praying for their success and safety, but, as I do that, am I in fact praying for the death of someone else in a foreign land who may have a spouse and family as well? In a firefight between our people in uniform and those who would engage them on the battlefield I will always ask God for the life, safety, and success of our men and women.

Certainly, the best thing, the greatest gift we could pray for and wish for our military personnel would be that the need for their service would one day pass away from the face of the earth. However, that seems unlikely, and as long as the need remains, I am thankful we have some our best and brightest who are willing to take up the call and respond, putting themselves at risk that you and I can sleep securely at night.

The call of Christ to “Love one another” seems like the impossible dream much of the time. There is no glory in the killing of another human being. There is glory when good triumphs over evil. Sometimes it is difficult to decide if the cause is completely just. So, we do not pray for war. We pray for the men and women who are sent on our behalf to fight the war. We pray for success and safety, and, on days like we had this past week, we thank them for what they have done for us. We pay for the peace that passes all understanding to calm those whose hearts, souls, minds, and spirits are troubled by what they have seen and done. We pray for those who have suffered such great personal loss of a loved one because we are all sinful creatures and are not any closer to a peaceful world than when the angels first proclaimed it for the shepherds one night in a field 2,000 years ago.

So, we continue to preach the Gospel message of love, peace, hope, compassion, forgiveness, and mercy in the midst of a broken and sinful world. We pray for our enemies. We do our best to forgive those who have offended us. We pray for and ask for forgiveness for the ways and times we have offended others, and we long for a world that might be at peace and soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines that can stand-down from their watchfulness.