Untitled Sermon
Veterans Day noun
1952: November 11 set aside in commemoration of the end of hostilities in 1918 and 1945 and observed as a legal holiday in the U.S. to honor the veterans of the armed forces
Peacemakers 487
One of the indelible images from the Vietnam War is the photograph of a nine-year-old girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc. During a battle between North and South Vietnamese troops, an American commander ordered South Vietnamese aircraft to drop napalm bombs on her tiny village. Two of her brothers were killed, and she was burned badly. Wearing no clothes, she fled up the road toward the cameraman. Because of the pain her arms are held out sideways, and her mouth is open in a cry of agony.
According to Elaine Sciolino in the New York Times, Ms. Kim Phuc suffered third-degree burns over 50 percent of her body, but she lived. She endured fourteen months of painful rehabilitation and scores of skin grafts. “It was so painful to have her wounds washed and dressed that she lost consciousness whenever she was touched.”
Since then she has married, emigrated to Canada, and become a Christian who hopes someday to attend Bible college. Her burned skin lost sweat and oil glands, and she is still in much pain. Scars stretch up her arms to her chest and back. But despite her past and present suffering, in 1996 she accepted an invitation from several Vietnam veterans groups to join in Veterans Day ceremonies held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where she laid a wreath and spoke words of forgiveness.
“I have suffered a lot from both physical and emotional pain,” she told the audience of several thousand people, who greeted her with two standing ovations. “Sometimes I could not breathe. But God saved my life and gave me faith and hope. Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I would tell him, ‘We cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace.’ ”
Those who suffer the most can be the greatest peacemakers.
Forgiveness, Mercy, Suffering
Matt. 5:9; 18:21–35; Acts 7:54–60
Date used __________ Place ____________________
Lest We Forget
Visitors to Honolulu usually see Pearl Harbor. Two hundred years ago Hawaiians called it Wae Momi, “Water of Pearl.” In 1861 the United States Navy constructed a fueling station in Honolulu. By 1916 it was the tenth most important naval base in the world. Eventually it became the Fourteenth Naval District, center of Pacific operations. However, we chiefly remember Pearl Harbor as scene of the surprise, dastardly air attack by the Japanese on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, at six o’clock. On that infamous day, 2,335 American servicemen lost their lives; 1,143 were wounded.
Eighteen of the ninety-seven ships along “Battleship Row” were sunk. The Arizona sank in nine minutes with eleven-hundred men aboard. To this day this rusting hulk—now a memorial—continues to give off oil, even as memory of the attack alienates thoughtful citizens.
Don’t Forget the Bones!
There is an arresting story in the thirteenth chapter of Exodus. Following four-hundred agonizing years of slavery, years of hoping, years of praying, the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt. The announcement of their departure was unexpected; preparations to leave were hurriedly made. The trek before them was long and threatening. The liberated souls could take only items necessary for survival. But we read that “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him” (v. 19). This remarkable leader realized that survival kits were incomplete without spiritual symbols of their heritage and hope. There would be little joy in the future if they forgot their past.