Memorial Day - 2022

Memorial Day - 2022 Memorial Day and its traditions may have ancient roots. While the first modern Memorial Day events weren’t held in the United States until the late 1800’s, the practice of honoring those who have fallen in battle dates back thousands of years. The ancient Greeks and Romans held annual days of remembrance for loved ones, especially soldiers, each year, decorating their graves with flowers and holding public festivals and feasts in their honor. One of the first known public tributes to war dead was in 431 B.C., when the Athenian general and statesman Pericles delivered a funeral oration praising the sacrifice and valor of those killed in the Peloponnesian War, a speech that some have compared in tone to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Our Memorial Day was born out of necessity. After the American Civil War, a battered United States was faced with the task of burying and honoring the 600,000 to 800,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in the single bloodiest military conflict in American history. The first national commemoration of Memorial Day was held in Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868, where both Union and Confederate soldiers are buried. Several towns and cities across America claim to have observed their own earlier versions of Memorial Day or “Decoration Day” as early as 1866. But it wasn’t until a remarkable discovery in a dusty Harvard University archive in the late 1990’s that historians learned about a Memorial Day commemoration organized by a group of Black people freed from enslavement less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. There was a file labeled ‘First Decoration Day,” and inside on a piece of cardboard was a narrative handwritten by an old veteran, plus a date referencing an article in The New York Tribune. That narrative told the story of this march on a race track in 1865. The race track in question was the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club in Charleston, South Carolina. As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at this one camp were so bad that more than 260 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. 2 When Charleston fell and Confederate troops evacuated the badly damaged city, those freed from enslavement remained. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp: on May 1, 1865, more than 10,000 African Americans recently freed from enslavement, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. They exhumed the mass grave and reinterred the bodies in a new cemetery with a tall whitewashed fence. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.” Three thousand Black school children carried bouquets of flowers and sang songs. Members of the famed 54th Massachusetts and other Black Union regiments were in attendance and performed marches. Black ministers recited verses from the Bible. It was clear from the newspaper reports that a Memorial Day observance was organized by freed slaves in Charleston at least a year before other U.S. cities and three years before the first national observance. With that little history lesson I wondered what the Black ministers may have said. Probably some Psalms or Scriptures about the redemption and providence of God. I want to go in another direction for a moment and ask and answer a couple questions: 1. What was the first conflict in the Bible? Answer: The conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan. 2. How many wars were fought in the Bible? Answer: 12 Ancient Wars are found in the Bible. 3. What is the greatest war in the Bible? Answer: The great Battle of Mount Ze’ma’raim, fought between the army of the Kingdom of Israel the army of the Kingdom of Judah, of all parties. About 500,000 Israelites were said to have lain dead after this single engagement. The battle would have taken place around 913 B.C. The war was over taxes, oppression, power, civil authority, pride and conquest. Same as today… 4. Last question: What was the first war mentioned in the Bible? Answer: It is found in Genesis 14; Abram Goes to War. Read Genesis 14:11—20; 15:1-5. So this is the first war mentioned in the Bible, the first specific account of a military engagement. The war was about domination by some tribes over some others. Abram got into it because Lot, his beloved nephew, was captured in the conflict. Abram (later Abraham) went to save Lot and took out the others. For that, God blessed Abram and made him the father of many nations with descendants as many as the stars, all at 3 the age of a hundred, give or take a year. What does that say about God? Well, as Jesus would say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” God is aware of the secular world – He lets it run its course – for a while – but God sees or makes sure that eventually, righteousness wins out. So with our wars and especially the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam and with the war on terrorism and the current Russian/Ukrainian War, we pray that God’s will, that righteousness and peace, will prevail and that we would be found to be on the right side of the conflicts, to the glory of God and the prosperity of peace. I want us to move now to the Meaning Behind the 13 Folds of Old Glory The Flag Itself The portion of the flag denoting honor is the area of blue, containing the stars, representing all the states our veterans served in uniform. The field of blue dresses from left to right and is inverted only when draped as a funeral cloth over the casket of a veteran who has served our country honorably in uniform. In the U.S. Armed Forces, at the ceremony of retreat at the end of the day, the flag is lowered, folded in a triangle and kept under watch throughout the night as a tribute to our nation's honored dead. The next morning it is brought out and, at a ceremony of reveille, flown high as a symbol of belief in the resurrection of the body. Meaning Behind the 13 Folds The flag-folding ceremony represents the same religious principles on which our great country was originally founded. 1. The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life. 2. The second fold is a symbol of our belief in eternal life. 3. The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks, and who gave a portion of his or her life for the defense of our country to attain peace throughout the world. 4. The fourth fold represents our weaker nature; as American citizens trusting in God, it is Him we turn to in times of peace, as well as in times of war, for His divine guidance. 5. The fifth fold is a tribute to our country. In the words of Stephen Decatur, "Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right, but it is still our country, right or wrong." 4 6. The sixth fold is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance… (all stand) “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” 7. The seventh fold is a tribute to our armed forces, for it is through the armed forces that we protect our country and our flag against all enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic. 8. The eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor our mothers, who brought us into the light of day. Additionally, 9. The ninth fold is a tribute to womanhood. It has been through their faith, love, loyalty and devotion that has molded the character of the men and women who have made this country great. 10. The 10th fold is a tribute to our fathers, who have also given their sons and daughters for the defense of our country since he or she was first born. 11. The 11th fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon and glorifies the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 12. The 12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost. 13. The 13th and last fold, when the flag is completely folded, one sees the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, "In God We Trust." After the Folding Ceremony After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it has the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under Gen. George Washington and the sailors and Marines who served under Capt. John Paul Jones and were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the U.S. Armed Forces, preserving for us the rights, privileges and freedoms we enjoy today.