As we continue this weekend to honor the men and women who gave their lives in defense of our liberties, we look at the images of row upon row upon row of crosses, many of which have the star of David and some of the more recent ones with an Islamic crescent, we who are alive because of their sacrifice, must wonder at the courage and fortitude of those who died.
The Arlington National Cemetery also has the house of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who could not bring himself to fight his own family, as he put it. The U.S. bought the house when he had defaulted on property taxes in 1864, and when cemeteries in D.C. became overwhelmed with burying the war dead from the Civil War, started to use the grassy area next to a rose garden. By the war’s end, over 16,000 were buried there.
The Civil War had an enormous psychological toll on our Nation; in many ways it still does. Today we see Southern states trying to undo the gains in equal civic engagement by fellow citizens of color. Myths and prejudices die hard, but as we look across the fields at Arlington and the many other cemeteries, we should remember that in death we are all equal before God.
Prayer for the Day
Standing before you, O God, we are humbled by your presence,
For although we strive to do what is required of us,
We know we fall short of our intentions and our demands;
Convicted by our acceptance of helplessness,
We know we fall short of the model of living you offer us.
We pray for renewed determination of spirit
In the name of the One who is our Model,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If it is necessary that I should fall on the battle-field for my country, I am ready,” he wrote. “I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.
Major Sullivan Ballou in a letter to his wife Sarah (died in battle July 21, 1861)
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
Psalm 131: 1-2