Hope for the Hopeless
With John Bates
What Memorials Give You Meaning In Your Life?
Do you wonder why there are memorials? Memorials are meant to keep alive the memory of someone you find personally dear to yourself or something like a special event or a major loss in your life or the life of a country. This month we celebrate two memorials. There is the well-known Memorial Day weekend when people gather together and honor those who died and gave their all during wartime. Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1968 with the placing of flowers on the graves where the Union and Confederate soldiers were laid to rest in the Arlington National Cemetery . Unfortunately, this weekend has turned from being a day to remember those who have fallen in service to our country to just another three-day weekend. May we never ignore or neglect to observe this last Monday of May that the nation has set aside to remember those who have fought for our freedoms. One way you can support observing this day is by flying the U.S. flag at half-staff until noon, visiting a memorial, placing flags or flowers on the graves of fallen heroes and renewing a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of those who have died as well as aiding our disabled veterans. There may be a ceremony in your city that has a memorial service at 3 pm meant to pause and reflect upon the true meaning of this day which is usually followed by Taps.
There is another day set aside during the month of May to remember our mothers or the mother of our children. Take a special moment to bring honor to our mothers or the mother of our children. Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May. The first national Mother's Day was declared by President Woodrow Wilson in order to be a day set aside by American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. Mother's Day has become the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States . Here are some other ideas besides going out to a restaurant of what you can do to let your mother or the mother of your children know how much you appreciate her. Send or give her a card with a personal letter tucked inside. Send a contribution in their name to one of their favorite organizations. Take care of the children so she can have some personal time to do whatever she wants. Make a meal for her but make certain to clean up after yourself also.
Throughout the year, we experience many similar memorials, such as Fathers Day, 4 th of July, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter to name a few. And then there are national memorials such as Mt Rushmore, Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. The idea of memorials is nothing new to our generation. In fact, memorials have been erected and dates have been set aside to remember someone or something significant since the beginning of time. In addition, some memorials have special observations associated with them.
This is true when it comes to memorials in Christian history. The Bible has countless different memorials listed all throughout the Scriptures. The Israelites had memorials such as the Passover, a pile of twelve stones gathered from the Jordan River, and altars built by men of the Bible at times when God revealed Himself to them in the greatest of ways such as when Jacob took the stone he slept on and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it and called the place Bethel or when Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer saying “Thus far has the Lord helped us” in regards to the Philistines being subdued at Mizpah or when Absalom erected a pillar in the King's Valley as a monument to himself called Absalom's Monument to carry on the memory of his name since he had no sons. I am sure you can remember many more similar memorials listed in the Bible.
But the greatest memorial any Christian can have is one of remembering Jesus Christ and how He provided His saving grace for each one of us is through the sacraments of baptism and participation in Holy Communion. Holy Communion was established in order for Christians to “proclaim the Lord's death until He comes whenever they eat the bread and drink the cup.” (1 Corinthians 11:26) And baptism reminds Christians that they “have been buried with Jesus Christ in baptism and raised with Him through their faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead” and symbolizes how we were “saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a pledge of good conscience toward God.” (Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21) This gives us the hope of life eternal.
Memorials have a way of bringing hope into the lives of people. Some memorials can give us the truth we are important because someone spared their life so that we could have life. Other memorials can be used as reminders of where we have come from and how the direction of our lives has been changed because of some significant event that God used to draw us to a life of pursuing holiness. Personal testimonies are a great way to experience not only a reminder of the grace we have been shown by God but also sheds light on the hope we continue to have as our lives are transformed into men and women of God who are equipped to bring the good news of His saving grace to a world of lost and broken souls. What memorial gives you meaning in your life? As you reflect on this, realize that God continues to provide opportunities for memorials to exist in your life in order to remember the goodness and grace He shares with us.
If you are looking for answers to have hope in your life once again, feel free to send me your question and I will look at addressing that topic in future publications.