THE WORD 4 ev 1

Today's reading is John 11 (click her for link)

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day break. I also pray that at some point you gave thanks for the many men and women who have faithfully served our nation and protected our interests. God provides for us through sacrifice.

When I was 19 I first visited the American military cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer with my family which sits on the bluffs above D-Day’s Omaha beach. Yet, much of what I remember about that first trip was talking largely with my brothers about war and the carnage of D-day. However, later in college, I had the privilege of visiting twice more; once when President Bush was there to commemorate the 60th anniversary of that terrible day. It was a very moving experience. My friends and I had managed to talk our way into being seated with the V.I.P.’s. We were literally seated among the families of the fallen and veterans of that day. Of course, I know this sounds unbelievable, especially since we just showed up without knowing that any of these commemorations were going on. Apparently, reservations were to have been made months in advance, with everyone being thoroughly background checked. We were just a bunch of college kids on a road trip through France—hardly people to be trusted when the President was in town. But me and a buddy were in the Corps of Cadets, and when we got to the front gates we talked with the sergeant in charge, who happened to be friends with a friend of a friend who was in the corps… and one thing led to another and before we knew it, we were sitting 30 yards from President Bush, in the middle of this majestic cemetery, surrounded by honorable and brave veterans of war, with V.I.P. tags around our necks. It was truly an unbelievable experience. I’ll never forget the chill that went down my back. I was in the midst of greatness.

(Although, on a side note, it does make me a little nervous about the security of our national leaders, if a bunch of college kids from A&M could talk our way into being 30 yards from President Bush without so much as a background check—but that is another issue.)

The cemetery over the beaches of Normandy and places like it, such as Point Du Hoc, cannot help but create awe in the mind of the visitor. I was stopped by the sight of row upon row of perfectly aligned white marble crosses that seemed to go on forever. It is a painfully beautiful sight where conversation, if any, is held in hushed tones. It is enough to move a grown man to tears. I mean it! Our reading from John 11 coupled with the lectionary readings for this Sunday from 1 Kings 17:17-24 (click here for link) and Luke 7:11-17 (click for link) in a strange way summoned these memories in my mind. It is always like that when death comes suddenly and takes those who seem too young to experience it. (The average age of men who died at Omaha beach was 22). In 1 Kings, the widow weeping gives her only son to the prophet whose presence she assumes has led to his death. “What do you have against me, O man of God?” The prophet is equally pained and questions the intention of the One for whom he speaks. Why, O Lord, have you killed the widow’s son? I imagine not a few of the 9,387 who lie above the beach, or the 1,557 never found, whose names etched in the stone colonnade are all that remain, had mothers like the widow who wept their questions, “Why?” or like the prophet accused God of less than holy intentions. Martha too seems to wonder “why?” as runs to meet Jesus. But what answer can we give, when all in this world is doomed to die?

Jesus gives us the answer: “I am the resurrection and the life…” LIFE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH! Just as Elijah stretched out three times on the breath-less body of the widow’s son and the Lord restored his life, the lifeless body of the Lord, stretched out three days in the darkness of death, burst forth from the tomb so that one day those slain in the course of human conflict might be revived and know the truth; life is stronger than death. When at last the nations learn to study war no more and death is swallowed up in victory those who wait in the silent sleep of death at places like Colleville-sur-Mer will meet again, not as brothers in arms, but as brothers in the arms the Lord.

I proudly salute the brave men and women of our armed forces,
Pastor Aaron