NO GREATER LOVE

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

Memorial Day weekend is coming up. To be honest, I never thought much about Memorial Day until I served Christus Victor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Many in that congregation were veterans, and many others, active duty military personnel. As you might imagine, the Memorial Day commemoration was important to those in that parish who had lost friends or family members in conflict. Their sacrifice is also a powerful counterpoint to the individualism and narcissism that predominate in modern culture.

As a society we have gone a long way down the path of radical individualism. You can see it all around. Sometimes it’s subtle: Not too long ago I saw a bumper sticker, “If it’s not fun, why do it?” Sometimes it’s not so subtle, like road rage or the ubiquitous truck window decals that show a white silhouetted cartoon character giving the whole world the finger for no discernable reason.

Several years ago, flying in a prop jet from Detroit to South Bend, Indiana, I was seated directly behind the exit row. The flight attendant came by and asked the two men in that row if, in case of an emergency, they were willing and able to open the emergency door and help others off the plane. They both smiled and nodded. Both said, “Yes.” But as soon as the flight attendant had walked on down the aisle, one of the men turned to the other and said - this is a direct quote - “I don’t know about you, but if something happens, I’m getting my butt off this plane and to hell with the rest of you.”

That comment spoke volumes about the mean and self-centered society we have become, and about why Memorial Day ought to be remembered, even by those who have not lost loved ones to war.

Now, there’s some irony here. In one sense, war is the ultimate statement of disunity. It is one group of God’s creatures killing another. Still, as C.S. Lewis once pointed out, in the midst of the great horrors of war, there exist great opportunities for human beings to exercise their amazing capacity for courage, bravery, love and sacrifice for others.

On Memorial Day, it is not war we celebrate, but those people who, in the midst of war, have found something outside themselves to be worth that “last full measure of devotion.” We celebrate people who were willing to do what wasn’t fun, people who did not take care only of themselves and say “to hell with the rest of you.”

Jesus taught us to consider our neighbors and not just ourselves, to love them as much as we love ourselves. The sacrifices we remember on Memorial Day are a good counter point to the selfishness we see so much of in the world.

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+ H. Julian Gordy

Bishop

ELCA Southeastern Synod