Pentecost and Memorial Day

How interesting a major feast of the church, Pentecost, intersects with major secular commemoration of those who died in our various wars, defending us and our values.  Can we find some connection between them?

Let’s consider Pentecost first.  The arrival of the Holy Spirit, promised by Christ, empowered his followers in amazing ways.  Every year we read the passage from the Book of Acts about the gathered disciples experiencing a violent wind and something like tongues of fire.  Then they were speaking ecstatically in a way they could be understood by folks who came from various regions.  They impressed onlookers as drunk!  What did this mean? Peter, the disciple no longer fearful for his safety, spoke out to let the questioners know how God had acted. Citing a prophecy from Joel, Peter explained that God’s power “in the last days” would manifest itself by the behavior of people and natural phenomena. The rich images of the end of time still fascinate us: “And [God] will show portents in the heaven above and on the earth below, blood, and fire and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the Lord’s great and glorious day.”

What excitement!  What hope for the end of the world of evil, pain, and division!  Yet we know that hope has not yet been realized. 

So we are left with the reality of Jesus’ absence.  He did not return as the first Christians had hoped.  The passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans addresses his concern about our human frailty when we have to rely on hope that God will not abandon us.  So we hear Paul’s encouragement that God’s Spirit will strengthen us and intercede for us so we do not lose hope.

Jesus’ explanation of what he intends for his disciples provides us with yet another picture of God’s Spirit.  The writer of John’s gospel calls this gift from God “the Spirit of truth, the Advocate.” The purpose of the Advocate is to help the disciples testify about who Jesus is by guiding them to the truth about Jesus.

Looking at these three portraits of the God’s Spirit, we may find ourselves favoring one point of view or the other—or maybe sometimes one and sometimes another.  But in all three cases the Spirit is active with us, because God does not want us to feel abandoned. Rather, the Spirit works to empower us, to engender hope and to guide us in seeing God’s revelation of God’s self in the world. All of this, of course, because Jesus could not remain on earth, and he recognized the sorrow his absence would cause.  And now the Spirit’s work continues in each our lives as we deal with evil, with pain, with our fear of death, with all things on this earth that try to separate us knowing God’s love.

This, perhaps, is the link that we can make this year between Pentecost and Memorial Day.  As we remember that those who have fallen in the battlefields or were lost at sea defending our way of life.

God’s Spirit can be with us in all circumstances, especially in those times when evil appears to triumph, when we feel powerless and when we wonder where God has gone.  We pray that the men and women who served our country in wartime and lost their lives were held in the Spirit’s embrace as they suffered and died.

How difficult is Memorial Day for those left behind? Retired Staff Sergeant Luke Murphy wrote an article for CNN online that speaks about this suffering: “As a wounded veteran who served two tours in Iraq, I've been asked to give speeches at Memorial Day celebrations. It's one of the hardest jobs I've ever done.  Veterans Day is easy.  Fourth of July, a piece of cake.  But Memorial Day, that's a tough one. Service members like me think about the soldiers we lost pretty often. I remember when [my friend] was alive, all the stuff we did -- the training, combat and even just hanging out together off duty. Then my mind usually goes to the day of his death. I remember where I was when I heard about it, or what it felt like to see him catastrophically wounded. I picture their faces. They're young; they never get old.”

Sgt. Murphy’s grief at the loss of soldiers who were his buddies could be where God’s Spirit finds work to do on this Memorial Day.  The Spirit would be walking with Sgt. Murphy through his grief, encouraging him and embracing him in God’s love.  The grief won’t and shouldn’t be forgotten, but can be redeemed by the Spirit “who intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

So let us rejoice today that God’s Spirit empowers us, sustains our hope, and guides us.  And let us also remember, with thanksgiving, those service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives for us. Let us remember their sacrifice in silence . . . Amen.