MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE, WEAVERVILLE CEMETERY

Pastor Walt Scott, 5/27/13

Opening prayer:

Father God, thank you for your son Christ Jesus, and thank you for your grace and the Holy Spirit that resides in all Christian brothers and sisters.

Thank you also for this great nation and this beautiful place we call home. This is certainly a gift from you and our promised land. Thank you for your past, present and future provision.

Thank you also for giving our fighting men and women the courage and will to defend this great democratic republic.

Help us to continue in honorable stewardship and service to you Lord, and to this great nation. Let your will be done and guide us in our daily walk with you. Let us once again be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice and equality for all.

In Jesus name, Amen

Good morning/afternoon, brothers and sisters. And we are all brothers and sisters. Every year at this time we need to pause and reflect about why we conduct these Memorial Day ceremonies all across this great nation, and on some distant foreign shores as well. It is a small thing we do, once a year, to acknowledge and honor those brothers and sisters that have sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States of America. Which includes this land, all the peoples living in it, and all the freedoms guaranteed to us in our constitution. We believe in the promise of this great land. This nation is our promised land, and is God’s gift to us. We are a people who must be willing at all cost to defend and preserve it, and what it stands for.

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Today is the day we honor those men and women who have faithfully served. These heroes fought in every battle since this country’s conception. They made the ultimate sacrifice; they gave their lives because they believed what we have here is worth passing on to future generations.

John 15:12-13

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

These heroes fought and died in all of our wars before and since the founding of this nation, usually although not always, far from home on hostile foreign soil, and often times facing adversity and disdain at home. This was because they placed great value on independence, self-governance and freedom. Their efforts have been costly, not only in lives lost, but in many other ways for our nation. That is the price we must pay to preserve this great democratic republic. This is a sad reality, but is the truth.

Because we are a predominantly Christian people and strive to practice Christian principles and values—one of the most important is to love your neighbor as yourself. For this reason, and to be an example to others, we extend a sharing hand in peace and friendship to other nations, neighbors and struggling peoples seeking the freedoms we enjoy, and oftentimes take for granted.

Matthew 22:37-39

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

At times, as you know, this is very difficult to do, given this worlk we live in. some people think that diplomacy can solve all our problems. Nice thought, but naïve and incorrect. There are multiple people groups and countries in this world with hidden agendas, all directed toward our destruction. We are very far from being one world with one united, cooperative, compromising people. We can hope and pray that one day, with God’s help and direction, we will achieve this.

Some ask; why do young men and women voluntarily step up in defense of this country? I believe that all of you who have served know the answer to this. We felt a compelling sense of duty and a call to action, because we love this country, our family and friends and our freedom. We all want these freedoms to be there for our future generations. Where would any of us be today, and what would we be doing if these courageous, responsible men and women had not stood up in times past, and answered the call to arms?

We are where we are, doing what we are doing—enjoying all of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms—because of our past fighting men and women’s sacrifices. At home and overseas. We must never forget or remain complacent about the realities of the world in which we live.

This is shy we remember and honor our fallen heroes. Thank God, and God’s warriors, that they did answer the call. It is this attitude and character of the people that will insure the continued survival and prosperity of this great nation. Faith, trust, hope in God, and obedience to God is the reality of our belief in God.

Let’s renew our efforts to aid and assist those who they left among us; a sacred charge upon a nation’s gratitude—the soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen’s widows, widowers and orphans. Thank you.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell^[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.