MEMORIAL DAY Sermon Presented to St. Paul s Church 7 Easter, Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, Year B May 24, 2009 Thack Dyson

Transcription

1 MEMORIAL DAY Sermon Presented to St. Paul s Church 7 Easter, Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, Year B May 24, 2009 Thack Dyson I don t know about you, but I find that as I get older, my memory tends to get shorter. More than a few times lately I ve found myself in front of the refrigerator door asking myself one of life s most profound philosophical and theological questions, What am I here for? Memories can be elusive at times. Sometimes this can t be helped. If the person, place or event we are trying to recall wasn t too significant, it s easy to forget. It s like the story of the call of Matthias that we read in today s lesson from Acts. He wasn t exactly a head liner among the first disciples, which may account for why he is only mentioned in this passage from the Acts of the Apostles. Nevertheless, we remember him, not only in our lesson this morning, but on his feast day every February 24th. So, what do we remember about Matthias? We know that he was chosen to replace Judas in the circle of Jesus apostles. Peter says in this passage that the single criterion for the election of a successor is that the candidate is one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us. (Acts 1:21-22). Two men were named as qualified, Matthias and Justus, or as he is sometimes called, Barsabbas. After prayerfully seeking the Lord s guidance, lots were cast. Matthias is in and Justus is out. Matthias and Justus then disappeared into obscurity, their fifteen minutes of fame behind them forever. Never again is either man mentioned in the Bible. Not a single action is reported, not a single word. So, why is this story in Acts worth mentioning? Well, all of us have known people like Matthias in our lives. He is the person who just missed getting in the photograph; either he was

2 not there when it was taken or he stood behind someone taller or bigger. Yet he was very much a part of our circle of friends and acquaintances. People like this turn up many times in our lives, including in the life of a parish. They are the people that you never get to really know beyond the shake of the hand at the coffee hour. At first she may volunteer her name, but somehow it never settles in your mind and she remains anonymous in her quiet, faithful way. Months, even years go by until something happens or something is said that makes you realize that there is within this person a very great soul. It could be something simple, like a get well card or a meal when you re sick, or simply remembering your birthday. Or, something so significant, that the whole congregation comes to realize that hidden within its life is someone who has boundless courage, faithfulness or generosity. I call someone like that Matthias. I have a feeling that the one thing the apostles were not looking for that day when they cast their lots was someone extraordinary. The reason is simple if you think about it. I think that the one thing that had dawned on Jesus disciples by the time Matthias was elected was that Jesus had not called any of them to himself because of any extraordinary qualities, but because they were rather ordinary human beings in whom he had seen something. I suspect that Matthias had done only one thing: he had shown he could hang in there when things got tough. As Peter says, Matthias was uniquely qualified to be an apostle because he was one of those who accompanied us during all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. Right away that tells us that Matthias was prepared to remain with the community through thick and thin. He stayed faithful even when he wasn t the center of attention. He was simply one of the crowd. Were it not for such faithful men and women, the church would have come apart at the seams. They quietly and faithfully held the church together over the centuries so we could gather together today in worship. That s why we remember them.

3 Remembering the faithful is not just something we do in the church. We as a country are called to remember the faithful every Memorial Day. Formerly known as Decoration Day to remember the fallen Union soldiers in the Civil War, it was later expanded after World War I as a day of remembrance for all service men and women who were killed in times of war. It s especially a day to remember the more anonymous folks who paid the ultimate price for our country. I d like to tell you about one of these fallen. Though he actually died last March, he was killed in November 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley just as sure as the other two hundred and thirty-four of his fellow soldiers were in that battle. Though I never met him personally, he deserves to be remembered. I came to know him by accident. Not having a church, his sister Jerry Cotsonis asked me to officiate at his memorial service in Biloxi last month. I was honored to do that, and our own Phil Kelley accompanied me and sang a solo in his memory. Let me tell you about this man. Charles Randy Lose was born in Mobile in Growing up without many of the material advantages in life, Randy and his brother, out of necessity, had to go live with their older sister Jerry and Uncle Richard for a time in Pensacola when they were teenagers. Randy was a bright young man who aspired to become a pharmacist one day. He was drawn to this vocation while working in a pharmacy as a teenager. When Randy was old enough to do so, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, later transferring to the United State Army. His hope was to serve his time and then go to school to study to be a pharmacist on the G.I. Bill. While in the Army, Randy trained to be a medic and in 1965 found himself in the conflict in Viet Nam. There, Specialist Five Doc Lose life changed forever. The genesis of this radical change began on November 14, In the late morning of November 14, 1965, several platoons of American troops landed by helicopter at a clearing

4 known as LZ X-Ray located in the Ia Drang River Valley, Vietnam. Over the next few hours they were followed by more men from their battalion, the 1st of the 7th Cavalry. Randy s unit at that time was Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division. As a combat medic, Randy was serving with the Second Platoon of Company B when the Platoon became pinned down by an intense assault from a battalion size force of North Vietnamese Regulars and then cut off from the remainder of the Company for a period of twenty-six hours. As the enemy's heavy automatic weapons fire inflicted several casualties on the Platoon during the initial attack, Randy bravely moved through the hail of gun fire to care for the wounded. Although he was wounded in the foot by grenade fragments during one of his courageous moves to reach a fallen comrade, he continued to administer aid to the wounded by crawling from man to man dragging his aid kit with him. When his medical supplies became exhausted, he demonstrated rare ingenuity and determination by fashioning bandages from C- ration resources. He collected water from the canteens of the dead for distribution to the wounded. Again and again, he crawled across the open area and exposed himself to the intense hostile fire to give first aid to the wounded, often using his own body as a shield for the protection of his fellow soldiers. On the following day when a relief force reached the beleaguered unit, Randy refused to be evacuated until all of the wounded were taken to safety. Randy s extraordinary heroism that day on the battlefield, and his deep concern for his fellow soldiers, resulted with him being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross three years later. He was later recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in what has become known as the Battle of Ia Drang Valley.

5 Randy eventually recovered from his shrapnel wounds to his foot, but he never fully recovered from the other wound he received in that engagement. That was the wound to his spirit. You see, Randy saw and experienced things on November 14 and 15, 1965, and on other occasions during his stint in Viet Nam that most of us who have never been in combat have ever seen. He witnessed first hand the savagery of war and its aftermath. He saw torn and mangled bodies of his friends and comrades young men who, like Randy, went into battle that day believing that their lives stretched out endlessly in front of them. Their world was their oyster and their eyes were full of hope. Yet during those two days many lost their lives, and just as many, like Randy, lost their hope. Diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, Randy was never able to live a normal life after Viet Nam. His dream of becoming a pharmacist was never realized and it seemed he could never get his life together for long periods of time after that. Years of psychological treatment and being institutionalized at VA hospitals didn t help either. He eventually became a loner and ultimately, a statistic. He mercifully died in his sleep last March. I imagine that few, if any of you have ever heard of Randy Doc Lose before today and may be wondering why I even shared his story with you. The fact that most of you haven t heard of him is the very reason why I have told you about him. That s why we observe Memorial Day so we can remember all the Randy Lose s who made the supreme sacrifice. To so many of us, Memorial Day means nothing more than the beginning of summer, a three-day weekend, cookouts, and shopping bargains. However, its very name, Memorial, tells us that we should not forget but remember. In this case, we are to remember all those who died in the various wars to make us free.

6 The notion of remembering is important because it helps us to reconnect with our past. That s why we recall the Last Supper during the Eucharist so we will always remember Christ s sacrifice. To remember to reconnect with our past as Christians keeps us connected with God. That s why the Jews, and later, the early Christians saw forgetfulness as a great sin. All sin, they believed, stems from forgetting that we are connected to God, to God s creation, and to one another. If we forget our national and spiritual heroes and heroines the ones who gave us visions to live by and principles to guide us, who gave their lives to furthering human dignity and freedom if we forget them, then we could forget who we really are. If we forget our holy days and allow them to become holidays, then holidays become days for special sales. When that happens, Memorial Day, for instance, is not really for remembering, reconnecting with those fallen in the wars like Randy. No, it s a time to cash in on bargains. If we forget that we are children of God, made in God s image, that we have tremendous value in God s eyes, and therefore should not say or do anything that would defile and disgrace that image then we will fall for the lie that we have no past, no future, and no connection with God or humanity. Believing that lie, we will worship only the present and do only what is selfserving and feels good. People do terrible things because they have forgotten who they are. Remember the turning point for the wayward Prodigal son? It was when he remembered. He remembered his father s house, his full plate, and his home. Here he was, a nameless, faceless person slopping the hogs, until he remembered he was more than that. He remembered he had a name, he had a home, and he had a father who loved him. When he remembered who he was and whose child

7 he was, he repented and reconnected with the source of his dignity. No wonder the Jews and Christians held that forgetfulness was the source of all sin. On this Memorial Day weekend we should renew our memories of who we are and teach our children who they are: not independent, solitary beings, but part of a vast parade of wonderful people, people like Randy Lose. We should tell our children we are all interconnected, children of the same God, and that we are our brother s and sister s keepers. So, tomorrow, take at least a few minutes to reflect on who you are, your heritage, and those who have gone before you. Think of the sacrifices made to insure the quality of life you now enjoy. And from now until the end of your life, always remember to remember. AMEN