This morning’s newspapers, we get three delivered, all have front page stories honoring veterans and reporting today’s observances. Some photos and many words. True eloquence is often briefer, and certainly more memorable. If you visit the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in Washington D.C., as I once was privileged to do, you see a plaque at the main entrance. “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” The quotation, from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, has put in my mind that honoring those who serve, just like saving faith in religion, shows itself in works.
On another trip to D.C., I visited the Viet Nam Memorial. Conversation among the visitors to the wall was quiet, subdued. Some people were tracing out the names of family and friends to take home, making this day of honor something to be daily in their homes. Not far from the wall stands a sculpture group, “The Three Soldiers,” three servicemen in combat gear from different ethnic backgrounds. I was keeping a distance, but an older couple went right up to the stature group. The wife urged her husband to stand near the statues so she could take a picture of him with the statues as background. He motioned “no.” It was too solemn a moment.
Martin Luther, born November 10th was baptized the same day and given the name “Martin” after Martin of Tours, whose feast day is today, the 11th. Legend has it that when Martin met a poorly dressed beggar, he took his military sword, cut his cloak in half, and gave half to the cold beggar. That good work was motivated by love. What follows may first seem strange. While there are many reasons why our veterans served, Christian faith sees military service as a demonstration of love. Martin Luther put it famously, “Christians live not in themselves but in Christ and their neighbor. Otherwise they are not Christian. They live in Christ through faith, in their neighbor through love. By faith they are caught up beyond themselves into God. By love they descend beneath themselves into their neighbor.” (Freedom of a Christian, 1520).
Today we display the flag on our front porch, and take in the many photos and countless words, but it’s in quiet reflection we best honor our veterans. And with good works: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”
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