Psalm 98; John 15:9-17
Memorial Day Weekend
In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between
the crosses, row by row. The American Legion paper “Buddy Poppy” was
inspired by this haunting poem. It was
written by John McCrae. He was a
Canadian physician, author, artist, and soldier during WWI, where he served as a
surgeon in charge of a field hospital during the Second Battle in the Belgian
municipality of Ypres (pronounced e-press). This fierce trench battle basically ended in a
draw. It is infamously remembered because
it marked the first time Germany used mass poisonous gas on the Western
Front.
Death
surrounded John McCrae. He was particularly anguished by the shell
burst death of Lieutenant Alexis Helmer of Ottowa on May 2, 1915. This younger man was a former medical student
who’d become a friend. There wasn’t a
military chaplain available to conduct the funeral ceremony. So McCrae
led one. The next day, while sitting in
the back of an ambulance parked near Alexis’ grave, this author of several
medical texts and earlier poems composed what you have before you on the bulletin
cover. He did so to help process his
anguish.[i] He did so to memorialize all those who sacrificed
their lives defending against their enemy.
He did so to exhort the living to press on for the good cause. We are
the dead; short days ago, we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow; Loved and were
loved, and now we lie, in Flander’s Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw, the torch; be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die, we shall
not sleep, though poppies grow, in Flanders Fields.
What in particular is it
about the poppy that drew this poet’s attention? About what was just a common weed in
Europe? The vivid blood-red color of
many certainly comes to mind, as well as their association with sleep and death
in ancient mythology. Perhaps John
McCrae most had in mind, however, is that poppies were known to symbolize both remembrance
as well as resurrection. One good
reason for this is that poppies literally pop up again year after year. They self-seed, often showing up in neglected
spaces.[ii] But I’ve also come to understand that some seeds
can lie on the ground for many years.
They sprout only after the action of rooting up the soil around them.[iii]
Jesus
taught that faith is like a seed (Luke 17:6).
Throughout our lives, the measure of seed given to us by God is blown
about by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Each time it lands, we have a choice.
We can let it lie. We can remember
and trust that it will eventually pop up into new life, that when we are united
with our Lord in a death like his, we will certainly also be untied in a
resurrection like his (Romans 6:5). Our
other choice is to root up the soil around us.
We can immediately work the common ground all of humanity walks upon for
the sake of Jesus Christ. We can then
watch life suddenly and beautifully bloom, life that offers living hope and truly
honors selfless sacrifice for the biblical ideals of love, peace, and justice. When we root up the soil for the sake of
righteousness, we make known our Lord’s ultimate victory. We join with the Psalmist who exhorts us to
joyously sing along of new and marvelous things, while assuring us that all the
ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. (Psalm 98)
Through
the Gospel of John, Jesus makes it clear that the faith given to us by God
should not lie asleep. We are all
called to faithful obedience and to fostering holy friendships. We are firmly instructed to abide in our
Lord’s great love. This love is not the
stuff of glossy romance. It’s not the sentimental empowerment such as
was propagated at the beginning of WWI.
It’s intimately obedient and radically selfless love. It’s the love contemplated whenever we look
between the crosses. It’s the love born
on the grave grounds of grief and that victoriously pops up across every plain
of this world through the power of our Savior.
It’s the love that was warmly manifest one shivering Christmas Eve in
the hearts of human enemies four months into WWI, when both sides of the
trenches agreed on an unofficial truce in order to sing “Silent Night” together
and share provisions.[iv]
University
of Illinois professor Jonathon Ebel has written a book titled Faith in the
Fight: Religion and the American Soldier in the Great War. His research focused especially on
Christianity and involved spending eight years “combing through letters, poems,
diaries and memoirs from troops, their family members and people who worked for
war support agencies such as the YMCA.
He also reviewed public literature such as Stars and Stripes.”[v] By the time he was ready to author the book,
his initial expectation of what he was going to write shifted. Here’s what he had to say about this to an
Illinois news reporter – ““I started
this project back in March 2001 thinking that I was going to tell a standard
World War I story about disillusionment, where people bought the Christian
pro-war rhetoric, went off to fight and realized later that they’d been duped,”
Ebel said. “As it turns out, I found something quite different.”[vi]
What
he found was a strengthening of the religious framework surrounding the
war. Despite the tremendous horrors of
destruction and death, soldiers found the war to be profoundly meaningful to
their faith. For example, he reviewed
reports of infantryman decorating their gas masks with strains of Protestant
hymns such as “I need Thee, Oh! I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.” Although he also found evidence of atheists
in foxholes, for the most part he discovered that Christian faith “lent
transcendent meanings and purpose to death and suffering, elevated those who
died in combat to the level of heroes and martyrs and promised them eternal
salvation.”[vii]
After
reading about this book, I was curious about what was being preached and
published by Presbyterians at the time.
The internet really is an amazing research tool. I used it to find an article published on
January 20, 1914 in the Presbyterian Outlook magazine. It was written by a Rev. J. Brierley. Paraphrasing his fine words just won’t work,
so I hope you find this excerpt interesting and relevant --
“Faith,
in all the spheres, has shown itself the governing principle, the motor force
of human progress, and if there is to be any further progress it will be on its
lines. The next step, if progress there
is to be, will lie in a great national and international act of faith … Suppose
we as a nation … threw its whole force into a great act of trust! Suppose it appealed to its neighbors on their
better side instead of their worst … We shall have no way out of the
present imbroglio till the Christian Church begins once again to indoctrinate
the nation with Christian principle; till, by the passion of its own
enthusiasm, it fills with this faith the [person] in the street and the
[person] in the Cabinet; the faith in the highest in [people]; this faith, with
all its glorious risks, with all its glorious and sure results.”[viii]
This sermon was a call to respond first and
foremost to horrendous human conflicts by peacefully abiding in Jesus’ selfless,
sacrificial love for all humankind -- ally and enemy alike. It was
a call to remember and root-up the spiritual soil we all walk upon as God’s
precious children. Again, this love is
not merely a soft, sentimental affection.
It intimately and bravely battles against evil, in times of conflict and
in times of peace. This great love understands
evil has been ultimately conquered through Christ. The power of our Lord’s victory is
manifested in a myriad of ways by the Holy Spirit. It is active in all our lives before,
between and beyond the crosses.
In
addition to family food gatherings and fun summer welcomes this Memorial Day weekend,
I pray all the branches of the Christian family tree in our country and across
the world passionately consider how the Spirit is leading them to help more and
more people abide in the selfless, saving love of our Lord … with all of its
“glorious risks, glorious and sure results.”
Amen.
[i] http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/inflandersfields.htm
[ii] http://www2.fiskars.com/Inspiration-Projects/Growing-Flowers-in-the-Garden/Growing-Poppies-from-Seeds#.U4CNxvk7um4
[iii] http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/inflandersfields.htm
[iv][iv]
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/christmastruce_2.htm
[v] http://news.illinois.edu/news/10/0421war.html
[vi]
ibid.
[vii]
ibid.
[viii]
http://preshist.wordpress.com/
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