Memorial Day 2005
Journal 2005 05 30
Memorial Day 2005
Today we celebrate Memorial Day in America. Many think we set today aside to remember our veterans. Congress set Veterans Day, in November, as the day we honor all of our living veterans. Memorial Day is the day we honor those who have fallen in battle. In 1868 General Logan saw women decorating the graves of young men killed in the Civil War with flowers. He declared a day of remembering those young men from the north and south that died in battle. New York was the first state to recognize Memorial Day in 1873 and most of the rest soon followed. Except some southern states still memorialize Confederate Veterans Day and Jefferson Davis Day. Some things die hard. Over one hundred fifty years later and the South still hangs on to vestiges of the Confederate States of America.
Lewis and Clark were war veterans. And they had already lost one of their party to sickness. My guess is they remembered their beloved Sergeant Floyd throughout their journey. The reason for this day of national remembrance (the Civil War) would not take place until sixty plus years after the completion of their journey. Sergeant Floyd did not die in battle but he did die in the service of his country.
York, and we only ever see him referred to as York, accompanied Captain William Clark on the expedition as his slave. Evidently York had been Clarkâs slave since both were young. He was the only black man and only slave on this journey. Upon completion of the journey York had high expectations of being emancipated by Clark. Clark could not see clear to emancipate York until ten years past their return to St. Louis. It is clear from their writings that although Clark held York in high regard as a companion and helper, he did not see him in the same light as his soldiers. Named like you would name a dog. Seen as somewhere higher than a pet, yet not of the same status as a white human.
William Clark proved proved himself to be a fine man and a wonderful American. We all have blind spots in our lives and slavery was one of his that was shared by many other great Americans. We may look back at the holocaust of abortion and wonder why we have allowed it to be a legal and moral argument rather than the raw human tragedy it is. I would contend it is the slavery of our time.
In this practice of human ownership by another human lay the seeds of a war that would divide a young nation and threaten its existence sixty years later. Epitomized forever on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Bull Run and many other bloodied acres of native soil. The claim to equality for each person so eloquently stated in the Declaration of Independence almost one hundred years earlier would be tested on the battlefield and found true.
As human freedom has been challenged throughout history we have responded with the blood of more young Americans. These are the fine young men who have secured the ideals set forth in our founding documents. Their sacrifices on the altar of freedom are the reasons we live in the greatest land in the history of the world. Their willingness to be the fuel to the human forges of ideas, ideals, government and nations makes the furnace fit for the craftsmen of religious and political liberty to form the tools of that liberty.
This spirit of sacrificial service is the same today as it was in 1805 when this young band of military explorers set their sights on the Pacific Ocean. The Corps of Discovery knew their service might end in death. They set out in spite of that knowledge. They were full of hope and faith that they could complete the mission set before them.
Every young soldier serving today operates in that same knowledge of looming death. Yet, they set their faces like flint against the opposition and set out on their missions full of hope and faith that they will complete them.
As we remember the great success of the Corps of Discovery, let us see that same spirit of resolve and service to the human ideals of God-given freedoms that they are willing to give their lives to defending.
Pastor Norm spoke yesterday of the occupation commanded of the church. An active defense of ground won by the victory of the blood of Christ in death and resurrection.
As we remember the young men giving their lives to actively occupy this world in the victory of freedom do we see in their sacrifices the a living shadow of a greater victory won and eternally defended by Christ, the Captain of the Host of Heaven?
Memorial Day 2005
Today we celebrate Memorial Day in America. Many think we set today aside to remember our veterans. Congress set Veterans Day, in November, as the day we honor all of our living veterans. Memorial Day is the day we honor those who have fallen in battle. In 1868 General Logan saw women decorating the graves of young men killed in the Civil War with flowers. He declared a day of remembering those young men from the north and south that died in battle. New York was the first state to recognize Memorial Day in 1873 and most of the rest soon followed. Except some southern states still memorialize Confederate Veterans Day and Jefferson Davis Day. Some things die hard. Over one hundred fifty years later and the South still hangs on to vestiges of the Confederate States of America.
Lewis and Clark were war veterans. And they had already lost one of their party to sickness. My guess is they remembered their beloved Sergeant Floyd throughout their journey. The reason for this day of national remembrance (the Civil War) would not take place until sixty plus years after the completion of their journey. Sergeant Floyd did not die in battle but he did die in the service of his country.
York, and we only ever see him referred to as York, accompanied Captain William Clark on the expedition as his slave. Evidently York had been Clarkâs slave since both were young. He was the only black man and only slave on this journey. Upon completion of the journey York had high expectations of being emancipated by Clark. Clark could not see clear to emancipate York until ten years past their return to St. Louis. It is clear from their writings that although Clark held York in high regard as a companion and helper, he did not see him in the same light as his soldiers. Named like you would name a dog. Seen as somewhere higher than a pet, yet not of the same status as a white human.
William Clark proved proved himself to be a fine man and a wonderful American. We all have blind spots in our lives and slavery was one of his that was shared by many other great Americans. We may look back at the holocaust of abortion and wonder why we have allowed it to be a legal and moral argument rather than the raw human tragedy it is. I would contend it is the slavery of our time.
In this practice of human ownership by another human lay the seeds of a war that would divide a young nation and threaten its existence sixty years later. Epitomized forever on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Bull Run and many other bloodied acres of native soil. The claim to equality for each person so eloquently stated in the Declaration of Independence almost one hundred years earlier would be tested on the battlefield and found true.
As human freedom has been challenged throughout history we have responded with the blood of more young Americans. These are the fine young men who have secured the ideals set forth in our founding documents. Their sacrifices on the altar of freedom are the reasons we live in the greatest land in the history of the world. Their willingness to be the fuel to the human forges of ideas, ideals, government and nations makes the furnace fit for the craftsmen of religious and political liberty to form the tools of that liberty.
This spirit of sacrificial service is the same today as it was in 1805 when this young band of military explorers set their sights on the Pacific Ocean. The Corps of Discovery knew their service might end in death. They set out in spite of that knowledge. They were full of hope and faith that they could complete the mission set before them.
Every young soldier serving today operates in that same knowledge of looming death. Yet, they set their faces like flint against the opposition and set out on their missions full of hope and faith that they will complete them.
As we remember the great success of the Corps of Discovery, let us see that same spirit of resolve and service to the human ideals of God-given freedoms that they are willing to give their lives to defending.
Pastor Norm spoke yesterday of the occupation commanded of the church. An active defense of ground won by the victory of the blood of Christ in death and resurrection.
As we remember the young men giving their lives to actively occupy this world in the victory of freedom do we see in their sacrifices the a living shadow of a greater victory won and eternally defended by Christ, the Captain of the Host of Heaven?
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 11:54 AM
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