Memorial Day Sermon

Illus: For example, it was broadcast on national radio that a young man was walking down the street during the wintertime wearing a brand name leather jacket.

Another young man saw him wearing the jacket and he came up behind him and hit him in the head with an iron pipe and killed him and took his jacket.

This young man considered a name brand jacket worth more than the life of this young man.

It is refreshing to come across people who recognize the value of a human life.

Illus: For example, Ron was a fifteen-year-old teenager, a tenth-grade student at Granger High School. It was game day, and he was the only sophomore suiting up with the varsity team. Excitedly, he invited his mother to attend. It was her very first football game, and she promised to be there with several of her friends. The game finally ended,

and she was waiting outside the locker room to drive Ron home.

• Ron said, "What did you think of the game, Mom?

• Did you see the three touchdown passes our team made?

• And how about our tough defense?

• Did you see the fumble on the kickoff return that we recovered?" he asked.

• His mother replied, "Ron, you were magnificent during the whole game. I was so proud of you:

• I was proud of the pride you took in the way you looked. You pulled up your knee socks eleven times during the game.

• And I could tell you were perspiring in all those bulky pads because you got eight cups of water and splashed water on your face twice.

• I really like how you went out of you way to pat number nineteen, number five and number ninety on the back every time they came off the field."

• "Mom, how do you know all that? And how can you say I was magnificent? I didn’t even play in the game."

• His mother smiled and hugged him. "Ron, I don’t know anything about football. I didn’t come here to watch the game. I came here to watch you!"

Listen, this mother knew what was important! SHE KNEW THE VALUE OF PEOPLE!

However, we live in an age where little value is placed on PEOPLE, and much value is placed on THINGS.

Illus: A favorite actress of many in Hollywood is the Italian actress, Sophia Loren. During one of the shootings of a movie, she was upset because someone stole some of her valuable jewelry.

She went to the Italian film director Vittorio De Sica, about the theft of the jewelry. He gave her some very good advice, he said, “Listen to me, Sophia. I am much older than you and if there is one great truth I have learned about life, it is this: NEVER CRY OVER ANYTHING THAT CAN’T CRY OVER YOU!” Good advice!

One of the lessons we have to learn in this life is that PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THINGS!

On this Memorial Day weekend, I want us to consider three things to help us learn this valuable lesson.

We need to:

I. LOOK BACK

Some tell us we should never look back, that we should always look ahead. Those who say this do not know what they are talking about.

• If we did not LOOK BACK, we could not learn from the mistakes we, and others have made.

• If we did not LOOK BACK, we could not show our gratitude to those who have made such an impact on our life.

Memorial Day is all about LOOKING BACK!

Look at the history of Memorial Day.

• Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868.

• Memorial Day originally was known as “Decoration Day” because it was time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.

• After WWI, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America’s wars.

• And in 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday.

Illus: We have been told that:

• On an average day, about 750 people will visit the USS Arizona in Hawaii, and on Memorial Day weekend, about 4,600 people will visit that memorial.

• On an average day, some 3,000 people will visit the Vietnam War Memorial, and on Memorial Day weekend, about 7,600 people will visit it.

This nation has set this day aside to LOOK BACK and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for this blessed country.

We can all be thankful that this nation does not want to forget those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we could have this great nation in which to live.

Today, on this Memorial Day weekend, while some are partying and picnicking and having a wonderful time, we want to LOOK BACK and remember all the men and women who have made this possible.