What do you think about when you think about Memorial Day? If you ask a teenager that question, you would be surprised at some of the answers. There are a few that will offer an admirable answer mostly expected by an aging generation such as mine and those before. However, the majority will say things like "the day when the public pools open" or "the weekend we go to the lake" or "the start of the cook-out season." Maybe I'm overly patriotic, but it means much more to me and I think it should to the coming generation as well. To me, Memorial Day is more of a season than a day. It is a season of remembrance. It is the season when I especially remember my loved ones who have gone before. It is decoration weekend for the cemetery at which a lot of my family is buried. It is the season when I especially honor our veterans... all of them: those fallen, those returned, those missing, and those active. I'm quite positive that I share these sentiments with at least a few fellow patriots. However, what are we doing to pass down the meaning of Memorial Day to those coming generations? Is it important enough to share?? I think so.
Memorial Day Season, 2012: Members from the Cedar Creek COG Youth group took a trip. The best I remember, there were five of us total. (See Youth Ministry Foot Note) We made a day of it, but I was on a mission. It was my mission to teach these students the importance of Memorial Day. We met at the church and piled in Polly (the name of our 1992 15 Passenger Ford blue-suede suite on wheels) and headed to town. The goal was to attend the Memorial Day Service at the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. The purpose was two fold: first to visit the cemetery, second to hear the key-note speaker. The speaker was a World War II veteran by the name of Paul Shelton. I met Paul a few years ago when he started attending the Flag Branch Church during my time there. He is a very personable fellow, with a powerful story... I wanted the kids to hear it. The best I remember, the service started with the reading of the numbers of the fallen from Greene County. There was a welcome and then Paul spoke. He spoke of his experience in the Battle of the Bulge, I do believe. Nevertheless, he told his story with passion and emotion still lingering from those days some 60 years ago. He told of the friends he lost and the Purple Heart he'd received. The moment that I saw tears in the eyes of the girls of our youth group was the moment that I knew the day was a success. Of five students, only one had been to the cemetary before and three of them had never witnessed a 21 Gun Salute. I might not have preached to those kids that day, but I definitely ministered to them. They now understand a little more about how God has blessed our Nation and about the sacrifices that were made so that we could be where we are today. Are we loosing this knowledge in today's generation? If we are, whose fault is it? What are we going to do about it? As for me and my house...
Youth Ministry Foot Note: Often times during the summer, you plan things with big expectations, but because of conflicting schedules and other competition, the turnout is not very big. Do not be discouraged, it is a natural phenomenon throughout the youth ministry world. I've learned that you plan things and execute them with those who show up. It will probably be a different five or ten students the next time, but at least you are ministering to some during this slow time.
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