It’s Memorial Day! But how many people today know what Memorial Day is all about? I would bet that since correct history is not being taught in our higher educational facilities like it used to be, many people do not understand just what Memorial Day is about.
In May 1868, General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War. It was declared that on this day Americans should lay flowers and decorate the graves of the war dead “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, town, valley, and churchyard in the land.”
Logan chose May 30 because it was a rare day that didn’t fall on the anniversary of a Civil War battle, though some historians believe the date was selected to ensure that flowers across the country would be in full bloom.
After the war, Logan served as a U.S. congressman in both the House and Senate and was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for vice president in 1884. He then resigned to rejoin the army. When he died two years later, Logan’s body laid in state in the rotunda of the United States Capitol, making him one of just 33 people to have received the honor. Today, Washington, D.C.’s Logan Circle and several towns across the country are named in honor of this champion of veterans and those killed in battle.
American’s embraced this day immediately after Logan’s death. That first year, more than 27 states held some sort of ceremony, with more than 5,000 people in attendance at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. By 1890, every former state of the Union had adopted it as an official holiday. But for more than 50 years, the holiday was used to commemorate those killed just in the Civil War, not in any other American conflict. It wasn’t until America’s entry into World War I that the tradition was expanded to include those killed in all wars, and Memorial Day was not officially recognized nationwide until the 1970s, with America deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War.
Although the term Memorial Day was used beginning in the 1880s, the holiday was officially known as Decoration Day for more than a century, when it was changed by federal law. Four years later, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 finally went into effect, moving Memorial Day from its traditional observance on May 30 (regardless of the day of the week), to a set day—the last Monday in May. The move has not been without controversy, though. Veterans groups, concerned that more Americans associate the holiday with first long weekend of the summer and not its intended purpose to honor the nation’s war dead, continue to lobby for a return to the May 30 observances. For more than 20 years, their cause was championed by Hawaiian Senator—and decorated World War II veteran—Daniel Inouye, who until his 2012 death reintroduced legislation in support of the change at the start of every Congressional term.
Just a little history for you this morning as we enter into a day where we celebrate those who have died to provide freedom for us in the United States Of America. It is so sad that in our day so many people don’t realize what this day means, they don’t realize that so many had to die so that they could be free. It is even sadder that that so many don’t realize that there was a death that took place in history that paid for our ultimate freedom, our freedom from sin. But how many know about this man’s death. How many people have not heard of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, whether that is done through the teaching and education that would inform them, or that people don’t read the Bible for themselves? Well, there is a book, a book filled with history and truth, that can teach us about God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, creation, sin, wrath, judgment, repentance, forgiveness, salvation, justification, sanctification, etc. Only it is up to the individual to seek out the word of God so each one is not found to be ignorant when it comes to knowing the things of God.
(2 Timothy 2:15 – NKJ)…..Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
All of God’s Word is truth, but we must rightly divide the Bible, or we will be confused and misled just like people are misled in other things. Every verse in the Bible is a message of truth we can learn from. The whole Bible is the inspired Word of God. Let us be students of God’s word so that we will know the truth of what has happened in history, what is happening, and what will happen concerning the future. Let us not be ignorant of God’s word so that when the generations to come to ask us about the things of God, we will have a correct answer for them.