Memorial Day weekend

I hope you all have a good Memorial Day weekend. This is a day that started as a commemoration to honor those who died in battle for their country. It expanded, at least in part of the country such as the Oklahoma where I grew up, into a “decoration day” to remember all of those in one’s family who have died and to put flowers on their graves. Now, since schools adjourn around this time, it is mainly observed as the beginning of the summer, a time to cook out and get a start on summer vacations.

Again, we see a holiday becoming generalized past recognition of its original meaning. And yet, if we hold onto all of those meanings (sacrificial death for others, death of loved ones, rest from work), Memorial Day can be a distinctly Christian day, in which we soberly recognize death but with a foretaste of the eternal summer with our loved ones and the eternal vacation from our labors that await those who die in Christ.