What does the Bible say about memorials?

• Exodus 12:5-13, passover as a memorial
• Exodus 20:8, 11, the Sabbath day as a memorial
• Joshua 4:4-7, stones as a memorial of the crossing of the Jordan
• Luke 22:17-20, the Lord's Supper as a memorial
• Romans 6:3-4, baptism to remember that we are baptized in Christ's death
• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the Lord's Supper as a memorial

Sermon ideas for Memorial Day

The heart of a memorial is a sequence of steps Scripture is full of memorials — from feasts to stone monuments to special days such as Sabbath to sacraments such as baptism and the Lord's Supper. The heart of a memorial is a sequence of steps:

• You call attention to an event that is formative for God's people.
• You celebrate this event and thank God for it.
• You bring the event forward into the present by ritually re-enacting it or some part of it.
• You identify participants in the memorial celebration as the people formed by this event and by all that it means.
• You petition the same God who did saving work through the event to keep on doing his saving work.

So, for example, with the Lord's Supper, you call attention to Jesus's death and resurrection. You thank God for Jesus's saving death and resurrection. You reenact Jesus's death and resurrection by breaking bread and spilling wine, and then you feast on Jesus's broken body and spilled blood. You identify the participants as friends of Jesus, as people formed by the events of Jesus. Those are our events because we are the people formed by them. You pray that God will keep on saving his people.

Secular memorials contain many of the same elements. On the Fourth of July Americans call attention to the War for Independence. They give thanks for American freedoms. They march around in old uniforms and fire off muskets and cannons. They claim to be free because of the events of 1776. Those are our events, they say, because we are the people formed by them. They express a hope or prayer that they will always be free Americans.

Memorial Day in the United States blends the themes of sacrifice and thanksgiving. The nation calls attention to all who have died in the military service of their country — those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. In speeches and proclamations the country gives thanks for its heroes and points out how their sacrifice has preserved us as a free nation.

Flags, flowers, and parades In national cemeteries, flags and flowers are laid at graves to show respect and to offer thanks. In lots of places Memorial Day is a parade day. Bands march and play. People in uniform and in military vehicles move by. Flags wave. People wave. Dads hoist kids onto shoulders. It's a time for old-fashioned, unashamed patriotism.

It doesn't matter in the least whether the war our soldiers died in was righteous. They were called. They served. They died. We honor them. Our opinion of the righteousness of the war they died in is, on Memorial Day, entirely irrelevant.

Other nations, of course, have their own holidays to honor those who died in uniform. In the United Kingdom it's Remembrance Day to honor those who fell in World War I. In the Netherlands, there are memorial displays at a number of national cemeteries, particularly near places where key battles of World War II were fought.

The preacher's calling on Memorial Day Sunday may be to place Memorial Day inside a more general understanding of memorials in Scripture. The idea is that as Christians we naturally understand how it is with memorials. Our worship on Sunday instead of Saturday is a memorial celebration of Jesus's resurrection. Our baptisms and Lord's Suppers are regular memorial celebrations. We know about memorials. So on Memorial Day Sunday we pay our respects along with the rest of the nation. As Americans we respect the sacrifice of those who have fallen. But our identity as Americans is secondary to our identity as Christians. For founding events and sacrifices within our country and within our faith, we show respect as Americans, but reverence as Christians.

Sermon ideas for Memorial Day

"Loving God, we mourn those who have died in wars. May we cease to cause needless deaths, and may those necessary deaths occur only in the service of justice and freedom, so that so many future deaths in that cause will prove unnecessary." Prayer by Kenneth Randolph Taylor from Gathered Prayers

"The sorrow, grief, shame, alienation felt by many veterans may indeed fill our pews from week to week, with anger and depression filling the gaps between Sundays." Article about Preaching by Coleman Baker from Working Preacher

"We have been set free because Jesus paid the price for us. Instead of death, we have been given eternal life. This freedom wasn't free, Jesus paid the price." Children's Sermon or Lesson by Sermons 4 Kids

Find more sermon ideas for Memorial Day on Zeteosearch.org