Battling Forgetfulness
3Do nothing from selfish ambition
or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your
own interests, but to the interests of others.
– Philippians 2:3-4 (NRSV)
There was a city fellow who came
out to the country to visit his relatives.
This was a dairy farm and about milking time, the farmer whistled and
his dog herded all the cows into the barn to be milked, then latched the gate
with her paw. The city fellow was very
impressed. “Wow! That’s some dog! What’s her name? I want
to pet her.” The forgetful farmer
thought for a moment and couldn’t for the life of him remember the dog’s
name. He finally asked, “What’s that
flower that smells good, often has red petals, and thorns on the stem?” “A rose?” his city relative answered. “That’s it!” the farmer said as he turned to
his wife, “Hey Rose, what’s the dog’s name?”[1]
What is your worst moment of
forgetfulness?
One of my doctoral professors
was the stereotypical absent-minded professor.
He tells this story on himself.
He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York – which is upstate New York – and
he was invited to Boston to speak at a function. He drove to Boston, gave his speech, then hailed a cab and went
to the airport and flew home. He had
forgotten that he drove his car from upstate New York to Boston!
The people who most need to hear
what I have to say today are not here. You
are not the forgetful ones – at least when it comes to Memorial Day. So perhaps you can share this word with
someone who isn’t here this evening.
The Apostle Paul continually wrote and
preached of the Christian virtue of giving one’s self away to others. Don’t look at your own interests, but to the
interests of others. Many veterans who
served, and are serving, know what this means.
We only have to listen again to painful numbers.
4,400 rebels died in the American
Revolution; 2,200 in the War of 1812; 215,000 Americans from the ranks of the
Union and Confederate forces who died on the Civil War battlefields; 53,500
Americans were World War I casualties; World War II had 292,000; numbers in
Korea: 33,667 and 47,393 never returned from Vietnam. The First Gulf War had 148 casualties. The Iraq
War’s military deaths since 2003 continue to grow and each report carries
varying numbers so it is difficult to provide up-to-date statistics. As of mid-May, this year, at least 2,450
members of the U.S. military died as a result of “hostile action.”[2] Some of you, to your credit, can attach
names to these statistics. You
remember. Most Americans would struggle
to attach names.
Last weekend, I took Ainslee to see
Cinderella in Raleigh. The performance
was at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Progress Energy has paid a bunch of money to
attach their name to this facility.
That’s a great thing for the performing arts to have this support. But there’s something that got lost in the marketing.
Since we were a little early, we milled
around outside for a few minutes and there was a humble plaque that caught my
attention. It said something like,
“This facility dedicated to the veterans who served our country.” I wondered last weekend how many people
noticed that plaque? Probably not as
many as I’d like to hope noticed it. It
isn’t just the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, it’s Raleigh’s Memorial
Auditorium. Today is not just a
national holiday, but it’s a day we remember those who have served our
country.
People in the biblical world remembered
through repetition. They set up
monuments and symbols for remembering.
They told stories to their children so that significant events would not
be forgotten. I want to encourage each
of you who’s here tonight to remind someone of the meaning of this day. Today we remember those who looked out for
the interests of others. And tonight we
remember by reading their names, and are thankful for our freedoms.
Amen.