Memorial Day 2007
Preparation

As a nation, we observed Memorial Day on Monday, 28 May, because of our lust or three day weekends. The actual Memorial Day is 30 May. This post splits the difference.

I had an opportunity to visit the National Cemetery in Marietta, GA, over the weekend. It is a plot in the middle of the city that began when the land was donated by a local citizen to bury Union war casualties. It is fascinating to wander through the old portions of that burial ground and see the markers o fallen soldiers from northern states buried so far away so long ago. I observed a marker of one who carried my surname.

The Civil War was a bloody conflict that pitted brother against brother and citizen against citizen. Even in Clearfield County, far from the military conflict carried on by the two armies, there was a casualty. A Union soldier was killed trying to apprehend a deserter in Knox Township in a skirmish dubbed the Battle of Bloody Knox. But, as I wandered around the National Cemetery I was again impressed with our need to remember those who have gone before and given their life in battle for our freedom, and, specifically, the need for burial grounds.

A few years past in SGM Magazine, I wrote an article about the importance of cemeteries, entitled “Gardens of he Saints”, a portion of which is as follows:

Every Memorial Day brings home the importance of cemeteries. They are where those who have gone before us reside. We have the opportunity to go to the last resting place of those to whom we need to pay homage for their sacrifice and provision for us. In Clearfield County, PA, there are nearly 100 cemeteries. Green carpeted gardens of saints connected to churches, in municipalities or public in nature.

You can see automobiles with license plates from all over the US in the cemeteries. For some, it is there first trip back in some time. Others make the trek every year to pay respects to departed loved ones. And, every cemetery has a Memorial Day service. Some with high school bands, prominent speakers and a VFW honor guard with carbines that are fired once a year for the 21 gun salute. Others have small affairs where families or pastors gather for prayer. But, like much of Americana, these green burial places are fading from our lives.

In Inglewood Park, California, cremation rates are approaching 50%. This is a upward trend evidenced in every state. And while some argue urns of ashes can be buried in cemeteries, the fact is that is not happening. The mausoleum is the new way. The arguments are many to support such a move. Maintenance is easy; space is used more efficiently; and weather elements are not a factor. Furthermore, these new above ground memorials with drawers for remains can be designed with gardens and modern or classical architecture. Mike Baklarz of Cold Spring Granite promotes the mausoleum, “You are in a spiritual sanctuary that is also a beautiful park and art museum featuring some of the best and most durable architecture you will ever see.”

The individual who donated the land for the burial of enemy dead in Marietta, GA, understood the importance of burial. It is a Christian practice to bury the dead. In India the bodies of the dead are burned because the body is perishable, undesirable and weak. There is no hope for the body; it is incinerated because it has no place in the next life. Not so for Christians. We believe the body will be resurrected some day and we are compelled to be buried like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The loss of Gardens of the Saints is another indication of our loss of Christian practice and heritage.

The ending of the aforesaid article is appropriate for every Memorial Day:

Is it progress to abandon the hope of bodily resurrection with drawers of ashes in a temperature controlled building? There seems to be a regression into paganism taking place. Here in the Eastern Continental Divide we will continue to visit our graveyards, remembering and memorializing with the joy of hope. In the meantime the bodies there are quietly waiting for that grand and glorious day when they will no longer be asleep but be alive forever.

Burial for the Christian is preparation…preparation for his or her own resurrection. To abandon that hope is to minimize the Gospel that saves, sanctifies and glorifies.