We live in a corrupt world.
We know this.
Since the fall of mankind – the betrayal in the Garden of Eden – mankind has been frustrated to find peace in the world.
Today in the United States of America, we celebrate Memorial Day, a sacred holiday set aside to remember the brave men and women of our armed forces who sacrificed their lives so that our country – and much of the world – could remain free.
If not entirely free, somewhat free. Or at least with some hope for freedom.
It doesn’t always work out the way we plan.
It’s messy.
We live in a corrupt world.
We know this.
Over the weekend, my family and I once again attended one of the biggest and most patriotic parades in America, on the streets of downtown Indianapolis. It was a parade that honored both the biggest single day sporting event in the world – the Indy 500 auto race – and the nation’s reverence for its veterans.
We got downtown early. Saved a good spot for the parade.
And while the clock ticked away, I wandered over to one of the many memorials to veterans that mark the beautiful downtown area.
I stood.
And I looked up and read the words etched in stone.
This one happened to be about the Vietnam War, but there were others, too.
This one had a lot of information, but the excerpts of “letters from the front” are what caught my eye. A collection of what had to be some of the final thoughts that went through the minds of soldiers as they wrote home to friends, parents, wives and children.
Pretty somber stuff on a parade day.
But that’s the point.
We celebrate with parades and colors and hoopla and pretty girls and marching bands and race car drivers.
But we also acknowledge that behind the celebration – behind any celebration we have across the world – is that layer of evil.
We live in a corrupt world.
We know this.
Wars have been fought in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan … Korea, France, England … Boston, Atlanta, Virginia.
Wars were fought everywhere.
Wars ARE fought everywhere.
What is a good Christian to do? How do we reconcile our internal longing for peace and joy with our intellectual understanding that peace may never, ever, be possible?
Today’s reading from 1st Peter …
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you …
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
A great piece of scripture that reminds us of the promise God has made for us … and of the perseverance we must show in order to “finish the race.”
In between?
It’s messy.
So we do what we can … each one of us.
We do what it takes to leave this world just a little bit better than we found it.
The men and women who fought and died for freedom? They accomplished that goal, although they may not have known it at the time.
It is because of them that we continue to uphold the ideals of freedom and peace and peaceful co-existence in a troubled world.
White, black, purple … Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Muslim … man, woman, child … it does not matter.
We all want peace.
But …
We live in a corrupt world.
We know this.
