On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, in
dedicating the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, needed
only 272 words to provide America with perhaps the greatest speech in our
country’s history.
The Gettysburg Address
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can
long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to
dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this. But, in a
larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what
they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It
is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people,
for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
There is some debate as to when our nation first celebrated a
day to honor America’s
fallen heroes, but it is generally believed that what was originally known as “Decoration
Day,” began shortly after the American Civil War (c. 1868). It was first celebrated as “Memorial Day” on
May 30, 1882, and is now celebrated on the last Monday of May.
Unlike our national holiday which honors millions of our
nation’s fallen men and women, billions, known as the Church, hold a memorial
service for One Solitary Man: Jesus of
Nazareth. The Roman Catholic Church
celebrates Holy Communion, or The Eucharist, every single day. Protestant churches differ on when The Lord’s
Supper is to be observed and how often. Some
do so every Sunday; others vary from monthly to quarterly. Regardless of how often or what each church
calls the celebration, it is a memorial to the Lord’s Death, Burial,
Resurrection, and Second Coming. Here is
what the Apostle Paul had to say about it:
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took
bread: and when He had given thanks, He
brake it and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do
in remembrance of Me. After the same
manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink
this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
Memorial Day honors those who remain in their graves; The
Lord’s Supper honors the Son of God, who like them, died, but unlike them, He
rose from the dead! Our Memorial Service
not only honors His death on the Cross, it proclaims His return to rule the
world He created (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:1-2; etc.).
Unlike those who mourn the dead, born again believers joyfully
anticipate their Lord’s return!
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