Support the Troops - Seek Peace

Memorial Day has always been a preaching challenge for me. The first Memorial Day sermon I ever preached caused the wife of the Junior Warden to leave in a noisy huff because I dared to start off by acknowledging my pacifist tendencies. She didn’t hear me say that I felt that the best way to honor our war dead was to work for peace so that their deaths would not have been in vain. It’s too bad that she didn’t stay or at least talk to the retired Bird Colonel who came up to me afterwards and thanked me. He’d been there; he’d sent young men to their deaths and he didn’t want to do it anymore. He agreed that the perpetual soldier mill wasn’t getting us anywhere.

Then I spent two Memorial Days in France. I stood surrounded by white grave markers in a cemetery on a hill outside of Paris. As I proclaimed the blessing, aging French veterans stood in homage to the American youth buried in their soil. Their expressions holding the memories of sixty years before when brash young GIs, modern cowboy heroes stormed into that beautiful city and chased away the enemy. The explosives wired to the elegant bridges of the Seine and all of the beloved buildings and monuments were never detonated. The German commander had stalled long enough to give the Americans time to save the city. Every time the Fuhrer called him and asked “Is Paris burning?” he had managed to keep buying time. And finally, those young, wonderful soldiers rode in and set the city free. The Americans who died liberating Paris have now become a part of that city, of that land and of that people. Whatever the current spitting contest between France and the US might be – the French people will always be grateful and respectful of the sacrifice made on their behalf. Memorial Day is flavored with all of that for me.

These last two Memorial Days have had their own interior conflicts. I came home from France to a nation torn by this war. I saw lots of signs and bumper stickers encouraging support for the troops. Whenever I’m at a stop light, behind one of those cars, I want to go tap on the window and ask “What does that mean to you?” Does it mean, “don’t question why we’re there?” Does it mean “you have to hate someone else?” Does it mean “be outraged that our soldiers are sent ill-equipped to fight this war – that their families had to have bake sales to buy body armour?” What does it mean?

I will not put one of those stickers on my car but I will ask why our Commander in Chief cannot bring himself to acknowledge how many are dying. I will ask our congressman why funds for tending the wounds of soldiers who come home broken is not a priority in the enormous budget for what we are doing in Iraq. Did you know that soldiers at VA hospitals for more than 90 days were expected to pay cash for their meals? Considering how little a buck private makes – the first five grades all make under $20,000, expecting them to come with hundreds of dollars a month so they could eat while recovering from war wounds is not my idea of supporting the troops. It took Senator Barak Obama of Illinois to bring this situation to light and shame our elected leaders into changing it. Our troops need people to truly support them – but to do so means asking the hard questions about this war.

Ultimately, supporting the troops should focus on ending the conflict – bringing them home. As Christians, that’s the work we’re called to. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” That wasn’t a throw away line from Jesus’ speech writers. It is a mandate for us to resist the very idea of war and the wasting of precious lives.

I’m tired of our President mouthing his support for “a culture of life” while ignoring the death we’re causing. A culture of life does not turn young men and women into killers. Each life is precious, and we support troops by remembering that they and those they fight are beloved of God. War forces people into violence and often into inhumanity.

I have a son, you met Brady when he was here at Easter. He tells me that if he were drafted, he would go. I respect that but as worried as I would be for his safety, I know that I would be as worried about what the experience would turn him into. Would he come back the same funny, loving person that he is now? I doubt it. How could he?

The number of soldiers returning, who spirits are as broken as their bodies, is rising. They cannot find peace with what they have seen and sometimes with what they have done. What kind of help will they receive to find peace, forgiveness and reconciliation? According to the military, one out of every six returning soldiers will have a mental disorder. Maybe the human psyche is telling us something here. War is too destructive in too many ways.

Let me tell you how I’m going to do to support our troops on this Memorial Day. I’m going to start working with The Peace Alliance which is a “citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict.

The Department would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights.”

The legislation to create the Department of Peace will be reintroduced in September. It currently has 55 sponsors; our Congressman is not among them, nor are any Republican members of Congress. I suggest that if Congressman Cox hears from enough of us, he might consider adding his name to the list. I invite you to join with me in this effort believing that seeking peace is the best way to support our troops. Seeking an end to war is holy work.

I leave you with the words of today’s collect. “O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ or Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”