No one has greater love...

Sermon for Memorial Day

This is a sermon I preached on Memorial Day in 2021 at St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, Asheville, North Carolina

No one has greater love than this…

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends… (John 15:13)

The year is 1918.

Private Ivan McGruder Weathers, my grandfather,

is on a ship heading to France.

He has never been out of Eastern North Carolina

and now he is heading to Europe to fight in World War I,

a member of the 308th Field Artillery.

But while crossing the ocean,

the Armistice is signed

and when he lands in France,

the fighting has ceased.

He had no way of knowing that would happen when he boarded that ship.

He was willing to go.

He was much more of a farmer than a soldier,

but he was still willing

to lay down his life for his country, for his friends.

The year is 1941.

My father, Army Staff Sgt. Jack Finan,

is doing his second tour of duty

in Hawaii.

He is one of about 20,000 enlisted men stationed there.

My father loved Hawaii.

The weather, the beaches, the fresh pineapples.

He loved Hawaii—

until the early morning of December 7, 1941

when Pearl Harbor was brutally bombed.

My father survived that day and went on to fight in World War II

in North Africa and in Italy.

Later he would serve in Korea.

He survived

but many,

many of his friends did not.

KIA.

Killed in action he would write on the back of the photos

of many of his friends.

His war injuries would prevent my father from pursuing what looked like a

very promising career in professional baseball—

but he never complained about that or about being severely wounded.

He knew he was one of the lucky ones—

he survived both World War II and the Korean war.

He would make his career in the military

I would spend my early years as what is colloquially known

as an Army Brat.

I was born in a military hospital in Tokyo Japan.

I remember our big orange cat named Ginger

that joined our family at Fort Rucker in Alabama.

Or was it Fort Binning?

I have vivid memories of riding my tricycle

on the long wooden porches

at Ft. Bragg.

Each year our whole family would travel to different parts of the country

for the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association meetings.

Those who gathered were not there to celebrate

being survivors—

they were there to remember

those who did not survive.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…

The year is 1977.

Air Force Captain Timothy Finan,

my brother,

has just taken up his first post at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base

in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

After university and ROTC at NC State University

then law school at the University of NC at Chapel Hill,

he entered the Air Force JAG corps as an attorney.

His first assignment was to prepare wills

for young enlisted men and women

who were as new to the base as he was.

Those being deployed were at the front of the line

to have a will prepared for them.

The ever-present reality was that some would not return.

Whatever their age, their hometown, their race, their political party…

every one of those men and women,

had signed up willing to serve their country

and if necessary,

to lay down their lives.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…

The year is 2021.

Here we are in St. Giles Chapel,

to remember.

To remember those who did not make it home,

who gave all they had to give,

those who did not survive the world wars or the conflicts

or the invasions or any other military maneuver.

Sometimes people confuse the days

when we gather to honor the armed forces.

Veteran’s Day is celebrated on November 11th.

The day that the Armistice for WWI was signed.

That is the day we honor ALL those who have served

and continue to serve in our military,

Armed Forces Day,

celebrated the third Saturday of each May,

is the day we honor those who are currently serving.

That is the day we say, “Thank you for your service”

to those who are serving right now.

Memorial Day,

celebrated the last Monday of each May,

is a more solemn occasion.

This is the day we remember those who DIED while serving their country.

It is so important that we do not forget.

It is so important that we remember those who cannot come and sit beside us in these pews today.

Those who will not be at our picnics

or shop at the plethora of Memorial Day sales.

Even though I was only 4 years old when my father left for Korea,

I knew it was serious business.

I did not want him to go.

Some days I sat under our dining room table

and refused to come out

“until my Daddy comes home.”

I was one of the really lucky ones.

My Daddy did come home.

I could not at age 4 understand why he was willing

to leave behind a family he loved and who loved him so dearly,

and lay down his life for his country, for his friends.

But my father understood.

And he did what his better self called him to do.

He did not want to be a hero,

but he knew what it was to serve.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…

Today we remember.

We remember all those who died

serving their country,

our country.

We remember the ultimate cost of service,

We remember all who are no longer with us

because they were willing

to lay down their lives,

And hopefully—HOPEFULLY—

our remembering may be the gate

that leads us on a path

to work harder for peace.

We live in a torn apart world that is crying out

for us to please, please, please

work for peace.

It is only in peace,

when we will be able to live fully

into those closing

words that have been given

to that piercing bugle song Taps:

All is well.

Safely rest.

God is nigh.

Amen.