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.
Army Staff Sgt. John Joseph Finan,
better known as Jack, my father,
is doing his second tour of duty
in Hawaii.
My father loved Hawaii.
The weather, the beaches, the fresh pineapples.
He loved Hawaii—
until that early morning of December 7, 1941
when Pearl Harbor was brutally bombed.
My father survived that day,
He went on to fight in World War II
in North Africa and in Italy.
He was badly wounded,
but he survived.
Many of his friends did not.
KIA—
“Killed in Action” he would write in pencil on the back of the photos
he kept in his desk drawer.
His war injuries prevented my father from pursuing
what looked like a very promising career in professional baseball—
but he never complained about that disappointment
or about being severely wounded.
Because 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 and
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 tabby cat named Ginger
that joined our family at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
Or was it Fort Benning in Georgia?
I have vivid memories of riding my tricycle
on the long wooden porches
at Ft. Bragg.
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.
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.
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.
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 Ivan 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.
It is Memorial Day and
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 wars or the conflicts
or the invasions or any other military assignments.
Memorial Day,
celebrated the last Monday of each May,
is a solemn occasion.
This is the day we specifically 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.
Today we remember.
We remember all those who died
serving their country,
serving 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,
NOT for the sake of war,
but for the hope of peace.
We live in a torn apart world that is crying out
to all of us
to please, please, please
work for peace.
Taps will be played in a multitude of cities and towns
across America today,
including here at Deerfield.
Because
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
AMEN.