Independence and Honor

Preface
Chuck is my brother. He was a medic in Vietnam.  I tell his tale as a base of my desire to see all who deserve honor, granted honor. To recognize the cost of freedom.

Jesus set the bar on self sacrifice, It is fitting that we honor him as well. He said we could do that by listening to him with faith.

In this message I picked up some thoughts from my memorial day message of a few weeks past and continue with the thought of Being grateful for our sacrificial ones, both for our freedom and for the possibility of spiritual freedom as well.

“Only two have ever offered to die for you, Jesus, and the American fighting man.”
 
Ro 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

 Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 I. Honor for the son’s and daughters of the land

It was 2:00 Am and the ringing phone brought Chuck instantly awake. Another flight of Desert storm soldiers was due at Bangor International Airport in 45 minutes.

Chuck got up and dressed, the practice of many other trips late at night or early in the day had made this almost routine.What drove this man to make sure he was there at every flight? What pushed him to the gates to salute and personally thank every soldier he possibly could? HONOR.

It was the manner of his own return to his native soil in 1968, a return not marked by fanfare and accolades. A return not noted for warm welcomes and grateful Americans, oh there were some I know, but they were largely silent in those days. Days when soldiers like Chuck flew from the horror  of war, a personal bloody war, to the land whose values he had fought to uphold, a land whose people stared in silence, a land whose youth protested the honorable action of the ones who had read the fine print...... and then signed on the dotted line.

What is this “fine print?” It is an imaginary fine  print yet Oh so real in the understanding of those who strive to keep the lamp of liberty lit and shining brightly.

Emma Lazarus,  wrote a sonnet, "The New Colossus" (1883),and it’s the closing lines grace the base of our statue of liberty in NY Harbor.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

But to make those words stand out there has to be an unwritten commitment, a fine print. And Chuck, and many others like him gave their time, their limbs their lives because of the small print that they, and Chuck’s mom and Dad knew was essential to freedom.

Give me your sons and daughters, your husbands, your budding youth, still yearning to breathe free, The finest children of your teeming shore, Send these, the future of your land to me, to keep the lamp  lit by the golden door!

And they went, to places  named Iwo Jima, Midway, Burma and Battan, Pork Chop Hill, and Inchon, and a place called Viet -Nam... They bled and died and some came home their minds still in a jungle of fear and regret...and they came unto their own land and people. And in the early wars there were ticker tape parades and a heroes welcome for the faithful ones who had fulfilled the small print.    

 But then  Chuck came home ....Chuck and many others, from a distant war, an “unpopular war” a war brought into the  living rooms of the nation by a doubtful press. A war , like all wars, horrible to behold, yet fought by faithful soldiers who marched and bled and died and sacrificed because they still heard the faint echo of that small print. And they returned to their homes, to their own land,  and their own people refused to acknowledge them.

As time and tide moved on many of these soldiers dealt with the stigma a of that war, and in his way Chuck dealt with it too. He saw the vets returning from another war and chose to sacrifice once more, his time, his sleep, so that, by his presence he could say “I who am honorable for upholding the small print when my nation called, stand and salute in honor of you.”

And they came unto their own and their own received them ......Well.

That honor for those who sacrificed their all is an honor I strive every day to recognize, “I wasn't there but I care” is the slogan on the back of my business card, and it is followed by the simple words “brother welcome home and Thanks for your service, I appreciate my freedom.

Many that I know still wear  POW bracelets, to me that says God bless you veterans, you will not be forgotten. And those of us who served our nation when she called say in return, maybe a little like old Eyore, “Thanks for noticing me.”

Jesus said it best “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay his life down for a friend.”   But returning home Chuck, whose many friends had died by his side, realized that they had laid down their lives for those who were not so friendly.

But a new day is dawning. Today, another unpopular war, yet the soldiers are accorded an honor and respect for doing their duty well.  We have a freedom here that is precious to us and it is time we remembered with honor, the source of that freedom; the American fighting man, the American fighting woman.

Having seen the need for honor for sons and daughters of the land, let’s not the greatest example and see: (II)  Honor for the Son of Heaven

 Jesus showed a great example and it is that example I need to focus on today. The example of another one who laid down his life for those who didn't care.  In John’s Gospel John writes “He came unto his own and his own received him not.”

You see if any one can understand the pain of rejection by one’s own nation it is Jesus. Jesus , God in human flesh, came to earth to defend and uphold the principles of Heaven, it was an unpopular war in a sense, the religious leaders, those charged with upholding those very ideals, had failed. Now they resented this upstart, this carpenter from Galilee who was making  them very uncomfortable with his popularity, and even more with his message, but most of all by a life that was impeccable in its living.
 
Now I recall coming home from Basic in 1971 and going to visit my old high school...and one of the seniors looked at me in my neat white-sidewall haircut and uniform and said “blankety redneck”. He should have known better. He knew me. I was not mad because he called ME a redneck, but because My brother Chuck, had recently returned from Vietnam and I was a bit defensive of him and what he stood for and this ..expletive deleted-was aiming disrespect on my brother. On My brother and many others who defended principles of freedom , the very freedom that allowed people like that one to express himself without fear of the government. Not without fear of some of it’s employees. This one in fact...they asked me to refrain from appearing at school in my uniform etc.

The point? Matt.21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.  35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.  36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.  37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.  38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.  39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.  40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?  41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.  42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?  43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.  44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
 45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.  46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.        As I based my action on how my brother was treated, so the Father is going to base his reaction on how his son was treated.

In the final judgment God will not be asking only “how was your life”, but rather what did you do about the sacrifice of my son?

He might say “I saw that mankind had a sin problem and it was a matter of life and death. I  have a set nature and it does not allow sin to enter my presence.  It does not allow the dead spirit to enter my presence.

HE might say “I gave Adam my image, that image included spiritual life, the ability to commune with me, and he blew it. He lost his life,spiritually at that point. And as 2 spiritually dead parents cannot birth a spiritually alive child all humanity was born with no spiritual life.

But enter Jesus, born NOT of 2 spiritually dead parents but Fathered  by life himself, God.”
HE and HE alone had a spiritual life to lay at God’s feet. And in that sacrifice he bought life for all who would accept the only acceptable sacrifice.

So He might ask you, What did you do with that son of mine? Did you accept him? If so I accept you, if not....... you receive the result of your  choice eternally.Today I offer you that choice, the choice of life or death, If God has touched your heart and whispered “You need that life” then I want you to talk to me afterward and say “I need that, can you tell me more?

I REPEEAT THIS:
I honor men of peace, and even more men who gave up their personal peace to defend the rights of others That example of devotedness  in my estimation should be heeded by all and if heeded would make our whole nation a better place.

No blaring fanfare for the silent heroes who just do things right, but only generations who take the best from them and model it for other generations.

No trumpet fanfare marks the silent many
no white robed choirs will sing of all their deeds
no monument  will ever do them justice
those troops who lived by heaven's noblest creeds
No fancy words can ever do the honor
that such a one deserves at end of days
but ones who vow to follow in their footsteps
will to their memory sing the highest praise.