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Bishop’s
Memorial Day Devotional Letter
Memorial
Day 2017
Poppies of Flanders
25 But whoso
looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deed. (James 1:25)
The second battle of
Ypres, Belgium, in May of 1915 seems ages way in time, but it is not really.
Many of our fathers were yet living during the time of that battle. Brave and
principled men representing the Allied Powers stood up for the heritage of
liberty and freedom which their Christian culture had bequeathed them. The
principle that drove them to risk their all at the altar of freedom might be
summarized in one simple term – LIBERTY! They cherished the value and dignity of
human life as described in the American Declaration of Independence: “We
hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these
are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” It was the embodiment of
the value of human liberty that compelled them to the forefront of battle – to
risk body and soul against shell and shard; sword and pestilence, and even
deadly chemical agents, in the pursuit of the preservation of that Godly
concept of Liberty for all mankind.
The poem, In
Flanders Fields, well articulates the issues of sacrifice and compassion
that moves in the heart of the patriotic soldier. Written by LTC John McCrae
during the 2nd battle of Ypres, and the day after losing
his best friend in battle, the poem is plaintive and melancholy in its
description of the loss of heroic blood in battle. The day is described by
others present that day as being precisely the kind of day described by McCrae.
There was a gentle, westerly wind blowing the poppies that surrounded the
crosses of white at Flanders on May 3, 1915.
In Flanders Fields
The World’s Most Famous War Memorial
Poem
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Composed at the battlefront on 3 May
1915
during the second battle of Ypres,
Belgium
This
poem reveals the continuing force of nature in both flower and fowl. Nature
continues on as always – even at such tremendous cost of battle in human
resources:
In Flanders fields
the poppies blow
Between the crosses,
row on row,
That mark our place:
and in the sky
The larks still
bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid
the guns below.
But it also reveals a spiritual power
that supersedes the natural in the supernatural sacrifice of gallant soldiers
for the freedom of their people. This is not natural, but Godly. The guns of
war are oblivious to this powerful truth. The course of nature will continue
unchanged into the distant future; but the supernatural, godly character of
freedom-loving men and women who will arise to the challenge against Liberty
may, indeed, change. The Fire of Liberty is a Light that demands fuel – the
fuel of a continual flow of red-blood to preserve it.
When
we think of Flanders, our imaginations run to Europe and her cultured fields
and well-kept gardens; but that does not fully represent the Flanders of which
I speak. In reality, Flanders Fields is every cemetery in America, England,
France, and beyond in which the remains of a gallant soldier of his country
lies in the repose of sleep awaiting the Reveille of God’s Trumpet. In many
unkempt graves, the soldier lies beneath weed and briar, or honeysuckle and
daisy, unsung and unremembered by those whose freedoms were purchased at his
sacrifice. It is sad that a nation is so little taught of her history that she
would allow her heroes to go unremembered, but it is so today.
I
remember so very well, as if yesterday, that Memorial Day, 4th of July, and
Veterans Day were celebrated by parades and outpouring of praise for our
soldiers who fought for our country. I do not believe we missed a single
Memorial Day or Veterans Day that we failed to observe with parades and
ceremony during the five years following the Second World War. I was so very
proud, as a toddler, to see my father march in each of those parades smartly
outfitted in his uniform (which still fit him). But today, the occasion for
these celebrations has become a matter of convenience and no more.
I,
and many others in America, are blessed to live in small communities that
continue to place a high premium on patriotic events and holidays. You can be
sure that it will be these small communities who will first field the soldiers
needed in the future defense of our freedoms.
I
do not feel the need to remind the readers of this devotion that the Author of
our Liberty is the Lord Jesus Christ. He died both to save our souls and to
provide us Liberty. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly.” (John 10:10)
There
is, by the way, an answer to LTC McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields.
It was written in 1918 by Moina Michael:
We Shall Keep the Faith
By Moina
Michael
Oh! You who sleep in
Flanders fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise
anew!
We caught the torch you
threw
And holding high, we keep
the Faith
With All who died
We cherish, too, the poppy
red
That grows on fields where
valor led;
It seems to signal to the
skies
That blood of heroes never
dies,
But lends a lustre to the
red
Of the flower that blooms
above the dead
In Flanders field
And now the Torch and
Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our
dead
Fear not that ye have died
for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson
that you wrought
In Flanders field
