More on Memorial Day

I recently shared some thoughts and an article on observing patriotic holidays like Memorial Day. I wrote in favor of letting the Sunday observance take precedence over the holiday. In reality, of course, I realize that this isn't always the most appropriate pastoral move, and I must say that Pastor Dick Hegel did a great job weaving the two occasions together at Hegre over the holiday weekend.

In his sermon, he spoke of Memorial Day as an occasion of both remembering (bravery and sacrifices) and forgetting (old animosities), and he compared that to what God does for us, remembering (love and mercy and forgiveness) and forgetting (our sin and failures).

He compared the remembering we do at patriotic holidays to the remembering we do with the story of Christ...in both cases, it's about telling the story and letting the past affect our present and our future. It was very well done.

Meanwhile, Memorial Day weekend was a good chance for me to get away and spend time with family. I'm lucky that my grandmother lives close enough that I could easily spend most of the long weekend with my family without missing Sunday morning worship. So here you have it, Miss Dayla Elizabeth, my six-month-old niece.


With her great-grandma...




With her Aunt Amanda...




And cashed out...