Dear Trekker,
I returned home a few days ago to view this email: “Jim… welcome back to town. I hope your travels went well… I need to ask a favor. Could you cover the traditional service this Sunday, 24 May?” My chaplain at Peterson Air Force Base Chapel had just learned that this coming Pentecost/Memorial Day weekend was a “contingency Sunday,” meaning that chapel congregations must operate “on your own,” with assigned chaplains absent. Of course I said, “Yes!” I learned years ago when asked to do something for a brother, the default position was always “yes” if one is able to be present. Soldiers speak, “Present for duty, sir,” when their name is called.
Being an officiant for a Pentecost chapel service on Memorial weekend is a tall order! One cannot ignore one of the most important Sundays on the church calendar; likewise, one cannot and should not ignore Memorial Day, particularly when speaking to a military audience.
Some would say there is no link between Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and our national holiday, Memorial Day. Well, I think there is. Without the death of Christ, His resurrection and ascension, there would be no “follow through” of His life-giving Spirit at Pentecost. Willingness to die leads to new life or renewed life for others. “Greater love has no man, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). We live because He died for us; we live in freedom in America because others paid the supreme sacrifice for us. Death can give life.
Years ago I discovered (and feel it intensely), that John 3:16 and I John 3:16 are speaking similarly… “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him share not perish but have eternal life.” Likewise in I John: “This is how we know what love is… Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (Italics added.)
Often “death begetting life” is misunderstood. God defines success differently than we do, even as many US citizens define willingness to die for one’s country differently than others. Look back at the cross. Common “wisdom” defines the cross as a complete failure, death and defeat. But God defined the cross and resurrection as the ultimate victory… overcoming death with love. Likewise, true soldiers regret “only one life to give for their country” that they love and cherish.
Even as the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church, so the death of soldiers is the lifeblood of a nation’s values and heritage. Hope springs eternal when man is willing to give his life for what he believes and knows is true! Death therefore is noble, inspiring others to carry the torch of liberty and freedom.
So as we remember the Christ of Calvary, we can also remember those heroes who died for what they believed to be true. It is altogether fitting that Pentecost and Memorial Day coincide from time to time. Pentecost is the fulfillment of Christ’s statement and promise that the Kingdom of God is within you! The Kingdom of God is where the Spirit reigns and lives. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring people to Christ and empower them to new life. Speaking in foreign languages at Pentecost was illustration of the universality of salvation and baptism into the Church (the bride of Christ) for all believers. Hence, Peter was emboldened to speak the universal message of death and resurrection of Christ and the empowering Spirit available to all who had received Him. Or as John says in Chapter 1:12: “He gives (Holy Spirit) power to become sons of God,” soldiers of the cross of Christ. Little wonder many of us who have served in our nation’s Armed Forces see no inconsistency between serving God and country… willing to die for either, as the case may be.
So, lives are given and then often, lives are empowered. Would that the fact of the former always result in the latter! God builds the Church through the empowering Spirit, and His Church shall not fail. The coincidental connection of Memorial Day this year with Pentecost is appropriate as an apt comparison to Christ’s sacrifice… a simple illustration to connect minds and hearts to the incomparable sacrifice of the Savior.
Yes, the effect of giving one’s life and dying for a cause provides hope for all. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself” (John 12:32). Pentecost both completes and initiates the fulfillment of that promise for all. Peter declared: “This promise [the presence of the Holy Spirit] is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off.” Trekker, that’s you and me being included in Peter’s sermon as recorded in Acts 2:38. And so we say appropriately, “Pentecost is the birth of the Church.” This is history!
Pentecost was then…what about now? If we are to live our lives in the power of the Spirit today, we must be learning, sharing ourselves and our possessions with others in self negation and sacrifice, fellowshipping, praying, growing and persevering! Things should be happening in “our church.” People should be entering into a relationship with Christ and “endued with power from on high.” People should be worshipping in psalms and hymns and prayers of thanksgiving and praise. People should be happy and blessed. Believe me when I say the “Pentecost Church” of today should be a group of people whom others cannot help but like and be attracted to. Real faith in Christ is beautiful and magnetic. Are we willing to be loyal citizens of the Kingdom of God and good citizens of a country which declares “in God we trust?” Trekker, let’s remember… lives must be given in order for lives to be empowered!
Your friend who is trusting in the God of my fathers,
Jim Meredith
