2011.5.30 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes on this day after Memorial Day from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.

 

Memorial Day began in the United States in the late 1860's, after the American Civil War, when a women's Sunday School Class in a small southern town adopted a spring project.  The women decided to decorate the graves of their sons, husbands and sweethearts with flowers out of their gardens.

 

Upon arriving at the cemetery, they expanded their plan.  The graves of all soldiers were decorated, including the graves of soldiers from the North.

 

It was one small step toward reconciliation!

 

When their project was reported in newspapers, the Sunday School Class began to get letters from people in the North, thanking them for putting flowers on the graves of their loved ones, buried so far away from home.

 

Soon the practice spread, and for decades May 30th was called Decoration  Day, now it is called Memorial Day - a day the nation stops to give thanks for the sacrifice made in all the wars for the preservation of liberty and freedom.

 

Let us never forget the cost paid for our freedom, and let us resolve never to abuse that freedom or soil it.

 

Let us remember ... and may God's grace and mercy remain with you, and your loved ones, always.

 

Richard   

2008.05.27 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

Occasionally a small, innovative act can grip the imagination and become something far greater than anything originally planned. Memorial Day is an example of that.

After the Civil War, women in a Sunday School Class in a southern town adopted a spring project. They decided to decorate the graves of their sons, husbands and sweethearts who had died in battle and who were buried in the local cemetery.!

Upon arriving at the cemetery, they expanded their plans and decorated the graves of soldiers from the north, as well.

It was a step toward reconciliation.

When the project was reported in newspapers, the Class began getting letters from people in the north, thanking them for decorating the graves of their loved ones.

Soon the practice spread. The name has changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day, but it is still an important time when we stop to honor all who have died in war.

When the women looked into the darkness, into the pain, of their souls they overcame reasons which might have made them bitter. Instead they found forgiveness which made them strong.

Have all your experiences been in vain?

"Where there is hatred, let us sow love, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light."

And make us instruments of peace!


Richard