Rev. David Holwick E Memorial Sunday
Nobleboro Baptist Church [modified from 25 May 1993 sermon]
Nobleboro, Maine
May 26, 2024
2 Samuel 1:19-25
THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN
I. The Civil War's last shot.
A. The casualties are still mounting.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in the Civil War.
Some are still dying.
In February 2008, Sam White tried to disarm a 140-year-old
9-inch naval cannonball.
It was about the size of a bowling ball but weighed 75 pounds.
Wisely, he did it in his driveway.
Unwisely, he was working on a live shell.
The resulting explosion was powerful enough to send a chunk
of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a
quarter-mile from White's home in a Richmond suburb.
It happened to another collector in 2006 as well.
Back in 2008, workers at the Civil War battlefield
of Petersburg, Virginia, found a 44-pound mortar shell.
They didn't take chances and called the bomb squad. [1]
B. The Civil War gave the impetus for the Memorial Day holiday.
1) Orphans of Union soldiers decorated graves.
a) The official story is that the tradition began on
May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, New York, and spread
across the country.
b) Southerners claim they started the tradition, but it is
of course something that has been done for ages in
almost all countries.
2) Why was the Fifth of May chosen?
a) Nothing important happened on that particular day.
No battles were fought.
No peace treaties were signed.
b) It is just when flowers bloom, flowers to put on graves.
c) A century later Memorial Day was moved to the end of
May, then turned into a floating holiday so that it
always produces a three-day weekend.
It wasn't made an official holiday until 1967!
C. Memorial Day is not what it used to be.
1) Nowadays it is the traditional start of summer vacation.
a) I have noticed traffic is a lot heavier already.
b) It will be a great time to have a cookout with friends.
c) For many, that is all it will be.
2) Memorial Day should be more.
At the National Cemetery on Long Island, one of the
nation's largest, it has become necessary to advertise
for volunteers to put flags on the graves of vets.
This is because there are too few veterans who want to
do it.
However, many of those who volunteer have no idea why they
are there.
One young man, a 13-year-old Scout, was asked if he
understood why the members of his Boy Scout Troop were
there placing flags on the graves.
He quickly replied, "To get service hours."
#3014
D. Why honor the dead?
1) Because they have had a tremendous impact on us.
2) And because someday we will be dead, too.
II. Honoring the war dead.
A. David honors the warriors Saul and Jonathan.
1) King Saul was David's nemesis, but Saul's son Jonathan was
David's greatest friend.
2) Both father and son died in a great defeat for Israel.
3) But they also died for a great cause - the liberation of
their country from the oppression of the Philistines.
4) David eulogizes their character and military ability.
a) The weapons have changed, but the values have not.
B. Churches also honor the war dead.
1) Many churches have plaques on the wall, of those who
served and those who died.
2) Nobleboro has an impressive monument across the street
to a war hero. He survived and founded this town.
3) We honor soldiers for making the ultimate sacrifice for
our nation's values and freedom.
4) But I have seen this in German churches, too.
C. There is a tension.
1) Some believe it is unseemly to honor participants in war,
while worshipping the Prince of Peace.
2) Jesus famously said, "Those who live by the sword will die
by the sword."
a) And when his disciples defended him at his arrest by
attacking the guards, Jesus stopped them and healed
his enemy.
b) He even asked God to forgive those who crucified him.
3) Wars are of the way of the world, but of course we are
still in this world.
a) In Romans 13, Paul reminds us that governments use the
sword for a divine reason - to keep order in society.
b) Therefore it is appropriate to honor the military dead.
III. Soldiers aren't the only ones who have made sacrifices for us.
A. We owe a debt to all of our ancestors.
1) On many of my cross-country vacations, I have stopped at
obscure cemeteries which have my relatives:
a) Weisenberg, Pennsylvania.
b) Marshall, Illinois.
c) Velva, North Dakota.
2) It is unnerving to see a gravestone with your family name
on it.
3) It is more unnerving to see old photos of these people.
a) My favorite Holwick photo shows the clan in 1906.
b) My grandfather is a small boy sitting on a horse, with
his father and grandfather nearby.
1> Everyone in this photo has long been dead.
2> What have they left me?
B. Contemplate their lives.
1) Who were these people?
2) What did they believe?
3) What did they accomplish?
a) Like us, I am sure they wanted to be significant.
b) They wanted to leave something of value behind.
c) Whatever impact they had, is probably reflected
in our own lives.
IV. Consider your own life and the legacy you are leaving.
A. How will you be remembered?
Perhaps you will leave the legacy Leslie Ray Charping did.
When he died in Galveston, Texas, in 2017, his family posted
this obituary:
At a young age, Leslie quickly became a model example of bad
parenting, with a commitment to drinking, drugs,
womanizing and being generally offensive.
He died at 75, which was 29 years longer than expected and
much longer than he deserved.
Further, he will be missed only for what he never did; being
a loving husband, father and good friend.
He did serve in the Navy, but as part of a plea deal to
escape sentencing on criminal charges.
On the positive side, Leslie's passing proves that evil does
in fact die and hopefully marks a time of healing and
safety for all.
The family did not hold a memorial service for him.
#65540
An unusual obituary ran in a California newspaper a few years ago.
It was an obit for 79-year-old Delores Aguilar.
Her daughter Virginia Brown was the writer and it went like this:
"Delores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and
rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life.
I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence
will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and
there will be no lamenting over her passing."
What a way to be remembered, huh?
A columnist from another local paper, John Bogert of the Daily
Breeze, went searching to determine if the obit was
legitimate or a hoax.
Sadly, he verified its authenticity and even spoke to Brown
about why she wrote what she did.
Brown told him she wanted to do the right thing, the honest
thing.
When her mom died, a co-worker gave her a copy of an obituary
she wrote for her father as a kind of writing guide.
What struck Brown was how her mother was none of the things she
was reading.
Her mother was never there for her kids, she was never good
and she left no legacy.
#35487
B. I would want to be remembered as a follower of Christ.
1) Not a perfect follower by any means, but a sincere one.
2) I also hope my faith would be evident by the way I treated
people, and my involvement in my church and community.
3) As I reflect on this, I start to realize I am probably
falling short in each of these areas.
4) I am now 68 years old, so I don't have too much time left
to turn it around.
V. Honoring the death of Christ.
A. Jesus tells us to remember his death.
1) This is a central part of communion.
2) The meaning is more important than the event itself.
a) Jesus died for a purpose, to save us from our sins and
bring us back to God.
B. Jesus died for us.
1) His death was a decision he made - he could have evaded it.
2) Instead, he was faithful and was sacrificed for us.
C. Can we do likewise?
Marcus Mathes' parents divorced when he was little.
His mom had grown up in the church but drifted away in
later years.
But she enrolled her two sons in a Christian school and had
her father take them to church.
But one day they complained that they were the only kids in
the school who didn't go to church as a family.
She took this to heart and began attending the Baptist church.
In that church Marcus was baptized and became a member while
still a youngster.
But like his mom, in later years Marcus drifted away.
And then 9-11 happened, and he enlisted in the Army as a truck
driver.
He got married, too, and his young wife Julia encouraged him
to get back into the Bible, which he did faithfully.
In October 2007 he volunteered to go to Iraq so others could
come back home and spend the holidays with their families.
Six months later, he was standing by his truck outside Baghdad
when a mortar shell exploded near him, killing him instantly.
Family members were told Marcus' Bible was found next to his
body. He was just 26 years old.
His mother said, "My son was only doing what we're all put here
on earth to do -- to follow in God's steps and to make the
sacrifice that He gave -- to do the same."
#11664
1) The last full measure of devotion.
At the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said:
"... from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to
that cause for which they here gave the last full measure
of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead
shall not have died in vain..."
In Philippians 3:10-11, the Apostle Paul said:
"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow,
to attain to the resurrection from the dead."
#19191
VI. Graves are not the end of the story.
Paul Rees tells a story about a very wealthy man who made
his way to a little country chapel in the hills of
South England and asked to see the minister.
He announced that he had come to make arrangements for his
burial-place.
And so the two walked into the churchyard to a little
cemetery that ran alongside the chapel to pick out a
suitable lot.
After considering several possible locations, the gentleman
made his decision.
Once the business decision was settled, the two men paused
for just a moment and listened to the birds singing.
Then, turning to his rich companion, the devout old
minister said,
"Well, you have chosen a resting place for your body.
Have you found a resting place for your soul?"
There was no answer for a moment and then, looking straight
at the face of the pastor, the gentleman said,
"You are the first man who ever asked me that question."
The question, so strikingly stated, made the man aware of
his own spiritual need to be ready for eternity.
The Apostle Paul was able to say, "I'm ready. I'm ready."
Are you? #32465
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Adapted from "Civil War cannonball kills Virginia relic collector,"
May 2, 2008. http://lateline.muzi.net/news/ll/english/10068265.shtml.
#3014 "A Time To Remember," Dynamic Preaching, April 1992; originally
from the article "A Legion Turn Out to Place the Flag," Long
Island, NY, May 18, 1989. Contributed by Dr. John Bardsley.
#11664 "Soldier Killed With Bible Nearby," by Joni B. Hannigan, Baptist
Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, May 2, 2008.
#19191 "A Short History of Memorial Day," by Christianbook.com email,
May 25, 2001.
#32465 "A Resting Place for the Soul," Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator
Supplements, Gerald Rodgers Collection.
#35487 “How Will Your Children Remember You?” by Tim Ellsworth, Baptist
Press, November 4, 2008; http://www.baptistpress.org.
#65540 "An Honest Obituary,” from KTRK Houston, edited by Randy
Cassingham, “This Is True” internet newsletter, Feb. 19, 2017.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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