My apologies for showing up late with a reflection on Memorial Day. I began writing this on Monday with the very best of intentions and then… well, stuff happened.

For me, the word that should be most central to this annual American holiday is the word SACRIFICE. Memorial Day is a U.S. federal holiday that was first observed on May 30, 1868. It is the day we set aside to remember, give thanks for, and learn from the brave men and women who died in the course of military service to this country. 

And since every one of those people entered the armed forces knowing full well that dying was a distinct possibility, the word sacrifice certainly seems appropriate, don’t you think? 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines sacrifice as: “… an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy…“ In the case of the people we remembered on Memorial Day, they clearly went through a calculation process and concluded that the safety and political freedom of this country was “more important or worthy” than their lives. 

The ability to make that calculation both amazes and humbles me. It also makes me wonder if I could ever do that kind of math. I am, after all, the guy who cringes and makes a pouty face whenever Joan asks me for a bite of my dessert. 

I suspect I am not alone in struggling with the concept of sacrifice. Every day our ears and brains are bombarded by the voice of contemporary culture steering us away from the notion of voluntarily giving up something valued. Everywhere we hear messages like, “You’ve got to look out for #1,” or “Get yours before somebody else does,” or, “YOLO (short for ‘You Only Live Once’), baby!”. 

We are being trained to believe that the pie is finite and we are in constant competition with everyone around us for a fair-sized slice. 

Our bodies and our emotional systems also conspire to try and defeat the notion of sacrifice. When we get hungry, our hard-wired self-preservation instincts lead us to seek food. When we get cold, those same instincts lead us to seek warmth. Likewise, when something from outside us (let’s say a criticism, or a hurtful truth spoken about us) rubs our emotional nerve endings the wrong way, we quickly raise our defenses and prepare to counterattack.

If our sole source of counsel is the culture, our feelings, and our bodies, the idea of SACRIFICE seems like about the stupidest idea in the WORLD!

On the other hand, if we choose to tune in to God, we discover that sacrifice is in fact the essence of life. Seeds die, fall into the earth, and become new crops. Jesus describes this process in detail in John 12:24. Trees die and topple over, only to become rich sources of new forest life. In a recent story on NPR, reporter Emily Kwong discussed what happens in the deep ocean when a whale dies. She said, “Whale carcasses — known as ‘whale falls’ — become an energy-rich habitat, drawing a wide variety of organisms from across the deep sea to feast. Whale falls become ecosystems unto themselves.” 

Ask any parent about the idea of SACRIFICE and you will get an entire litany about lost sleep, lost time, lost friends, possibly lost job opportunities, lost money, and lost sanity, all for the “more important or worthy” cause of their precious bundle of joy’s future. 

In his farewell address to the disciples, Jesus sums up the significance of sacrifice this way: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13, NRSV). Which, as we know, is exactly what he then did. 

When we come eyeball-to-eyeball with the moment, sacrifice feels unnatural. Counterintuitive. Dumb. Our gut says, “RUN! Save yourself!” 

But today I thank God for those few dumb, counterintuitive, amazing, superhuman people who stared at that moment and said YES. 

Abundant blessings;