At least on major holiday weekends.
I am always disappointed, but no longer surprised, when I attend church on Memorial Day weekend and there is ZERO homage paid to those who paid for our right to worship freely in America.
In contrast, my two oldest daughters were invited decades ago, to participate in a scouting flag ceremony in this huge, huge cathedral for a Memorial Day Sunday service. It was quite the televised production.
I don't expect anything as grand in a little congregation, but truly....we can't bother with a sermon on freedom? We can't have a 10 minute talk about how God established America as a promised land, a land of freedom, opportunity and how we will lose it if we can't obey the law governing this land which are the 10 commandments?
At least our music people fought back <grin.> They saw the music chosen for the day was "regular" stuff, and they completely switched it up on the fly. GOOD FOR THEM (and us.)
This is the second major holiday weekend in my church where the sermons have not even resembled what the day was to commemorate. I try to stick with tradition and hit Midnight Mass at Christmas because it was what my whole neighborhood did growing up. I do Lent, we celebrate Passover and sit Seder, all events which my congregation doesn't really participate. But we do it because I love the connection to the eras gone by, connecting us to our past, reminding us "that if it were not for our ancestors, we would have remained slaves in Egypt."
We're going to add Memorial Day to that list. I hope we find one with a Memorial Day tradition. I came across a website with suggestions for Memorial Day sermons: http://www.desperatepreacher.com/a_memorialday.htm. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or sad to see the same problem crosses through all denominational lines.
To our veterans: THANK YOU for your service. With a parent who fled a communist country, and relatives still stuck there, a daughter and a nephew currently deployed, I value your sacrifice, and the sacrifice of our military community past, present and future, to keep this the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
I went through 5 courses in American history ... elementary school, intermediate school, high school, and twice in college. It wasn't until years later that I began to fathom what I owed the founders and what remarkable heroes they were. George Washington was peerless in my eyes as President. The founding of our country was so improbable !! I do the organ music in my ward half the time. Memorial day IS celebrated here in Oregon. The scouts flag the national cemetery and we had a great talk in Sacrament Meeting. And music of course. I am in favor of a military draft.
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