Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1
Today is a very special day. It’s a day we stop and remember those we’ve loved and lost in this world. We visit and decorate their graves. We stop and pray the oldest prayer known to humanity – Lord have mercy. But, when we remember we do more than that, we actually celebrate the life they now live in eternity.
We miss our loved ones dearly. Whether they died long ago or recently, there’s still that empty feeling inside that used to be filled with their physical presence. But God, in His mercy, gives us their memory to fill our hearts, and those memories will never fade or die – they’re eternal.
The waves of God’s mercy flow not only on Memorial Day, but everyday. St. Paul tells us that as we remember God’s mercy, we need to prepare our own lives for death. We need to offer our very lives as living sacrifices to God in worship. When we live as such, then as St. Paul says in verse eight, “whether we live or die we belong to the Lord.”; this is true worship.
May today be a day of true worship as we remember all who gave their lives for our freedom; those whose lives passed far too soon, and those who lived long and full lives. May each of them inspire us to offer our lives a living sacrifice to God.
Grace and Peace,
+Pastor Brad
Prayer
Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, by your mercies O God, rest in peace. Amen.