For Veterans and For Us All

Read:
Job 19:23-27a
2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 
Luke 20:27-38

This upcoming Sunday we will honor those Veterans who served us, and for the families who stood by them...Thanks be to God. Amen.

Veterans Day. It is not a feast of the church. It’s not one of the holidays that can be transferred to a Sunday but here at Reformation we chose to honor those who have served their country.


Veterans Day is a national holiday to honor those who have answered the call to serve. Originally, November 11th was called Armistice Day, and was set aside to mark the end of the Great War, the First World War, the war that was to end all war.

I remember my great grandmother telling me about that day in 1918. “It was the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour, there was silence, as if the world had stopped on its axis. Then all the bells in all the churches rang out. Finally, the world was at peace.”

But it wasn’t the war to end all wars, as we know. November 11 was Armistice Day until 1954 when, by Act of Congress, the name was changed to Veterans Day. That October, President Dwight Eisenhower, the general who led the Allies to victory in Europe, called on all citizens to “observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting a lasting peace.”

But wars came back to haunt us, and war haunts us still. 

And so we ask men and women to serve our country, and it doesn’t matter whether in time of war or in time of peace. It makes no difference when a man or a woman serves because the dangers to life are ever present. That is why this day honors veterans and reminds us that those who serve must trust that their lives will not be spent needlessly.

But when lives are lost, we bury them with words that echo Job:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. After my awaking, he will raise me up; and in my body I shall see God. I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him who is my friend and not a stranger.”

“My friend and not a stranger.” 

Paul declares “the Lord is faithful, he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one ... and direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Luke tells us that Jesus refused to be caught in an argument over the law of marriage and succession, and reveals that we are “children of the resurrection” and promised by God that we will live.”

And Job declares: “I know that my redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth ... and I shall see God face to face.”

Job’s declaration today rings out over the ages as a cry of the innocent and the blameless that they will not die but live, and at the last they will be vindicated.

This passage comes right after Job and his three friends have sat for seven days in silence, bemoaning the suffering of Job and the loss of all that he held dear: his wife, his children, his land, everything gone, and now Job sits sick and in pain. His friends finally speak up after Job curses the day he was born. 

A long series of commentaries by his friends urge Job to just admit he has done something wrong, he has angered God, and he is being punished for his misdeeds. They urge him to admit his sins and ask God for forgiveness.

Job adamantly replies that words are not enough: he wants to carve in stone that he has done nothing to deserve what he has happened to him.

Job is guiltless, blameless. It is the ultimate example of when bad things happen to good people. Job didn’t ask to be tested by God to see if his faith was true, but he did not falter when the test came.

Many of you may not know that I love walking and sometimes just sitting in cemeteries.  There is a peace there for me to be around the many saints in which we stand on their shoulders and faith today.  When "Uncle" George died and it was surrounded by military personnel and the final Taps was played and the flag presented, I was looking at the tombstones, thinking about the men and women buried there, reading the dates, remembering the histories of so many wars, so much pain, so much service. And I thought to myself, you know, in life we undoubtedly would argue over politics and religion, and who knows what else, but, in death, what better company could I possibly hope for. These are my brothers and my sisters, and each and every one answered the call when it went out.

God calls us, each and every one of us, to service of one another. We are asked to care for each other, and to make this world a better place than it was when we were born into it.  Unlike national and military service, there is no end to our service to our Lord. We are asked to continually re-enlist. Our oath of service was made at our Baptism. Let us serve in faithfulness today like so many before us.  

Thanks be to God and In God's Service
Rev. Imani Dodley