USS Arizona Memorial
A view of the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii, from the perspective of a diver for the National Park Service. (NPS Photo)
Being aware of the daily happenings in our world we are reminded of how we relate to other humans on this wonderful spaceship home. Over the years, I have journeyed to various sites standing in awe of God's incredible creation.
Sometimes, places I have visited have brought awareness demonstrating how we choose to relate to each other. I have stood gazing at the seemingly endless prairie at the Sand Creek Massacre Site and in the wind heard the screams of innocent women and children as they were murdered and their bodies mutilated by fellow human beings.
I have stood on the USS Arizona Memorial watching bubbles of oil from 75 years before rise to the surface from where over 1,100 people are entombed and felt deep sadness at man's inhumanity to man.
I have stood overlooking the battlefield site at Little Bighorn with tears in my eyes and my heart on the ground trying to comprehend how God's love was demonstrated in the horror. I have stood on the railroad tracks that divided the tents of the residents from the armed troops at Ludlow trying to make sense of the senselessness of a labor dispute degenerating into slaughtering of innocents and wondering what priorities are demonstrated when worldly possessions are deemed more important than life.
I have stood at Greenbank Observatory and tried to wrap my mind around the comprehensible vastness of God's Creation yet believing that God made each person, loves each person and challenges us to love each other.
I have watched the flag fly over Ft. McHenry, and tried to process the miniscule progress over the past two centuries that we have made in how we show love for each other. It seems so simple yet we make it virtually impossible.
Each of us have made memories that remind us of the history of interpersonal relations and how the commandment to love our neighbor in the same way one loves self continues to be largely imaginary.
In this Memorial Day time, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and recall our loved ones who no longer travel an earthly journey.
May we recommit to do whatever we are able to assure that all of God's children may be honored with love. May the memories of loved ones call us to the goal of loving others. Asking ourselves the question: "what does the Lord require of me?" (Micah 6:8) makes the answer clear; "do what is just, show constant love, and live in humble fellowship with God."
In this time of Pentecost may the Holy Spirit set us on fire to show love without condition acknowledging that we all are recipients of God's Unconditional love. Let it begin with me.
Wil Meiklejohn is a certified lay minister in the Mountain Sky Annual Conference. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please contact the author via Facebook.