SignPost Monday to Wednesday, Week 2—Price of Freedom

Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45

When I was young, we had a 1951 Nash Ambassador. In my memory, this is still one of the most amazing cars. The front seat backs folded down flat creating, with the back seat, a queen-sized bed. A platform hooked onto the back of the front seat creating a playpen in the back. Screens tied onto the front windows for insect free ventilation. A small light plugged into the cigar lighter for bedtime stories. Part of the mystique of the car was that it was the last car my dad, who had died in 1953, had driven. It was just my sister, my mom, and me; and we fit quite nicely in that car. Okay, I’ll say it. “They don’t make cars like that anymore.”

Eventually I grew too big for it. We moved into a station wagon in 1960. Eventually we bought a small Apache camper that pulled behind the car.

The day after school was out, mom packed us into the car. We headed out in our mobile classroom for campgrounds and historical sites, national parks and geography. There were Revolutionary and Civil War battlegrounds. Each year there were days of relaxed swimming and hiking to help us understand the magnificence of this great nation we call the United States.

One year we visited Valley Forge and the home of Paul Revere. We heard about battles and all of the people who died in the Revolutionary War. We learned how the war was almost lost several times because the soldiers were under-equipped: the soldiers suffered from frostbite necessitating amputation of feet because they had no shoes, they ran out of shot and gunpowder, and their teeth fell out from malnutrition. It’s no wonder those farmer-soldiers wanted to go back to their farms in the spring to plant the fields and forget the horror of war. Here too, spirits of the past traveled with us in present time.

It is easy to gloss over the hard times of life when we don’t actually have to participate in it. Fourth of July fire works are beautiful, but each explosion should remind us of the armaments used in battle that make the spectacle possible. With the remembrance of the armaments, we should remember the lives that were lost because of their use. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t celebrate, but maybe more prayer is needed.

In this reading of Psalm 105, we praise God for God’s constancy. Maybe we should recall the history verses in the middle. Let’s also remember the price of faithful living. There will be times of sacrifice, death, physical slavery and enslavement to sin, and times of uncertainty. God walks with us then too. Remember, Easter is coming, but Good Friday comes first. There is no resurrection without death.

Prayer

Lord, we are quick to celebrate our victories without always remembering the costs. Help us to remember the faithful people who have stood firm in the faith, even to giving their lives so that we might know your way for us today. Chiefly, we  give thanks that you chose to walk among us. May we have courage to walk with you to the cross for the sake of the world. Amen