A Pacifist's Memorial Day

  This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and I'm glad I won't be going to church.  It's not that I'm protesting anything, because I rarely attend church anyway, but at this time of year I'm keenly aware of the discomfort that a pacifist experiences while attending Memorial Day services in any conservative congregation in America.  After all, many conservative Christians in this country equate love for God with love for country.
  So I am proposing an alternative memorial to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, not for their country, but for the Lord and the lost of the world: Christian missionaries and martyrs.  For all Christians there exists a greater purpose than defending national freedoms, for there exists a greater Kingdom than any worldly kingdom or nation.  
  When do Christian martyrs get their day of tribute?  What day is set aside for honoring missionaries who sacrifice their entire lives in obscure god-forsaken jungles and ghettos for the sake of a higher calling?  What parades march through town with banners and firetrucks and marching bands in honor of their supreme sacrifice?  I know of none.
  Now I'm not about to organize a parade or a picnic or to enlist the local marching band to rally, but in my own small way, I will see that the unsung heroes of the faith will have my appreciation and my respect this weekend, even as I am honoring the soldiers and troops who have given all for their country.
  When I see Old Glory being paraded down the street this weekend I will remember not only fallen American soldiers, but also my late Aunt Esther, who invested her life in an obscure village in Sierra Leone, Africa, as a medical missionary.  I will salute Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, and the other young men who were slaughtered by the Auca Indians in Ecuador whom they were determined to reach with the gospel.  I'll remember missionary Graham Staines and his two young boys, trapped in his car and burned alive by Hindu fundamentalists in India in 1999.  I will breathe a prayer of thanks for my own daughter and son-in-law who were sent into hiding and frantically evacuated from India dodging roadblocks under cover of darkness after receiving violent threats from Hindu extremists.  I will think of the thousands of believers over the centuries who have lived and died under tyrants who have sought to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth.
  Don't get me wrong here.  I don't disrespect the sacrifices that American troops have made for their country and our freedom.  I just think there should be equal time for those who have answered an even higher calling... and who have given their lives for their Lord and His kingdom.
  Your local pastor is not likely to observe my new Memorial Day tribute in the church services this Sunday.  But you, my readers, can join me in this quiet observance that honors multitudes of Christian martyrs and missionaries the world over.  When you see a flag waving this weekend, remember those who have sacrificed everything for the Lord, think about that missionary you know who has endured lifelong hardship and risk, and pray God will raise up one more generation of prayer warriors and people-lovers who, without any fanfare or flag-waving, will continue the global mission.