How our minister made her point

Memorial Day, which we all too often tend to forget is not about barbecues and the banks and post office being closed on Monday, was brought home to our congregation this morning by a very moving service at our church.

Our pastor read the Gettysburg Address, then had various members of the congregation read Memorial Day proclamations from Presidents Truman, Johnson, Reagan, and Obama. Then she read the names of the soldiers killed this year. There were about 40 of them. She gave their name, rank, home town and place of duty. As she read each name, a member of the congregation rose and exited. One less person. And then one less. And one less, until all the names were read.

I have at times thought in moments of disaster how many people would be gone from our town. With the last Nepal earthquake pf 8000 dead, that would be 80% of our town. That's shocking. But to see them disappear one by one… point taken.

A moving service with a powerful message, listened to by one less person at a time.