Lest We Forget

Not unlike other Saturdays, most people will plan this coming weekend just like the last one. They will get in the car with their, “to do list” and head off here there and everywhere. I have to write all kinds of lists just so I don’t forget to do what I needed to do last week. There are lists for ‘immediate action’, a list of places to go and people to see. There is a list for things that need to be done around the house, a list for church and a list for things that can be done sometime in the future. Recently I found a list from two years ago and only one thing on the list is done. Makes you think, what is really important?
Weekends are great times. They are there for us to get done all those things that can’t be done while we work during the week. Let me know if this is your five day schedule. We get up, clean up, go to work, come home, eat dinner and listen to the stories of the rest of the family at the dinner table. Help with the dishes so you can have some time to talk to the spouse. Watch a little tv to relax and then say, goodnight. For a bit of variety you might even throw in driving the kids to hockey or music lessons.
Pretty typical schedule, don’t you agree? This must be why God gave us weekends. After all, we have to eat and groceries do not arrive unannounced. Kid’s need new shoes and Great Aunt Gertrude could use a visit at the nursing home. But this weekend needs to be different. Each one of us will change our schedule when situations come or arise. We make exception for all kinds of reasons. Things like birthday parties, trips to Storybook Garden, or a “First of the Season” sale at Sears.
Being who I am, I have to ask this, “Is Church part of the schedule or an exception? Is it routine or is it special? Why?
Many years ago, many, many, years ago, just last week, people all over Canada changed their routines. Changed their schedules. FOR WHAT? A university student half way to their dream vocation heard the appeal. An appeal similar to Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent voice that hits the airwaves Aug 7 1950, soliciting volunteers for a Canadian "Special Force" destined for action in Korea.
People needed! Needed Now! Over the decades people by the thousands put down their books, set down their hammers, resigned from their factory jobs because, King and Country needed them. And still today, as a father places flowers on his daughter’s grave at the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa we read, "Today, we have at long last a place of rest that recognizes the unique contribution of these men and women to the defense of Canada, to the honour and pride of Canadians, and to the very building of Canada."
People fought, people died, people came home with physical and mental injuries that last a lifetime. The dream job gone, a life changed, but a free Canada. Canadian statistics only give us a glimpse, WWI 60,000 died, WWII 43,000 gone, Korean War 500, Afghanistan 36 and counting. All I can do is say, “Thank You” and sing, “O Canada, Our home and native land...”
Just wondering, what are you doing this Saturday around 11 am?