Pause to Remember – A Devotional for Memorial Day – From the Edges

PAUSE to REMEMBER –
Pastor Calvin Cook – 5-26-2025

Scripture focus – Luke 24:44-45 Then he said to them, “these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (ESV)

Last week Gail and I visited the graves of my ancestors in the cemetery where generations of Cook’s are buried in southern Somerset County. While there we did the normal planting of flowers, cleaning of headstones, and looking around at the other headstones, and being reminded of other families that made that area of the world great and a special place.

This year there was something different. As I knelt at each grave to plant flowers, I thought of each person and how they had contributed to my life. Of course, the most can be said of my Mother and Father, but the others whose graves I honored had all made a significant impact in my life. Grandfather Harry, Aunt Jennie, Aunt Pauline and Uncle Paul, Great Aunts Julia, Margaret, and Edna. Great Uncles Palmer, Russell, and Clyde. These were some of the ones who at a young age were the shapers of my young life by the way they lived theirs. They were the ones who planted seeds of compassion, care, and resilience in my life. I also paused at my great grand parents George and Anna. Though I never knew them, I have heard so many stories about their life and the impact they made.

Yesterday in preparing for worship and church stuff, I thought about the historical relevance about the churches I presently serve, the ones I have served, the churches that helped to grow me. As those faces lined the hallways of my memories, I thought about the fortitude of those who came before me as Pastors, Sunday School Teachers, Mentors, friends who made the early church what it is today. The Kane Community Church celebrates 160 years this year, the East Kane Church celebrates 118 years this year. Many have worshiped, prayed, dreamed, served, had holy fellowship in both of these places and all for the Glory of God.

Today as a nation we commemorate the fallen and the brave of those who served in the Armed Forces. The legacies that have been left. In that as we pause to remember the question has to be asked – Have we lived up to the expectations that God has for his people, secondly the expectations that our ancestors had for us?

As Jesus paused just before the Ascension, he proclaimed that all the prophesies that have been spoken have been fulfilled. Today as we remember, may we pause to remember all that God is – always present, always working on our behalf for a better life, always hearing and answering our prayers according to God’s will to bring a little more heaven to earth.

Jesus reminded the disciples that “Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nation. “Luke 24:46-47. Are we pausing to remember? Then sharing it with others, beginning right where we are. Have we received and accepted the power given to us and allowed it to change us.

Memorial Day does need to be more than just a day of remembrance. Instead, it should be a day of pausing to remember and realizing the new life we are called to and experiencing the new thing that springs forth from God that we have been called to!

Have a blessed, thoughtful Memorial Day –