Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day our nation sets aside for remembering and honoring those who have died serving in our military. It used to be called Decoration Day, because people would go out and decorate their graves with flags and flowers. Some of you have told me of your own Memorial Day rituals, where you go out to the graves of your loved ones, whether they died serving in the armed forces or not, and tidy up, and plant flowers, and spend some time on that hallowed ground.
I love gathering with a family around a grave. It feels good to be out under the sky, in touch with the earth, in a place that’s often beautiful, where if you listen, you can hear the wind blowing through the trees, and the birds singing. John O’Donohue wrote a blessing about this, and I often say it when gathered with folks around a grave. Will you try to imagine a gravesite that you know, while we hear it now?
