How will you celebrate Memorial Day this year? This week, I encourage you to think and plan how you hope to celebrate it next weekend. Memorial Day is a time of honoring and remembering our US military personnel who have died. When we remember someone who has died we retain them in the present for the future. In a way, we are re-membering them: putting them back into a rightful place in our present memory. We are reaching into the past, and remembering them in the present so they will be retained for the future.

We honor our veterans so we don’t forget the sacrifices they made in order for us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. At the same time, consider ways that you might expand your Memorial Day beyond our local and national veterans. Who else comes to mind whom we would do well to honor with our remembrance?

A few that come to mind for me include:

• Those who have died from Covid 19

• Those who have died in the Russian war with Ukraine

• Those who have died from gun violence, especially in the recent tragedies in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX

Here at Pinnacle, we will be gathering around the peace pole in our memorial garden on Sunday after the 10 am service, to honor those who have died and to pray for an end to war in our time. Please consider attending as part of your Memorial Day remembrance.

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, shaping our future by re-membering our past. Remember well: not just next Monday, but all week, every month, and through the year.