Every Day is Memorial Day

Sermon preached by Chang Kiu Lee

University Baptist Church

May 28, 2006 by

Scripture: Psalm 46:8-10, John 6: 5-13

 

   Like the US many countries have the Memorial Day that is generally related to wars.  But the war story is not only unpleasant but it also is probably the most mind-bogging thing to Christians. It is because any war stories are inevitably consisted of those people helplessly losing their properties, prides, hopes, happiness, and most of all, their lives.

     I looked a few internet sites just to have some ideas about the American Memorial Day and I was stricken by the numbers of the wars that the US has been involved in her about 230 years of history.  The list was so long that I gave up printing it.  There were two wars in the list that attracted my eyes obviously because the US and Korea were involved in those conflicts.  One is, of course, the Korean War during 1950 to 1953.  More than 54,000 US soldiers were killed in action and 103,000 were wounded during the three years of the war.  The number of the US casualties is more than 20 times of the number of the US soldiers sacrificed in Iraq in last three years.  The lost of Korean lives were more than 2 millions.

Why war?  What is the purpose of war?  Above all, is God there in the midst of war?  This is one of the most puzzling questions to Christians. There were wars in the Old Testament that God destroyed nations after nations and then God ceased the wars.  As we read in Psalm 46, God makes war cease to the end of the earth. God breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; God burns the chariot in the fire.  Instead of bow, spear, and chariot they use gun, artillery, and Apache helicopter in modern day war.  Then, will the war continue until God steps in?  When will it be?  What is God’s will we should obey or at least be dreadful?

We just prayed the Lord’s Prayer saying ‘Thy will be done on earth’.  Our ancestors prayed, we pray, and our children will pray that same prayer again and again in time of war, in time of peace, in time of agony and sadness, and even in time of joy and happiness.  I have often wondered with a question of God’s will, and I hope my sermon may give you a tiny glimpse in witnessing God’s will.  This is my story, but it can be anyone’s story in the world of wars against nations, against terror, against natural and unnatural disasters, and against racism and discrimination.

Now I would like to begin with the story of the first conflict between the US and Korea that took place in late nineteen century. In 1871 a band of American battleships approached to a small island west of Inchon asking diplomacy and trade to then Chosun Dynasty. The Chosun Dynasty was totally unaware of the western civilization and they fired artillery to the ships killing 3 Americans and wounded 10.  The American ships also returned fire leaving 53 Koreans dead and 24 wounded. Worrying the expansion of the conflict the American ships withdrew and the war was ended. 

Fourteen years later in 1885, a small boat arrived at the port of Inchon and a missionary whose name was Horace Underwood sent by a Northern Presbyterian Church was in that boat.  He came to Korea not in a battle ship but in a small boat hoping to spread the Gospel, believing it was God’s will, and, above all, risking his life.  He started an orphanage, the first orphanage in the history of Korea.  Soon the orphanage became a school because there was no public school system at that time.  Only wealthy upper class families could send their sons, no daughters, to private learning center to learn Chinese literature.

About two decades later the Chosun Dynasty fell to Japan and about three decades after the fall of the Dynasty the Second World War broke out.  By that time the Japanese forced Koreans to worship their god which was their emperor.  The teachers and the students in the missionary school refused because it was against their belief and the school was forced to close by the Japanese.  

After the Second World War was ended Korea was liberated, but the Korean peninsula was divided north and south and the whole country was in chaos.  In the midst of conflict and poverty some teachers and ministers put their effort to reopen the school founded by the missionary.  They rented a space in churches, in other schools, and sometimes they had to set up tents.  They believed it was God’s will to educate those young kids who were under privileged.  They welcomed those who were in orphanages after the Korean War, who didn’t have proper elementary school education, and above all, who were handicapped or retarded.

Thanks to my cousin I came to know about this school and I was able to attend the three year course of the middle school.  But I couldn’t continue further because my parents couldn’t afford my tuition.  So I returned to my home town and worked in the small farm just to make a minimum living. Foods were essentially short and we had to borrow grains in the spring paying 50 percent of interest in the fall.  Although I was merely 15 years old at that time I thought we couldn’t get out of the poverty forever.  So I went to Seoul and met a few teachers of my middle school days and asked if I could attend the high school although I didn’t study for one year and I didn’t have money.

When I started the first year of the school, they announced a plan of the tuition waiver. There would be quarterly exams for five subjects, Korean language, English, math, social sciences, and natural sciences. Those students whose average was over 90 points out of 100 should not pay tuition.  It was like a light in darkness to me and I studied really hard.  Every three months I took the exam and I was awarded the tuition waiver during my first year. 

But the exam was quite difficult in the second year and my average score was above 80 but below 90 point.  The school waived half of my tuition during the second year.  The third year was even tougher. Nobody could make 80 point in any subject and that was the end of the tuition waiver program.  I was much disappointed but I came to learn that my knowledge was much limited and there were so many things to learn.  Most of all I learned to be humble myself.  But, thanks to the exams I was able to pass the admission exam to the Yonsei University which is the most prestigious private university in Korea. Only two out of about 200 graduates from my school could pass the admission exam of that university in that year.

In 1999 Insook and I were invited to come to Minnesota by a professor here.  As I was reading the letter of invitation I came to be reflecting my life of some 50 years.  I was looking out the window of my office.  It was early May.  Soon I realized the Teacher’s Day in Korea which is May 15 was approaching.  I started remembering those teachers of my high school days.  Then, I remembered the promise that I made to myself when I received the first tuition waiver.  The promise was I would pay it back someday. The someday had just passed more than 36 years.

 That evening I told Insook the story of my dark days for the first time and I told her that I would like to pay back the tuition before we went to the US.  If something might happen in the US I might not be able to keep my promise forever, I thought.  Next day she went to a bank, withdrew 10000 dollars from our saving, made a cashiers check, and brought it to me.

On May 14, a day before the Teacher’s Day I went to my high school in Seoul. I just walked in the principal’s office because I thought there would be no teacher who knew me was still there. I briefly introduced myself, told him the reason I came, and gave him an envelope.  After he looked at the check he seemed to have lost his words for a while. Then he told me a story of his prayer of that week. 

He said he had been saddened by the growing number of students who couldn’t pay the tuition due to the economic crash that had taken place a year ago. So he asked the 75 teachers to make contribution to a special Teacher’s Day scholarship which he tentatively set up just for one time.  But the teacher’s response was very disappointing and so he prayed God earnestly for help all the week.  He showed me two sheets of paper, one listing the names of the students who had not paid the tuition for one quarter, two quarters, three quarters, and even four quarters, and the other listing the names of the teachers and amounts of the pledges.  He said he wanted to have a subversive Teacher’s Day ceremony that year by showing teacher’s love to students with tuition waiver.  The typical teacher’s day celebration is students bringing flowers and presents to teachers, but he wanted it the other way around. He was worrying that the collected pledge would be too small to even mention to students next day. 

He asked me how he could use the money I gave.  I told him, “Pay the tuitions of those students who, otherwise, might have to drop out the school, but don’t give them a tuition waiver exam of any kind.”

About three weeks later, the principal called me at home in one evening and thanked me again.  Then he said, “As of today there is no student who haven’t paid the tuition even for one quarter.”  I asked him “How could it be possible?  The amount I gave might not be enough to pay one quarter tuition for 50 students.” He said that he called the teacher’s meeting after I left and told them what those teachers a generation ago did to a poor handicapped student from a small village and what the fruit of their love was some 30 years later.  Soon the teachers started writing in new pledges and it was like a snowball, he said.  Then he continued saying, “You should know Professor Lee there is a story in the Bible of five loaves of bread and two fishes brought by a boy to Jesus.  Jesus fed more than five thousand people and there was a left over of 12 baskets.  Jesus is still feeding us. Jesus is still feeding us.”  This is the end of my story.

Tomorrow you will celebrate the Memorial Day. I read a few articles about the American Memorial day.  It started in 1868 as a day of decorating the graves of those who were killed during the Civil War.  So it was called ‘The Decoration Day’ at first.  As the time changes the day has been designated to celebrate the lives of those who died not only in wars but for any cause. It is a day of remembering your parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends who have left great impact to your life.  Now it is also a day celebrating the beginning of the summer season, and so it is a day for family gathering, picnic, and pleasure.

You see the meaning of any particular event can be changed.  Recently, a social science professor in a university in Seoul redefined the nature of the Korean War.  It used to be believed as a war due to the communist expansion.  We were taught that the Soviet Union provided all kinds of war equipments and the China sent more than 2 million troops to fight the army of the United Nations. Now this professor says that the Korean War was a war for unification of the North and the South Korea.  He claims that the involvement of the US prohibited the unification.  This is totally absurd and I know most Koreans don’t agree to his theory or statement.  There are some North Korean sympathizers who are protesting for the removal of the statue of the General MacArthur.  They say if it had not been the General’s landing in Inchon during the Korean War the North Korean army could have been able to conquer South Korea.  By the way it is not difficult to imagine what the unified Korea by the communists will look like.  Recently a doctor who fled from the North said that the North Korean regime doesn’t allow a person with any kind of physical defect live. So when a baby is born with a physical problem the doctor is supposed to kill the baby right away. What a chilling story it is!

We have observed many new arguments, theories, rationales, and talks on the historical events.  Historical fact is one thing but the interpretation of it is another, usually varying time to time and people to people.  But there is only one thing that has not been changed throughout the history of mankind.  It is the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sin, resurrected from the death, and is with us in spirit in our daily lives.

When I think of my life my mother and my teachers always come to my mind.  I hurt my right knee during the Korean War.  So my mother carried me on her back wherever she went until I was ten years old.  I used to sleep on her back while she was working in the field.  She skipped her meals just to save some grain so that she could take me to witch doctors.  My teachers believed that the education not the isolation was the best option for handicapped kids. They gave their endless love to me. Therefore, everyday is Memorial Day to me. 

As we are waiting the Memorial Day we should think of the place where we want to decorate in remembrance of those who lived before us.  The purpose of decoration is to make it look beautiful.  To make something beautiful we have to paint colors, place ornaments, turn on illuminating lamp, and play some back ground music.  We have to put something into it.  But we are usually overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.  Just look around and you will see countless natural disasters, devastation by wars, and destruction by fallen humanity.  Any of them doesn’t seem to be within reach of your ability or power and you just hope the mighty God takes care all the problems of this world at God’s own will.   

But the truth is that God has given to us Christians the responsibility of keeping the world in peace and in beauty.  And the history and our own experience have taught us that peace cannot be achieved without sacrifice.  We are grateful for those people who sacrificed their lives for our nation and for us, and we should constantly remember them as a way of keeping the world in peace and in beauty.  Therefore, everyday should be the Memorial Day. 

God’s will, by the way, is so inconceivable and incomprehensible.  It seems that God’s will appears to us only when we bring five loaves of bread and two fishes for those who are hungry and thirsty. Although I am not an expert in Bible I have noticed that the story of the five loaves of bread and two fishes was written not only in the Gospel of John but also in the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, and Luke.  It must be a really important story.  The story clearly teaches us there is a better way of keeping the world peace. It seems a miracle to have a world without war, without famine, and without hatred among nations and races.  But any miracle is possible to Jesus if you bring five loaves of bread and two fishes. Amen.