"The Last Full Measure Of Devotion"

Remembering Our Soldiers Memorial Day 2007

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in the history of our nation at a cemetery in a small Pennsylvania town. It wasn't a long speech, only 272 words, and lasting less than three minutes. In fact, the speech was so short; photographers didn't even get a picture.

It wasn't a well-planned speech. Lincoln hadn't even practiced it. In fact, historians tell us he was still writing down just what he would say while waiting on the platform to be introduced. So, what was it that has made the speech so famous? It was what had happened there, only a few short months before, in Gettysburg.

You see, our nation was in a terrible civil war, and tens of millions of men had left their farms and families to fight for their cause. Although the northern armies were larger in number and better equipped, the south was actually winning the war, and General Robert E. Lee had a plan to have his southern armies fight their way into Washington D.C. He knew that if he could take the nation's capitol, the north would have to surrender.

But, what happened in Gettysburg was not planned by anyone. The two large armies, totaling almost 170,000 men, literally came upon each other strictly by accident near this small town, Gettysburg.

The battle that took place over the next three days was the harshest single battle in the history of our nation with over 43,000 union and confederate soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

The battlefield was a terrible picture of suffering and blood and death. According to one account a small creek running through the battlefield was literally turned red from the soldier's blood. When a local schoolhouse was turned into a makeshift hospital for the wounded, the blood ran so deep on the floors, they had to drill holes in the floor for the blood to drain. When the battle of Gettysburg ended on July 3, 1863, there were so many dead, they actually turned part of the battlefield into a cemetery.

So, when Abraham Lincoln spoke that day to commemorate that Gettysburg cemetery, he felt whatever he said would not be enough. He said,

"We cannot consecrate this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion.

That we here highly resolve that these deeds shall not have died in vain."

You see, it wasn't what President Lincoln said that day that made his speech so powerful - it was what the brave soldiers had done. They had given their last full measure of devotion to a nation they loved enough to die for.

This is the great task we have before us today over 135 years later. To remember, to honor, to never forget those who have given their last full measure of devotion.

President John F. Kennedy said it this way:

"We must continue to let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."

But, finally, most of all, we must put all our trust and faith, all our hurts and sorrows into the hands of Almighty God who himself has given each of us the strength to endure what seemed to be unendurable. He has given us the light to walk when the path seems the darkest, and has given us the loving assurance that he is always with us if we will only give him a place in our hearts.

The Bible says,

"Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Dear Lord, comfort these brave soldiers today who still carry with them the horrors of war. And for those who continue to live without their own brave soldier, give them your peace that passes all understanding. And dear Lord, help us to never forget each and every brave American who has given their last full measure of devotion.

May God Bless Our Soldiers