On Sunday, November 11, we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armistice at the end of the First World War. We also celebrated Veteran’s Day. It is a day that held great emotion for many people, myself included. Here is the sermon I preached on this important occasion:
Text Version: Armistice Day Sermon
“In Flanders Fields” (c) 1918 John McCrae
“We Shall Keep the Faith” (c) 1918 Moina Michael
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (c) 1900 L. Frank Baum
I just sort of read your sermon to Len PELLETTIRI, in our bed. You magnificently relate the past, your past and our faith’s combined hope for the future with poetry we both memorized as children. Yesterday was my last day of ten radiation treatments for metastasized breast cancer in my neck. So I am involved with the powerful thoughts of life and death writ large. Thank you for stirring up memories of my Massachusetts childhood. It was a holiday like none other. We stood in a huge circle around a park next to our high school. One year I recited the Gettysburg Address, scared of getting the paragraphs out of order, while my boy friends blew Taps and the small group of Civil War veterans sat on folding chairs in front of us. Serious, haunting moments which came back with your sermon. Thank you. Love, Mary Rose, 1st UU San Diego