What Happened from Shittim to Gilgal Micah 6:5

O my people, remember ...
what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.
_Micah 6:5

In 1945, Seaman Kim Malthe-Bruun was executed for resisting the Nazis. He wrote this farewell letter to his mother:

Dear Mother: Today, together with Jorgen, Nils, and Ludwig, I was arraigned before a Military Tribunal. We were condemned to death. I know that you are a courageous woman, and that you will bear this, but, hear me, it is not enough to bear it, you must also understand it. I am an insignificant thing, and my person will soon be forgotten, but the thought, the life, the inspiration that filled me will live on. You will meet them everywhere - in the trees at springtime, in people who cross your path, in a loving little smile. You will encounter that something which perhaps had value in me, you will cherish it and you will not forget me. And so I shall have a chance to grow, to become large and mature. I shall be living with all of you whose hearts I once filled...Finally, there is a girl whom I call mine. Make her realize that the stars still shine and that I have been only a milestone on her road. Help her on: She can still become very happy. In haste-

Your eldest child and only son,
Kim

Near Marietta, Georgia, where I grew up, are Kennesaw Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, now a National Park and the site of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain which was a major part of the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War.


There is a group - mostly men, though there may be women as well - who re-enact scenes and particular battles from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. They have authentic uniforms and equipment. There are a lot of them, and they are organized into the proper formations of regiments and companies. They fire cannons and carry out the same maneuvers that were executed more than a hundred years ago.


And, there may be some value to that. It carries on a tradition and preserves a memory. It may provide a sense of tradition that gives us a feeling of firmness in our lives.


It is, of course, perfectly predictable. Each battle is always the same. The outcome of the story is already known. The victor must be victorious and the vanquished must lose. We re-enact it to tell the story - to remember it and to teach it to others, especially our children, so they can have the same traditio


Christian faith can become like that. It is sort of a reenactment of ancient battles. The lessons are already set. We - the grown-ups - always know the outcome. We know the end of the story. We know how God is.

-Dean Reyonolds, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas, in a sermon June 11, 2000.
It is testament to the overwhelming success of the World War II generation that we can barely imagine a conflict in which nearly 300 young servicemen and women died each day -- year after year after year. Unfortunately, the veterans of that war are now passing away in even greater numbers. Before the World War II generation is gone, we owe them one last salute, and the peace of mind that their service will be remembered.