Monday

“But if we live in the light, as God is in the light,

we can share fellowship with each other.

Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son,

cleanses us from every sin.

If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves,

and the truth is not in us.”

~1 John 1:7-8 NCV~

It was good to have Mrs. Kathryn Kuss and members of her family in church yesterday. I also got to see Mrs. Ruby Thompson and family in Amite. Two ladies who lost long-time mates. God will walk with these families through the coming days.

The wake for Rev. Frank Danley is tonight at McKneely’s in Amite.

Daniel Larkin
(Died May 23, 2009)

Daniel Larkin passed away Saturday, May 23, 2009.

Arrangements are incomplete at this time.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com.

IT WAS 1866 AND the United States was recovering from the long and bloody Civil War between the North and the South…

Surviving soldiers came home, some with missing limbs, and all with stories to tell. Henry Welles, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, New York, heard the stories and had an idea. He suggested that all the shops in town close for one day to honor the soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and were buried in the Waterloo cemetery. On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed flowers, wreaths and crosses on the graves of the Northern soldiers in the cemetery. At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, this time for the soldiers who survived the war. He led the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades’ graves with flags. It was not a happy celebration, but a memorial. The townspeople called it Decoration Day.

In Retired Major General Logan’s proclamation of Memorial Day, he declared:

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country and during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”

The two ceremonies were joined in 1868, and northern states commemorated the day on May 30. The southern states commemorated their war dead on different days. Children read poems and sang civil war songs and veterans came to school wearing their medals and uniforms to tell students about the Civil War. Then the veterans marched through their home towns followed by the townspeople to the cemetery. They decorated graves and took photographs of soldiers next to American flags. Rifles were shot in the air as a salute to the northern soldiers who had given their lives to keep the United States together.

In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day and soldiers who had died in previous wars were honored as well. In the northern United States, it was designated a public holiday. In 1971, along with other holidays, President Richard Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday on the last Monday in May.

Children of God memorialize Jesus Christ each (Acts 20:7) Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10) at Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). They eat a very small piece of unleavened bread and drink grape juice from a cup. Worshipers focus not so much on these two elements, but upon what they represent (Matthew 26:26ff). The bread and fruit of the vine remind us of that great sacrifice that was made at Calvary nearly 2,000 years ago.