On April 23, 1865, as President Abraham Lincoln’s body lay in state in the city of Philadelphia following his murder by assassination, the Rev. Phillips Brooks, at that time the most prominent Episcopal priest in the country, gave a sermon that became world famous. In it, Brooks said that he saw in the figure of Lincoln a vision of the American character.
He said that Lincoln was someone who lived under the discipline of freedom, and he contrasted that character with another character that had to be resisted that was also present in America, and that was the character of slavery. It was something that was done by people who were both oppressors and the oppressed.
And he said of Lincoln that his character of freedom, that willingness to live his life under the discipline of freedom meant that he was one who was guided by his own hard work, by his own integrity, by his own commitment to his country to keep it a unified whole. And this is what he said about Lincoln:
“He lived as he did, and he died as he did because he was who he was. The more we see of events, the less we come to believe in any fate or destiny except the destiny of character.”
On this Memorial Day, when we give thanks for all of the men and women who gave themselves so that we might continue to be a free nation, for all those who sacrificed themselves so that we might enjoy the same fruits of freedom, we give thanks for their character.
We give thanks for the fact that, like Lincoln, they lived their lives in a way that made it possible for all of us to be free. We give thanks for their sacrifice. We give thanks for the calling each of us has to be leaders of our own, to develop our own discipline of freedom, to live so that others may live well and others may live fully.
For their sacrifice, for the gift of their lives, for the gift they are to this nation, please join me in giving thanks to God. May God bless America and increase in us people of character who are willing to live as they lived, to lead as they led, and to be fully who they are in God’s eyes. Happy Memorial Day.