Christian Living

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Gettysburg is not simply the story of three fateful days in July, 1863. It is not simply the story of a battle or a pivotal moment in the life of our nation. Gettysburg is not simply a place of monuments, gravestones, or remembrance.

Gettysburg should, however, be a place that is never forgotten - a place imbedded in our minds and hearts because of what happened there.

Gettysburg is the place where Abraham Lincoln spoke 272 words that have become immortal - 272 words that are profound in their simplicity - in their clarity regarding the meaning of the war in which the nation was engaged and his hope that the nation would experience a cleansing new birth, a freedom from the bondage imposed by the sin of American slavery.

Gettysburg is also the place where President Lincoln was incorrect on one point. He stated that the world would little note nor long remember what was said there, but it could never forget what they, the brave soldiers, did there. He was wrong on both counts. The world does indeed remember the words that he spoke - they have proven to be an inspiration to all those who have read them - words of wisdom, truth, and guidance - a clarion call to defend and advance the undying principle of freedom. Unfortunately, however, most have forgotten the deeds done on these hallowed grounds - most have not learned of the heroism that is incorporate here - the bravery and courage that echoes from the hills and rises with the mist of each newborn day.

Gettysburg is a living memorial to all generations of Americans and all peoples - her legacy of inspiration should be etched upon the tablet of every liberty loving heart. The monuments of stone that cover the field are but symbols, visible reminders of the eternal debt we, the child recipients of such an inheritance of liberty, owe to those who purchased it for us through the sacrifice of life and limb - America truly is a redeemed nation.

Gettysburg is, in essence, a microcosm of the nation. This sacred place symbolizes every freedom, every struggle, every hope, every fear, every dream, every nightmare; the will to persevere, the determination to overcome , and the love so many feel for this country, both past and present. Gettysburg truly represents different things to different people. To those who've never been there it is a battlefield of the Civil War, old and dusty and unimportant. To those who died there or know who died and suffered there it is a field of lasting repose and place of solemn reflection. To many, particularly those who have visited, it is simply our history and our heritage - perhaps the vital thread in the fabric of a nation.

Gettysburg is what it is because in some way, in some form, what occurred there affects every American whose lives have been lived after those fateful days so long ago. It isn't simply the story of a turning point in a war, a tale of valor, or a look into the past, but rather a lasting impression of what determination in a cause is and what the true inner strength of the human spirit can strive to achieve . Walking down Cemetery Ridge and looking out across the great expanse of sky and space that once was a universe of battle, or looking down at Devils Den from Little Round Top, it takes on a transformative hue - from a battlefield to a haunting reminder that when the will is strong enough anything is possible.

Gettysburg is a place of the past, but also an ever present testament to every future generation. The storm of shot and shell has long since abated, the bullets have been fired, the cannon rolled away, the battle flags folded, the wounded removed, the dead buried and the bugle calls drifted off into the wind, but the spirit is still there. The power and energy that consumed the small patch of land still somehow remains, an unending, awe-inspiring power and feeling that consumes you from the moment you set foot on the ground. You immediately understand that you are standing upon ground where heroes trod, where they suffered and died for you and for freedom‘s cause. It overpowers you and reminds you that the men who struggled there have indeed not died in vain, but for the holy cause of liberty and to simply fulfill their mission to uphold and defend duty, honor, country.

Gettysburg is duty, honor, country. At his challenging farewell address to cadets at West Point, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, whose father fought in the American Civil War and was awarded the medal of honor , spoke of these three pillars of our citizenship and talked of our nation’s military legacy and success in fighting to support them. He said, The long gray line (of cadets) has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, (and even) in blue and (in) gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

Gettysburg is and always will be a reminder to everyone that while we are faced with many moral and mortal dilemmas in this world, we can and will overcome them because, as Lincoln stated, right makes might - it always has and always will. It is simply for us to do our duty before God as we understand it and leave all in His sovereign hands. We must remember what others have struggled for in the past and learn from their victorious example and so fulfill our destiny and uphold our responsibility in the cause of freedom. In so doing, we, like our ancestors, will become better people in the process and live in a more perfect Union.

It really is impossible to say what Gettysburg really is, but I have tried my best. I've been to many places in this wonderful, God-kissed land, but none has ever affected me and left such a lasting impression as Gettysburg has - because of what happened there and how it has been immortalized yes, but also because of the emotion and energy evoked when one stands on a peaceful quiet stretch of land in the fading sunlight and tries to envision all the emotions and lives that met there and how on such a small lovely spot such events could occur to change history.
Can you see it too? Can you see them, resplendent in abiding youth? Can you see them, beckoning to you, asking you to ponder the meaning of such a sacrifice as theirs? Look harder, it’s not easy to see the invisible, but when it comes into focus, it’ll take your breath away and drop you upon bended knee in thanks unto God for a blessing so rich.

In returning to this place twenty five years after the battle, Union hero Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain spoke words that echo through the halls of our history to us, compelling us to remember…"No chemistry of frost or rain, no overlaying mould of the season's recurrent life and death, can ever separate from the soil of these consecrated fields the life-blood so deeply commingled and incorporate here. Ever henceforth under the rolling suns, when these hills are touched to splendor with the morning light, or smile a farewell to the lingering day, the flush that broods upon them shall be rich with a strange and crimson tone,--not of the earth, nor yet of the sky, but mediator and hostage between the two."

"In great deeds, something abides. On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."

No other prose I have ever heard summarizes what Gettysburg is more eloquently than those few words - their power will forever echo in the hearts of those who have ears to hear. May God’s richest blessing always rest upon our nation and upon this place of heroes - this place where freedom rose again to newness of life.

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