Since the Black Goo incident a few weeks back, we’ve stripped our den, repainted
and will have the floors installed this week. All of this involves pulling one
million books off the shelves, dusting, and sorting them. In a collection of hymnals
and gospel songbooks accumulated over the years, I found a Song and Service Book for Ship and Field. Probably purchased at a
garage or estate sale, the inscription inside reads “Neal T. Hart , given to
me by Sergeant Menlo on January 6, 1944.” Of course, the year ahead turned out
to be the final year of World War II, and would hold huge
conflicts all over the globe.
In
doing a little research, I found the location where Mr. Hart enlisted, his
service number, and even learned he was a semi-skilled craftsman in furniture
production on his enlistment. But I find no record of his death on any military
or civilian records. I suppose he could still be alive, but since he was born
in 1911, that would put him at 101 years old. It’d be great to get this book to
one of his descendents.
To
the point, on the inside cover of the book I found a prayer derived from George
Washington's “Circular Letter of Farewell to the Army” written in Newburgh on June 8,
1783 (includes the creative spellings of that time and was later copied and distributed
to governors of each state):
“I
now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over
which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of
the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government,
to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow
Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who
have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased
to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with
that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the
Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an
humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a
happy Nation.”
I love that Washington references Micah 6:8 with the
phrase “do justice, to love mercy…”
And
the words “…without an humble imitation of whose example…” might refer to
Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and
live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a
fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
We
often think of the word imitation in a negative way, as merely a facsimile of
the original. But the word in Ephesians here, “imitator,” means in the original
Greek, “follower.”
Perhaps
the one who’d led a revolution a few years before with soldiers whose bare feet
left bloody prints in the snow at Valley Forge knew much about justice, mercy,
charity, humility, and a peace wrought of sacrifice and service.
I wonder if the first owner of my little military hymnal, Mr. Hart, might have known something about sacrifice and service as well, having served our country in a time of worldwide conflict.
As we celebrate our nation’s birth, let us remember these words from the man called the Father of our Country and commit ourselves afresh to be a“humble imitation," a follower, ” of the “Divine author of our blessed religion.”