Remembering St. Martin on Veterans Day

St. Martin of Tours (316-397), commemorated today, has long been an important figure in my memory of faith.  Of course, that Martin Luther was born on the eve of St. Martin's day accounts for the name he received from his parents. As  Lutheran myself, this was an interesting fact to know about the "first Lutheran".   More important, however, has been my own experience of the America propensity for patriotic commemorations, including Veterans Day, that in my lifetime has been tied very closely to wars and covert wars I could not support on the basis of faith and conscience.  So Martin, who lived though the transition from a persecuted church to the church of Constantine and Empire, who was the son of a soldier and a soldier himself, and who left the military for the sake of Christ, offers a powerful model of resistance to military might.  Yet Veterans Day need not mean a celebration of war heroes and national military might.  In fact, according to a moving op-ed in the NYT today, the day was marked in Europe and even early on in the USA by commemoration of the dead and prayer for world peace.  World War I, which ended on this day and is the reason for it, was to be the 'war to end all wars.'  So perhaps, then, my lifting up the Roman soldier who found Christ and renounced the sword is not so far from the spirit of this day when we lament how we have crucified our fellow humanity across national borders, and we yearn anew for peace.
Anon, and peace
Chris