I Kings 18:20-39

800 million+ weapons in the world.  Most are manufactured in the north and sold to the global south where a majority of the current wars are being waged.  A recent TED talk shared this sobering information.  I wonder what Elijah would say.

Elijah held a summit on Mount Carmel.  Present were the people of Israel, the prophets of Baal the weather god, bad King Ahab and wicked Queen Jezebel, and at the get-go he posed the question:  “How long will you go limping with two different opinions?  If you follow God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”

This Memorial Day, as with every Memorial Day since it was instituted following the Civil War, we have limped along nodding to the necessity of war, giving homage to our war god and the war machine for protecting us (seldom acknowledging the money being made off warfare), mourning the millions who died serving them, many more millions who died on the opposing side, and the devastating destruction it has brought to the earth and to those who have survived.

Might there ever be a day, a holiday, a holy day, when we also honor and remember those who worked tirelessly to stop the gods and machines of war?