While the Lutheran church doesn’t officially commemorate anything on April 30th, I’d lobby hard that we (especially in these days) collectively remember that today is the day when the Vietnam War officially ended in 1975, bringing unification to that war-torn country once again.

This unification brought an end to waiting up for the evening news to hear if your number is called.

It brought an end to waiting for that letter to arrive, that proof of life.

It brought an end to waiting for that military vehicle to drive up one fateful afternoon and change your family forever…

And yet, even though the war officially ended, we know that it continued to rage in the minds and bodies of so many soldiers.

Even though the war officially ended, we know that it continued to rage in the hearts of so many who lost their son, father, brother, cousin, friend.

Even though the war officially ended, we know that peace is fragile and an absence of violence is not the same thing as peace, and that wars and rumors of wars persist.

But on this day when this particular piece of humanity’s bloody history was silenced, perhaps we can look with hope on this one fact:

If that violence ended, perhaps the wars raging even as I type this can, too.

The end of the Vietnam War is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church (and everyone!) that wars can cease, by God…they can.

Kyrie eleison.

-painting by Jesse Treviño, ‘Mi Vida’ (1971-73)