Respect

I have debated whether or not I wanted to share this, but I think I need to.  Saturday, I helped at a funeral at our church.  It was a beautiful service honoring a man I did not have the privilege to know.  I was helping by being an usher for the service.  

The service was to conclude with a military honor guard, which I always find extremely moving.  I do find it funny that they never actually play “Taps” anymore, instead they have a bugle set up to play the song while the military person pretends to play (I get it, playing it is not easy and requires a specific talent that might not always be available.)  My guess is that it has been a minimum of 30 years since I heard it actually played at a service, and most people probably would never know the difference.

My issue was the two military service men.  I was standing at the back of the church in case anyone came in the front doors.  As the service began, neither of the gentlemen had yet arrived (also not unusual), the problem was when the second arrived, the two began to carry on a conversation (rather loudly in my opinion) in the narthex.  The word that came to mind was RESPECT.  When I have presided over a service with the military present, even though they would often come late, they always appeared to respect the Christian service that was going on.  Often they stood at attention throughout the whole service.  But these two carried on as if the Christian service was a bother and were anxious to get on with it.  Just as they expected everyone in attendance to show respect while they conducted their flag service, so too should they have shown respect for the rest of the service.  I know it is just a job for them, but come on, you are representing our country, show the respect that is due.