By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
OLLIE – Rock Creek Church, an old rural church near Ollie, held its annual Memorial Day church service on the Sunday before the holiday. The small church, located in the center of an old cemetery, was built in 1850 and stayed open until the 1960s. Still, every year, a handful of locals come to the small church to honor soldiers who fell in battle.
“We’re here to remember and honor the men and women who gave the ultimate gift, their life itself, so that all who live in the United States can have freedom,” said Pastor Steve Pfeifer of the Trinity Friends Church in Richland. “Our freedom is one of the reasons that we have so many people from other countries coming to this great nation, because it’s a Christrian nation, we love one another…It’s obvious to me, these freedoms we enjoy and the freedoms we take so much for granted, the freedoms we so often trifle, were bought not by gold from our millionaires nor by the geniuses of our scientists, nor the sacrifices of the people at home, but primarily by the blood and agony of those whose names this day we honor, those who have died that we might live…Their noble and unselfish sacrifice is a silent, eloquent rebuke of the self-centeredness of future generations. Let those who want peace at any price remember this day that thousands have died for honor and freedom, and what we have come to know from the price of shed blood.”
Pfeifer went on to give a sermon about being a soldier for God. This was followed by a sermon from Pastor Danny Cary of the Hopewell Community Church in Fairfield, who spoke of the history of Memorial Day, the importance of preserving old cemeteries like Rock Creek, drew connections between the sacrifice of soldiers and that of Jesus Christ, and told a harrowing story of an American soldier saving an injured German soldier from No Man’s Land during World War I. The service also featured recitation of poetry, singing of patriotic songs, and time where everyone in attendance went around and introduced themselves.
“The heroic acts that are done on the battlefield throughout history have made our country what it is today. We are free because of that,” said Cary.
