Remembrance Sunday
Words from WW1 Issue St Johns Gospel, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’. John 3:16
War is no respecter of parental wish. In one of my former churches, St John’s, Churchill there is a plaque on the wall, remembering two thirteen-year-old boys. They were too young to have gone to war but were nevertheless were killed by a Nazi bomb dropped when they were out in the fields, playing nearby, in 1944. When I first read that plaque it felt very close to home, the ages of those boys so similar to that age of my own children at the time. Sometimes we feel like crying out in grief and lament at the injustice of war, like the writer of the Psalms: ‘Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?’ (Psalm 10)
However, it’s not God that causes war, though it is convenient for many human agendas to wage wars in his name. The free-will and creative ability God gave us was intended as a gift to be used for the good of humanity and our planet – but free will can also be turned towards selfish gain or harm of others. Nations frequently fight over territory – but if we’re honest we see even in ourselves the seeds of larger conflict – that tension with our neighbour, for example, over the location of their fence or the intrusion of their noise or home extension.
And so these are some of the reasons why we remember together as a community on Remembrance Sunday. We remember to honour those who stood against large scale aggression in years past, and secured the freedom we enjoy today. We remember those who continue to preserve that freedom by serving in our armed forces. But we also remember we are a fallible people, who remain ourselves in need of a saviour, and that God promises one day to bring true hope, justice and peace through his son, Christ Jesus.
With every blessing
Rev’d Andrew Hiscox