Remembrance Morning

Yesterday after the The Royal British Legion silence in Trafalgar Square, the following poem was read out :

There Lie Forgotten Men

They lie there in their thousands

The last rays of sunlight

Catching the white of the gravestones

Lending a poignancy to the moment

Numbering in their thousands they lay

Deserving remembrance

And yet the scarred green fields are empty

Nothing remains here

The processions of people vanished with the years

Their sacrifice all but forgotten

She stands there alone

At the edge of the silent place

And she is shocked

New wars brew and these forgotten men

Will play no part in them

The dead silence warn no ears but hers

In great halls, in moments of great decision

What they fought for is forsaken

And by days end, new gravestones

Appear on the blood red ground

She finds what she seeks

'Sgt John Malley Age 27'

His life brutally ended

And she stands by his grave

But he can give no answers

And she weeps for him

For the empty hole he left behind

And for the new emptiness

Soon to join the black chasm.

And her tears join the flood.

For many years war poetry has had an ability to capture some of the horrors of war, as well as relating some of the feelings of occasionally hopelessness and sometimes hopefulness that war will actually make the world a better place.

So in some ways there is nothing incredible or remarkable about this poem, except for the fact that it was written and read by a year 8 school pupil, a 13 year old girl called Rebecca Sullivan.

Remembrance Sunday is rightly considered to be a day when service people remember colleagues who have perished in war. It would be wonderful to think that the two world wars were the end of the suffering and brutality of war. As we see all too clearly at this time, though we may not see wars on the same scale, war is still very much a part of the world today. And that is why it is tremendously important that young people as well as those of all other ages, remember.

Remembering must help to make us learn – war is a horror that we must seek to avoid if we possibly can – the victory celebrations at the end of the two world wars were wonderful and memorable for many who had seen the world cleansed of an evil, but the days that followed remained painful for so many who had lost their lives, or who would continue to live with the scars of war.

Today in Iraq and Afghanistan there are service men and women from our country, as well as many others, who are risking their lives, in the hope that somehow their actions will help to make the world a better place to live.

And that must be a responsibility that is shared by all people – by politicians, by charity workers, by teachers, by all of us…

When Jesus spoke the words of the Beatitudes he was speaking not just to the influential, but to the crowds. And when he spoke of the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and those who are hated for standing up for Jesus, he was telling each one of his listeners, and each one of us, to be those things.

Today we remember those who have given their lives in wars, but we must also pray for those who today are seeking peace in the world, whether it be between nations or in communities, in families, or anywhere else… Those of the past gave their lives to make a better world. They may not have chosen to die, but many accepted death as a consequence of their will to see peace restored.

Today we must work together for peace everywhere, and there is no better way to do that than to follow those words of Jesus – They are some of the most powerful words ever written, and yet, they are words that can speak to us all.

The poor in spirit are those who have the humility to recognise that they need God –

Those who mourn may well be those who mourn the loss of someone they love, but they are also those people who look at the world with sadness because of the many bad things that happen.

Those who are meek are those who don’t take their own importance very seriously, but still realise that they remain an important part of God’s wonderful plan for his world.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are the people who are looking to bring about peace in the world and peace in the hearts of people everywhere, the merciful are those who forgive and truly forget, the peacemakers are those who don’t just sit and talk about peace and about reconciliation, and about building up better relationships with others, but actually do it in their own lives.

And then there will inevitably be those who suffer if they faithfully preach a gospel which often conflicts with modern standards, but if we believe what we talk about as our faith, it is far too important to keep quiet about.

And so as we remember, and rightly remember those who have given up so much in the pursuit of freedom, we lay open our lives to do our bit for peace in the world today, and we remember that we can have hope because, whilst the victories of wars, past, present or future, may only be temporary, we have a Saviour in Jesus who has provided us with an eternal victory and an everlasting hope. AMEN