Remembrance Sunday 2008
On Monday I got back from a 10 day study tour in the Holy Land looking at the theme of Reconciliation and conflict, with a particular emphasis being placed on that region. I will no doubt bore you incessantly many times in the coming days, weeks and perhaps even months with details of the trip, but today, on this Remembrance Sunday, seemed a particularly appropriate day to think about some of the things I saw and heard while I was away.
Today we remember those who have died in conflicts – we give thanks for those who have lost their lives to try and maintain the peace and comfort that we enjoy so much today. It is a day of tribute to those people, but our greatest tribute must surely be to look at the world around us today and see peace… and that is far from what we do see !
And so I want to think very briefly of 3 different experiences as we remember and we try to offer our tributes to those who have been killed in conflict. I promise you, at other times I will talk in more detail on all of these things ! The first is Bethlehem, the beautiful picturesque little town where Jesus was born – of course today it’s not picturesque or beautiful.
It is surrounded by a 28 foot high concrete wall – called a security fence if you’re an Israeli, a separation wall if you’re a Palestinian. People can’t travel easily out of Bethlehem – many of the residents are simply unable to get the required permit to cross through the wall.
Conditions inside the wall for many are bleak – lack of water, lack of jobs, and an unrest that is simmering almost to boiling point. And yet, even here, there are some who are working to bring about a more peaceful and hopeful future for everyone. There are people committed to working through the problems to seek a better future for everyone.
The second experience is in an orphanage, also in Bethlehem. There, 150 children live in families. Each house on the site has a mother, and the children all have brothers and sisters living with them, not related but brought together by tragedy.
And yet, there the children receive an education, they receive support, counselling if it’s needed and it very often is, and they enjoy as much security and happiness as those responsible can manage to give them. It is a joyful place in so many ways, reflecting the hopes, the resilience, the strength and the courage of children as we so often see them.
And the third experience was of meeting 2 parents – one a Palestinian and one a Jew. Both are members of the Bereaved Parents Circle, an organisation set up for parents who have lost children in the troubles that are all too obvious in the area. Hate was one option for them, retaliation another, and yet instead they have chosen peace and reconciliation.
They have chosen to tell their stories in the hope that they can avoid others suffering as they have suffered.
Three different experiences and yet each one has 2 very important factors – tragedy and hope.
Today as we remember conflicts of years gone by, as we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in the service of their country, we recall the tragedy of war, and it is a tragedy however just the war may be. It is a sad reality that we need soldiers who will fight and even die for the cause of freedom, and we can be thankful for them.
And in the midst of the tragedy of war, we too get signs of hope – hope of a better future, hope of a more lasting peace, hope that the sacrifices made will somehow be worth it…
George Santayana, an American philosopher said, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ It’s a wonderful and very true statement of how we learn from the past, and yet we must also forget the past in some ways to move forward, to not hold grudges, to not seek revenge.
The greatest tribute to those who have lost their lives in war, fighting for justice, fighting for peace, is to peacefully work for that justice and lasting peace in the world today. As we’ve heard so often in this past week Martin Luther King spoke over 40 years ago of having a dream, a dream of men being equal, a dream of sons of former slaves and former slave owners who will sit down together as brothers, a dream where people will not be judged by the colour of their skin, a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain be made low, the rough places will become a plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
Earlier this week as Barack Obama won the Presidential election, we moved towards a fulfilling of that vision of Martin Luther King, and yet as one battle is won, we know of so many other battles still ongoing, still seemingly insurmountable, but we can have hope.
There is another saying that goes, ‘The measure of a country is not only what it does, but also what it tolerates’. And the saying can be narrowed to include every one of us – as we live in a world where we see so many evils to which we are called to respond – and the challenge of that statement is to recognise that it is not only good works that are called for from us, but also a determination to stand up for what is right in the wider world, to defend the needs of those unable to defend themselves, by working and speaking for justice and peace.
This is our tribute to those who have given so much before us – we can offer our thoughts and our prayers for them, we can offer our sympathies for those most closely affected, but we must also offer ourselves to continue working for what they died for.
Today our reading is that reading known as the Beatitudes, that reading containing the words, ‘’Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”. I’m told that the word ‘Blessed’ really doesn’t cover the magnitude of the original written word, a word better translated as ‘Abidingly and lastingly happy’.
The peacemakers are not just the governments of the world, they are not just the politicians, they are not just those who devote so much of their lives to working for a good cause. The peacemakers in the world today are us !
Jesus came to bring peace to the world, he came to offer us abiding and lasting happiness, he came to offer us peace in our lives, and there are no greater words that we can follow than these words in the gospel reading – they are the key to abiding and lasting happiness, and you will notice that very few of them simply relate to ourselves, they relate to what we can do for others, and what others can receive by what we do.
The world is getting smaller, we see more of conflicts around the world, we travel to places where conflicts take place, we see some of the pain and suffering so often brought on by war, and one consequence of this is that each one of us bears a great responsibility for the future.
The stories I touched on earlier of some of my experiences in the Holy Land contain, as I said, tragedy and hope. Today we see so much tragedy, and yet we offer hope of a lasting peace and lasting reconciliation through Jesus as we reflect on his words.
Those who are poor in spirit receive the kingdom of God, a kingdom which begins now – when we are poor in spirit we can trust in God as our refuge, our strength, and we can offer others who are poor in spirit our refuge and our strength.
Those who mourn will find comfort in Jesus, who wept for a world so full of pain. He will comfort us as we mourn, and he calls us to comfort others in their grief.
Those who are meek, we are told, will inherit the earth – a realisation perhaps that inheritance is not about riches and power, but rather about inheriting the lasting gift of eternity, lived in the care of Jesus.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled – filled with the knowledge of the love of God, and filled as well in a more practical sense by the followers of Jesus who didn’t ignore the stranger, who didn’t walk by on the other side of the road as someone suffered.
There are the pure in heart – the position we must seek to live out as Jesus himself is judged by so many based on the actions of his followers today. There are of course the peacemakers, those in positions of power and authority whom we pray for, but also each one of us, peacemakers in a small way perhaps where we are.
And blessed are we, abidingly and lastingly happy, if we are persecuted for doing right… The Book of Micah (6:8) says,’ What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’
If we are the poor in spirit, the mourner, the one who is meek, the hungry and thirsty, the pure in heart, the peacemaker, the persecuted, we will know that Jesus is with us – he is with us – God is our refuge and our strength – a very present help in trouble… But if we are the observers of these things, then we are also called to be Jesus to these people – to offer his comfort, to offer his refuge and his strength and to reveal to them some of his incredible love for us and for them.
By doing that we can be sure that we are doing his will, and building his kingdom, not as a vision somewhere in the far distant future, but here today…. That kingdom will be a place of no more war, and what better tribute to those who have died in war than to work to end all war, a place of no suffering, no tears, no pain – a place filled with the radiance and splendour of God who loves each one of us with an unbreakable and unshakeable love.
One of the things we do on Remembrance Sunday is to give thanks for the sacrifices made in so many different ways in conflicts of the past, we remember those working today for peace and justice throughout the world, and we pray for peace in our own lives and in the world around us. That peace is what Jesus invites each one of us to share in every moment of every day, and that peace is what he longs for in the lives of everyone and in the whole of creation. AMEN
Today we remember those who have died in conflicts – we give thanks for those who have lost their lives to try and maintain the peace and comfort that we enjoy so much today. It is a day of tribute to those people, but our greatest tribute must surely be to look at the world around us today and see peace… and that is far from what we do see !
And so I want to think very briefly of 3 different experiences as we remember and we try to offer our tributes to those who have been killed in conflict. I promise you, at other times I will talk in more detail on all of these things ! The first is Bethlehem, the beautiful picturesque little town where Jesus was born – of course today it’s not picturesque or beautiful.
It is surrounded by a 28 foot high concrete wall – called a security fence if you’re an Israeli, a separation wall if you’re a Palestinian. People can’t travel easily out of Bethlehem – many of the residents are simply unable to get the required permit to cross through the wall.
Conditions inside the wall for many are bleak – lack of water, lack of jobs, and an unrest that is simmering almost to boiling point. And yet, even here, there are some who are working to bring about a more peaceful and hopeful future for everyone. There are people committed to working through the problems to seek a better future for everyone.
The second experience is in an orphanage, also in Bethlehem. There, 150 children live in families. Each house on the site has a mother, and the children all have brothers and sisters living with them, not related but brought together by tragedy.
And yet, there the children receive an education, they receive support, counselling if it’s needed and it very often is, and they enjoy as much security and happiness as those responsible can manage to give them. It is a joyful place in so many ways, reflecting the hopes, the resilience, the strength and the courage of children as we so often see them.
And the third experience was of meeting 2 parents – one a Palestinian and one a Jew. Both are members of the Bereaved Parents Circle, an organisation set up for parents who have lost children in the troubles that are all too obvious in the area. Hate was one option for them, retaliation another, and yet instead they have chosen peace and reconciliation.
They have chosen to tell their stories in the hope that they can avoid others suffering as they have suffered.
Three different experiences and yet each one has 2 very important factors – tragedy and hope.
Today as we remember conflicts of years gone by, as we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in the service of their country, we recall the tragedy of war, and it is a tragedy however just the war may be. It is a sad reality that we need soldiers who will fight and even die for the cause of freedom, and we can be thankful for them.
And in the midst of the tragedy of war, we too get signs of hope – hope of a better future, hope of a more lasting peace, hope that the sacrifices made will somehow be worth it…
George Santayana, an American philosopher said, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ It’s a wonderful and very true statement of how we learn from the past, and yet we must also forget the past in some ways to move forward, to not hold grudges, to not seek revenge.
The greatest tribute to those who have lost their lives in war, fighting for justice, fighting for peace, is to peacefully work for that justice and lasting peace in the world today. As we’ve heard so often in this past week Martin Luther King spoke over 40 years ago of having a dream, a dream of men being equal, a dream of sons of former slaves and former slave owners who will sit down together as brothers, a dream where people will not be judged by the colour of their skin, a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain be made low, the rough places will become a plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
Earlier this week as Barack Obama won the Presidential election, we moved towards a fulfilling of that vision of Martin Luther King, and yet as one battle is won, we know of so many other battles still ongoing, still seemingly insurmountable, but we can have hope.
There is another saying that goes, ‘The measure of a country is not only what it does, but also what it tolerates’. And the saying can be narrowed to include every one of us – as we live in a world where we see so many evils to which we are called to respond – and the challenge of that statement is to recognise that it is not only good works that are called for from us, but also a determination to stand up for what is right in the wider world, to defend the needs of those unable to defend themselves, by working and speaking for justice and peace.
This is our tribute to those who have given so much before us – we can offer our thoughts and our prayers for them, we can offer our sympathies for those most closely affected, but we must also offer ourselves to continue working for what they died for.
Today our reading is that reading known as the Beatitudes, that reading containing the words, ‘’Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”. I’m told that the word ‘Blessed’ really doesn’t cover the magnitude of the original written word, a word better translated as ‘Abidingly and lastingly happy’.
The peacemakers are not just the governments of the world, they are not just the politicians, they are not just those who devote so much of their lives to working for a good cause. The peacemakers in the world today are us !
Jesus came to bring peace to the world, he came to offer us abiding and lasting happiness, he came to offer us peace in our lives, and there are no greater words that we can follow than these words in the gospel reading – they are the key to abiding and lasting happiness, and you will notice that very few of them simply relate to ourselves, they relate to what we can do for others, and what others can receive by what we do.
The world is getting smaller, we see more of conflicts around the world, we travel to places where conflicts take place, we see some of the pain and suffering so often brought on by war, and one consequence of this is that each one of us bears a great responsibility for the future.
The stories I touched on earlier of some of my experiences in the Holy Land contain, as I said, tragedy and hope. Today we see so much tragedy, and yet we offer hope of a lasting peace and lasting reconciliation through Jesus as we reflect on his words.
Those who are poor in spirit receive the kingdom of God, a kingdom which begins now – when we are poor in spirit we can trust in God as our refuge, our strength, and we can offer others who are poor in spirit our refuge and our strength.
Those who mourn will find comfort in Jesus, who wept for a world so full of pain. He will comfort us as we mourn, and he calls us to comfort others in their grief.
Those who are meek, we are told, will inherit the earth – a realisation perhaps that inheritance is not about riches and power, but rather about inheriting the lasting gift of eternity, lived in the care of Jesus.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled – filled with the knowledge of the love of God, and filled as well in a more practical sense by the followers of Jesus who didn’t ignore the stranger, who didn’t walk by on the other side of the road as someone suffered.
There are the pure in heart – the position we must seek to live out as Jesus himself is judged by so many based on the actions of his followers today. There are of course the peacemakers, those in positions of power and authority whom we pray for, but also each one of us, peacemakers in a small way perhaps where we are.
And blessed are we, abidingly and lastingly happy, if we are persecuted for doing right… The Book of Micah (6:8) says,’ What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’
If we are the poor in spirit, the mourner, the one who is meek, the hungry and thirsty, the pure in heart, the peacemaker, the persecuted, we will know that Jesus is with us – he is with us – God is our refuge and our strength – a very present help in trouble… But if we are the observers of these things, then we are also called to be Jesus to these people – to offer his comfort, to offer his refuge and his strength and to reveal to them some of his incredible love for us and for them.
By doing that we can be sure that we are doing his will, and building his kingdom, not as a vision somewhere in the far distant future, but here today…. That kingdom will be a place of no more war, and what better tribute to those who have died in war than to work to end all war, a place of no suffering, no tears, no pain – a place filled with the radiance and splendour of God who loves each one of us with an unbreakable and unshakeable love.
One of the things we do on Remembrance Sunday is to give thanks for the sacrifices made in so many different ways in conflicts of the past, we remember those working today for peace and justice throughout the world, and we pray for peace in our own lives and in the world around us. That peace is what Jesus invites each one of us to share in every moment of every day, and that peace is what he longs for in the lives of everyone and in the whole of creation. AMEN
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