Earn this ? Just receive and shine... Remembrance 2016

On November 13th 1916, 100 years ago to this day, the final battle of the Battle of the Somme began (The battle of the River Ancre). That battle, which had begun on July 1st would end on November 19th with a death toll of over a million people. 

It has rightly become one of the most famous battles ever fought with incredible stories of courage, and sometimes of the mistakes made…. For those involved what never changed was the incredible sacrifices… Many died – people who had often not really had enough time to even live properly as adults, many were injured and many were left with physical and mental scars for the rest of their lives… 

I am pleased to have been part of a generation that has not seen a major world war – by saying that I am not reducing the importance of the conflicts in the Falklands and the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan and so on. For those involved many sacrifices have been made and many lives changed forever, but it is now over 70 years since there has been a world war – a war that truly impacted upon the lives of everyone throughout this country on a daily basis. 

Memories have faded a little… those who took part have tried to wipe away the worst memories… time has helped to heal some of the pain from those who lost a loved one or loved ones. 

And as we reflect on the horrors of wars of the past and the conflicts which are ongoing today we’re reminded in our readings today of our need to make a difference… 

This week we have seen the election of a new President for the United States. With that role comes an incredible burden as our leaders must recognise that they are called primarily to be servants.

In our reading from the prophecy of Isaiah (58:6-9a) there is the recognition of our response to live our lives caring for others… One of the dangers of some of the elections of recent times has been the focus on ourselves – ‘what’s in it for me ?’ - but I don’t believe society works with that mentality. We are created in God’s image, to live as brothers and sisters…. And sometimes, we know that isn’t easy… 

But from Isaiah we are told to work against injustice, to let the oppressed go free, share our bread with the hungry and bring the homeless into our homes… 

As we remember the many who have suffered as a result of conflict we recognise that they did so surely with the hope that life for all would be better in the future… We are part of that future and have to commit ourselves to making sure that future is brighter… 

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (2:4-15) continues this theme… He was writing from his prison cell in Rome, imprisoned for sharing the message of Jesus, and yet he wasn’t despondent. He recognised the possibilities of good in the communities to whom he wrote…. 

Here he was writing to a pretty diverse group with people from all backgrounds and they were finding it wasn’t always easy to live together, but Paul told them to be like Jesus…. 

Today we live in a society which is diverse, and even in our own country the damage done by failing to recognise and embrace diversity is all too obvious, all too often ! 

Paul ends the part of the reading we heard with the appeal to shine like stars in the world… And that is highlighted in our reading from the gospel according to Matthew (5:13-16)…. 

Jesus talks about people being the salt of the earth and how, when the saltiness is lost, it is of no value and, if we, following Jesus, make no positive difference to the world around us then we too have lost our saltiness… 

In remembering we are called to be bold in our proclamation of hope for the present and vision for the future… 100 years ago the world was experiencing a war which changed history forever – it was part of the so-called ‘war to end all wars’, and we know that didn’t happen….

Wars and conflict and hatred and terror still continue…

One of the best reminders people of my generation has of war is from films and some of you may have seen the film, ‘Saving Private Ryan’. 

For those who don’t know the film was set during and immediately following the D Day landings in Normandy. It tells the story of a group of 8 soldiers on a dangerous mission to find Private James Ryan whose 3 brothers have already died in the war – leaving him as an only child. The mission involves going deep behind enemy lines to try and locate Ryan and then to bring him back safely. 

In the film, many of the emotions experienced by the 8 soldiers and eventually by Ryan himself actually mirror many of the emotions we can have. 

There is anger… or perhaps hurt or fright. These soldiers can’t understand why they are being asked to risk their lives for just 1 man –one line in the film says, ‘in purely arithmetic terms, risking 8 lives for 1 simply doesn’t make sense.’ They are wondering why Ryan’s life seems more important than theirs. They are angry at their instructions, and hurt by the circumstances. 

If we’re honest there have probably been times when we have been angry with God – something has not gone quite the way we wanted – maybe someone we love has become seriously ill, or even died, maybe we have lost a job, a relationship has broken down… things don’t always turn out as we hope or expect, and sometimes we take out that anger, hurt or pain on God. 

And there is doubt – Just as these soldiers often doubted the success of their mission, we can have doubts about God. It is all too easy to stand here and say we should trust in God, but we will all know that it is not so easy to do at absolutely every moment in our lives.

Another emotion was persistence or determination. In spite of the anger, the fear, the doubts, the soldiers knew that they had no option other than to carry on with the mission. 

There was no turning back – and again, when we feel pain or doubt, that should also be our lesson – we need to be persistent – there are times when we need to work a little harder in order to get nearer to God… through some of the most difficult times, when God somehow seems far away, we can trust that he is not… 

The final emotion I want to think about is friendship…. even love. That group of 8 soldiers had been put together with no apparent psychological sense – there were different characters, but by the end they had built up a huge respect for each other – a close bond which would have led any one of them to risk their lives for one of the others. 

Anger, doubt, determination to get things better and friendship or love – these are all part of life…. And they’re all responses to remembering the sacrifices of people who have gone before us… 

We can be angry about the state of the world, we can doubt the people chosen to make it better, but we can live as Jesus, trying and doing what we can to show love everywhere…. 

Our faith has no place for conflict or injustice… Jesus didn’t come into the world as many had expected as a great military leader – he came as a humble man of peace, not leading armies, but preaching peace and reconciliation. The fact that humans have got it wrong so many times in the world does not lessen the message of Jesus. 

In Saving Private Ryan one of the final scenes is Captain Miller, who had been in charge of the mission to find Ryan and who now lay fatally wounded. He tells the saved Ryan to live his life as a tribute to those who had died to save him. He uses the simple words ‘EARN THIS’.... 

The film then flashes to the current day showing Ryan as an elderly man looking over Captain Millers’ grave, one of thousands in Northern France marked by a simple white cross. He asks his wife if he had been a good man…, she assures him he has. 

Surely the greatest tribute we can give to those who have died in war and those whose lives have been changed forever is to try and ensure that the world that they fought to make is a better place. ‘Earn this’ is surely the cry to all of us from those who have given so much.  

And of course, for a Christian we can’t remember any sacrifice without remembering the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – and I wonder what our response would be if we were to be standing at the gates of heaven as he asks us, ‘have you earned this?’…….. Have we earned his sacrifice, his love – have we tried ? 

Of course, he doesn’t do that – he extends his arms wide open in love ready to receive us with all our mistakes and failings, but asking us to shine in the world for others… 

May we receive and know his love always and may we shine as lights helping to reveal that love to others. AMEN