Friday, 13 November 2015

SERMON 67 - SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2015 (REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY)

Sermon delivered at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead, Wiltshire and All Saints Parish Church, Whiteparish – Sunday 8th November 2015

Remembrance Sunday

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a blessing to all who hear them.  Amen

My son recently began his academic studies at the University of Hull on Humberside and I have thereby had the opportunity of revisiting the city again after many years.

Coming from Grimsby, on the southern banks of the Humber Estuary, and for many the correct side, I knew Hull in the 1950s and 1960s when my parents would take me across the muddy estuary by paddle steamer to shop and visit Father Christmas in the Hammonds Department Store (later Binns and now I believe John Lewis’s).  Because we only ever reached the city by ferry, and then only visited the centre, I was unaware of its size and importance as a major port – resembling, as I now know, the city of Southampton. What did did notice, then, were the large empty spaces throughout the centre, buildings still propped up by timber frames, and a general air of desolation and grubbiness.  My mother later told me that she and my father had originally thought of settling in Hull rather than Grimsby but the poor state of the city had put them off.

This poor state and desolation, some eight years after the Japanese surrender heralded the ending of the Second World War, were the still remaining scars from that conflagration, as Hull, like so many British cities began the long recovery from the blitz.  A constant reminder, to us of the younger non-wartime generation, of how that conflict had shaken the very local communities – not a war far away but one very much at home. 

My father, as a young “Pike” in the Cleethorpes Home Guard, recounted to me watching the German bombers flying up the Humber Estuary and the terrible red glow in the sky as Kingston-upon-Hull, to give it its full dignified title, was pounded night after night in a remorseless attempt to destroy the docks and the morale of its inhabitants.  Because we as children, had parents who had lived through the last World War, the conflict was very real to us and we could still see many of its scars.

One of my duties as a lay licensed minister, outside of the Clarendon Team, is as Alabare’s chaplain to veterans’ homes in Salisbury and on Friday I was privileged to visit our new home, Peter House, on London Road and meet two of its new residents – both of whom have suffered Post Traumatic Stress as a result of their times spent out in the Middle East and Afghanistan – wars of a very different nature and seemingly so far away from the British Isles.  I asked them what they thought of Remembrance Day and they told me that they probably would not attend any service as being upsetting and because their faith had been compromised, but nevertheless would and did daily think about and remember former colleagues and friends who had suffered or been killed as a result of these conflicts.  They also told me that because Britain had not been involved in any major conflicts since the Falklands War until the recent war on terrorism (aside from peace-keeping duties in Northern Ireland) society’s view of war had changed.  After 1945, few combatants ever spoke about their experiences in Europe, the Western Desert or more particularly in the Far East fighting German, Italian and Japanese oppression and also witnessing some terrible atrocities carried out against both combatants and civilians.  Today, these modern day veterans told me that they are now encouraged to express their thoughts and share their experiences with professionals to help them overcome the immense and damaging psychological effects on them.  The new global media means that harrowing images from war correspondents and the freedom to view news stories from different agencies throughout the world make the conflicts all that more vivid but being on the screen the true horrors, are not necessarily conveyed.  There are so many war games now available for our children to play that fact and fantasy can become confused.

I noted that two years ago I gave this address at your Remembrance Day service [at West Grimstead] when I said that friends of my daughters did not know who Winston Churchill was let alone his role in British history. Generations are growing up in this country with neither personal knowledge nor experience of war – and for that we must thank God – but there are also quite a number – family and friends of people like those veterans I met on Friday – who have been materially affected by those far away conflicts. 

Veterans have returned traumatised by what they have done and seen – many taken to drink or drugs or many simply have had to leave the Forces and cannot adjust to life in “Civvy Street”.  They return, cannot get a job, cannot adjust to having to make decisions themselves – having previously been told what to do, where to go and when.  Tensions rise, marriages fail and homelessness results.  For them there is no need to wear a poppy, the effect of war have left a permanent reminder.  Family break ups and mental health problems result.
Yes it is very good to wear our poppies with pride, to donate to Hope for Heroes and to those charities which are there specifically to help former servicemen and women overcome their physical disabilities and wounds.  But equally, there are so many others who suffer mental problems and its consequences who can often be forgotten.

I feel extremely honoured to have a ministry which includes attending to the pastoral care of such individuals. They are such rich people despite the loss, very often,  of much material wealth.  Their experiences, knowledge and patriotism mean that they deserve the best care and respect we can afford them. 

Alabare, within its veteran homes, seeks not only to give pastoral care and practical immediate help for the traumas being suffered by such people, it also seeks to prepare them for a return to a civilian life and society with programmes of retraining and help in financial budgeting and social awareness – returning them to once more being useful and kindly members of society. Bringing their riches to the fullness of God’s grace.

Jesus said, blessed are those who are the peacemakers (and many of those serving in our forces have been there for that very purpose) – for they shall be called the children of God.
We are all children of God though and as Jesus taught us, we should love each other as God loves us. On this Remembrance Sunday, let us remember that and praise God for all those who have given their lives and their health to preserve peace and overthrow tyrants so that we may continue to praise and glorify our Creator.

Amen




MFB/67

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