Sermon delivered at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead Remembrance Day Service – Sunday 13th November 2022
(adapted
from Sermons 124 and 140)
John 15:13
May
I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
“No
one has greater love than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command you…I am giving you these commands so
that you may love one another”
So speaks Jesus to his disciples in that same passage
where he describes himself as the vine and them as the branches.
So began the address I last gave to you here at West
Grimstead on Remembrance Sunday 2019. I
went on to say that 101 years, since the ending of the first world War, there
are no longer any people who remember at first hand the dreadful conflict of
the First World War and today, some 77 years after the ending of the Second
World War very few who were involved directly in that conflict or can remember
it. My mother, who does retain memories of that war, and how it affected
village life in Norfolk, is now 93 years of age, a young ten-years old girl
when Hitler invaded Poland.
Talking of which, I am sure I have, on a previous
occasion, told you about my trip to Poland in 2012 when I took my fifteen years
old son to visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland. As we approached that dreadful place he
turned to me and said “Dad, it’s in colour. It’s real!” It suddenly dawned on me that for many, of
his generation and those both before and afterwards, the horrors of war were,
to some extent, sanitised by the absence of colour and were mere unreal
monochrome images – divorced from reality. The same applied when I was watching
a TV programme, “The World at War in Colour” – my wife came in and said that
her blood was chilled by seeing images of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders
in their brown uniforms and red swastika armbands. So, for many, the horrors of the Second World
War are either but a distant memory to an ever dwindling minority or consigned
to the history books and black and white photos and films for those still
interested.
I have maintained a strong interest myself in modern
history, hence the trip to Poland in 2012, and, during my lifetime, the words
of Harold MacMillan, Britain’s Prime Minister in the late 1950s/early 1960s
ring in my ears. Addressing my
generation – young at the time – he said “You’ve never had it so good”. Never
in recent history, in my view, has a politician spoken truer words. My generation has never lived through a
global conflict involving a desperate defence of our own realm – but
experienced a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity for the majority, we
have enjoyed the welfare state, final salary pensions, free medical care and
freedom from conscription. We are indeed the lucky ones and it was because of
the sacrifices made by those whose names appear on the cenotaphs and memorials
throughout our country that we have enjoyed these things. They fought against
totalitarian and fascist states, against those who would try and control others
by brutal and inhuman means. We are
rightly proud of those who defend our nation, both then and today, as well as
those defending those other vulnerable nations of the world.
When I gave my address to you in 2019, little did I ever
think that three years later we would be witnessing, once more on our European
doorstep, the types of aggressive war and acts of inhumanity such as we are
seeing today in Ukraine. If anyone
doubts what we fought against in 1914-1918 and particularly 1939-1945 just
watch and listen to the news reports coming in from Kyiv. We must continue to
pray for the complete liberation of that country and an end to the deprivations
and suffering of her innocent people.
Today, we can see, almost immediately, the effects of war
through the readily available media reports – in colour, and therefore there
can be no excuse for anyone to stand back and simply allow these things to
happen. It has been an immense joy to
see so many families in our Clarendon Team villages taking Ukrainian refugees
into their homes and thereby showing solidarity with those innocent people
caught up in a conflict not of their making.
Our gospel passage this morning is very familiar and often
quoted by those sandwich board street evangelists – I distinctly remember one
such colourful character in the aptly-named Lord Street in Liverpool when I was
a student there – brandishing the words “The End is Nigh”. Well I guess he is no longer with us but we
are still here and suffering continues. Jesus is saying to those admiring the
structure of the Temple that “all this would pass away” in due time – and
indeed, within forty years the Temple had been torn down by the Romans so
little is now left. Jesus also reminds his listeners that many may come and
declare themselves to be Him returned but we must be discerning and not follow
them just because they say so. And, finally, he tells his audience that “when you hear of wars and insurrections do
not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not
follow immediately”. Jesus was aware that wars and insurrections would
continue – and so they have for over two thousand years since.
What Jesus is saying is that as his followers we will
have to endure this suffering for through suffering our Faith in God is
strengthened. The bible is full of
battles and famines – especially the Old Testament – which result in the
strengthening of Faith – we have only to think of Moses, Joseph and Daniel who
were caught up in inhumane suffering and injustice. As a church we are here to support those who
suffer in whatever form and to support all those, like our armed services, who
are prepared to lay down their lives to bring a stop to naked oppression – such
as we have seen in Ukraine in recent months.
In 2019 I asked the question in my address “So then how should the church approach this
difficult topic [of war]? What is the role of the church at times of such
conflict and man-made horrors? “My response to this rhetorical question was
that I believed it was not just to bury the dead or lead services of
remembrance after the events. I also
believed that the church had a role too in preventing such conflicts occurring
in the first place. I have not changed
that view. My mother would often use the phrase “prevention is better than cure” – usually in the context of health
issues admittedly – and wherever possible, if we can remember Jesus’s Second
Great Commandment – “to love others as we
would wish to be loved ourselves” - war could be brought to an end. That is a very high and unfortunately
unlikely ideal, I have to confess, but whatever we can do to try and bring the
Kingdom of Heaven to Earth, we should try.
As the Chinese proverb states, “the completion of a long journey starts
with the very first step”.
Today is a remembrance of those who have laid down their
lives in faith in those battles against Wrong.
The church continues to have that role today – as we remember the fallen
we should also remember our immediate role as reconcilers and instruments of
peace. Those we are remembering today
made the ultimate sacrifice – their todays were given up for our tomorrows; as
did Jesus Christ himself when he died on the Cross for our sins – in a spirit
of strong love of Right against Wrong.
We are all God’s soldiers, marching as to War, to that
Spiritual Warfare which we see all around us today, but we march not with guns
or bayonets but with the Cross of Jesus going on before, as the hymn states.
I end with remembering the words of Christ once more - “No one has greater love than this, to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command
you…I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”.
“At
the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them”
Amen
MFB/11112022
