Remembrance Sunday 2018 at TSJ
I would like to focus our thoughts this morning on one verse from Ps 46
Psalm 46:1
“God is our refuge and strength
A very help in trouble”
Our mind is that unique gift that reminds us that we are made in the image of God.
The ability to remember is a wonderful gift that God has given to us.
In a flash you can be a child again, skimming rocks across a pond, or walking in a meadow.
Many of us can recall the time when you fell in love, got married and had children all over again.
You can remember – because those memories that are fixed in your mind.
And time cannot rob you of those - so long as your memory continues to function.
Some of our memories are happy and we can recall wonderful experiences.
But some of our memories are sad and we may weep.
The problem, though, is that sometimes memory fails us. Sometimes we forget.
For that reason alone, I think that the Remembrance Sunday Service is one of the most important services in the Church’s calendar, after Christmas and Easter.
Because it helps us not to forget why we have the freedom that we enjoy today.
This year’s service is particularly poignant as it commemorates exactly 100 years since the beginning of the First World War.
Remembrance Sunday reminds us that the peace that we have enjoyed 73 years of peace in Europe , but we must always remember it wasn’t bought cheaply.
It is not just a reminder of those who died in the First and Second World Wars - important as they were.
It is also a reminder of other conflicts that our armed services have been in
The Korean War
The Aden and Malayan Emergencies
The Falkland War
The Cyprus Conflict
The Northern Ireland Police Action
The 1st and 2nd Gulf Wars
The Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts
And it gives us an opportunity to say “Thank you” for the sacrifice that so many made - so that we in the United Kingdom can enjoy peace
It is appropriate too to come to a Christian Church to hold a service of Remembrance because the Church building should remind us of the greatest sacrifice of all
For in the New Testament we read of the story of God sending his own Son Jesus into the world to bring mankind back into a right relationship with God.
And to do so Jesus made the Ultimate sacrifice on our behalf on the Cross.
It is the sacrifice that we recall every Easter.
For it is more than simply the remembering of the life of a good man
Rather through it, we are reminded how GOD wants us to live
The rules that God has given us for living - are not rules to curtail our enjoyment of life.
Quite the contrary – they are given – as Jesus
said: so that we may have life and life in abundance (Jn 10:10)
Try and imagine playing a game of football with no rules. It would be chaos!
So it is with us when we fail to remember the rules of life that God has given us.
Jesus gave us two great rules to govern life in our society, The first was this.
To “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Mt 22:37)
The second was to “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:39)
In war many people found their faith – others lost it.
Story: In March 2004, I was in the second bookshop in Dymchurch rummaging through the books when I came across a second hand Jerusalem Bible.
As I opened the Bible up, a number of papers fell into my hand.
On one of them was written a story.
It was obviously very meaningful to the previous owner, an elderly lady because she had specially typed it out on a piece of paper.
And she had written this:
They were found by a corporal in the Royal Army Medical Corps and were printed in a Tunis newspaper. They found their way to Britain through the United States. A friend of the writer of these lines, who was with him when they were written (and who survived the battle in which the writer was killed) said the soldier was a thoroughly wild character, but there were tears running down his face as he wrote these lines. “Look, God, I have never spoken to you, And now I want to say: “ How do you do?”. You see, God, they told me you didn’t exist, And I, like a fool, believed all this. Last night, from a shell hole, I saw your sky, And I figured then they had told me a lie. I wonder, God, if you’d take my poor hand? Somehow I feel you would understand. Strange I had to come to this hellish place Before I had time to see your face. Wel1, I guess there isn’t much more to say: But I’m glad, God, that I met you today The zero hour will soon be here But I’m not afraid; because you are near. The signal has come, I shall soon have to go I like you lots - this I want you to know. I am sure this’ll be a horrible fight: Who knows? I may come to your House tonight. Though I wasn’ t friendly to you before, I wonder, God, if You’d wait at Your door? Look, I’m shedding tears, me shedding tears! Oh! How I wish I’d known you those long, long years Well, I have to go now, dear God. Goodbye But now that I’ve met you, I’m not scared to die.”> As we remember in this Service today – the cost to millions of our servicemen and women – of that peace that we enjoy today Let us thank God that we don’t have to go “to that hellish place” that that young American Soldier wrote about before he had “time to see God’s face”. Today we commemorate 100 years from the end of the First World Today is a day when we say “Thank you” to all those who made the sacrifice that we can stand here today in peace and freedom. We have read out the names of those who died this morning. But we must not forget those who are still suffering as a result of these wars. And may I commend to you the work of the British Legion, who still work to alleviate suffering among ex-service men and women. Please do give generously to them 3. The love of Christ As we stand in our parish church today, these thoughts of sacrifice should bring us back to the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us all on the battlefield of Calvary. St. John put it well when he said: Greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13) Jesus gave his life not only for his friends but also for his enemies. As God, Jesus had no need to experience human suffering but he did for all our sakes. Man’s evil –that’s basically what we call sin – has separated us from God. Jesus died to reconcile us to God, by dying in our place – the Perfect One for imperfect creatures. Jesus reconciled man to God, through dying on the Cross. This reconciliation is a gift that we can receive simply by asking Christ to come into our lives. As the apostle John put it: “But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) The former Bishop of Birmingham, Bishop J L Wilson, who was a Japanese prisoner of war in the Second War, recommended three thoughts for us all to carry in our hearts on Remembrance Sunday. These are: 1. That we should be thankful for the sacrifice of others 2. That we should be dedicated to work for peace and justice in the world 3. That we should be sorry for human sin and evil. As this is 100 years from the end of the First World War I would like to end by reading you a story from “Faith and Fortitude, the life and work of Sir William Dobbie” (p.114) written by his daughter Sybille Dobbie At the end of the First World War, William was on duty when the Armistice came through. Dobbie recalled the day like this Early in the morning of November 11th (1918) A message came through to General Headquarters to be disseminated throughout all the units of the British Army. It read as follows Hostilities will cease at 11.00 today, November 11th. AAA Troops will stand fast on the line reached at that hour, which will be reported by wire to Advanced G.H.Q. AAA Defensive precautions will be maintained. AAA There will be no intercourse with the enemy until the receipt of instructions from GHQ AAA Further instructions will follow. AAA ACKNOWLEDGE AAA Addressed all Armies , Calvary Corps and Advanced Operations RAF, repeated all concerned” Dobbie goes on to say: This historic message had to be signed by the GSO1 who happened to be on duty at the time -6.30am- and went out in the name of W.G.S.Dobbie, Lieut. Colonel , General Staff When in later in life, William was asked what he had done in World War 1 he used to reply that he had stopped it. Let us go from this Remembrance Day service resolved to make the commands of Jesus -summed up in the two greatest commandments - the goal of our lives. To “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Mt 22:37) The second was to “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:39) The American poet George Santayana, once said "Those who do not learn from history - are doomed to repeat it."
