Ever since the Armistice Treaty in 1918 churches have held services of remembrance to give thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy and that were won at so high a price; the lives of 16 million soldiers and civilians, plus 21 million wounded to say nothing of the pain endured by many millions of loved ones when they learned that their husbands, fiancés, sons and fathers would never come home.
We do this for four reasons; which I’ll call regard, recognition, remembering and repentance.
Regard
What do I mean by regard? I mean this; whatever our feelings about the rights and wrongs of war, it is proper for us to show due regard for those who are most affected by its destruction. Many wars have been fought since World War I and each has been tragic. Since the First World War it has been estimated that about 120 million people have been killed in armed conflict.
However righteous the cause, however noble the objective, war always leaves heartbroken widows, fatherless sons and daughters and grief-stricken mothers who have to do what no parent should ever have to do; bury their own children.
On this day, our nation shows all those who are grieving their loved ones the regard we have for them and the heartache we share for their loss. We join together and say “You are not alone. We want to stand with you in your loneliness, your grief, your pain.”
That is a vital part of who we are and what we stand for. It is part of our soul.
Recognition
Secondly, this day is also about recognition. In our first Bible reading we heard about the bravery and courage of David’s mighty warriors; men who stood their ground and who defended their people and land from invading forces and against great odds.
Today we recognise the valour and courage of men and women who serve in the armed forces. In Afghanistan today our servicemen and women are laying their lives on the line diffusing explosive devices, defending schools which are giving an education to boys and girls, training local people to stand up to bigotry and intimidation, safeguarding the dignity of women and crippling the heroin trade at its source.
We recognise their courage with pride and gratitude today.
Remembering
Thirdly, and obviously, Remembrance Sunday is about remembering.
The Battle of Britain website has a letter that was first published on 18th June1940 in the Times. It was found among the personal belongings of a young RAF pilot who was reported ‘missing, believed killed.’ The letter was to be sent to his mother in the event that he died in action and I have abbreviated it because it is a little long.
Dearest Mother,
Though I feel no premonition at all, events are moving rapidly, and I have instructed that this letter be forwarded to you should I fail to return from one of the raids which we shall shortly be called upon to undertake…
First, it will comfort you to know that my role in this war has been of the greatest importance. Our patrols far out over the North Sea have helped to keep the trade routes clear for our convoys and supply ships, and on one occasion our information was instrumental in saving the lives of the men in a crippled lighthouse relief ship.
No man can do more, and no one calling himself a man could do less. I have always admired your amazing courage in the face of continual setbacks… without ever losing faith in the future. My death would not mean that your struggle has been in vain. Far from it. It means that your sacrifice is as great as mine…
Today we are faced with the greatest organized challenge to Christianity and civilization that the world has ever seen, and I count myself… honoured to be the right age and fully trained to throw my full weight into the scale. For this I have to thank you. Yet there is more work for you to do. The home front will still have to stand united for years after the war is won...
The universe is so vast and so ageless that the life of one man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice. We are sent to this world to acquire a personality and a character to take with us that can never be taken from us…
I count myself fortunate in that I have seen the whole country and known men of every calling. But with the final test of war I consider my character fully developed. Thus at my early age my earthly mission is already fulfilled and I am prepared to die with just one regret, and one only – that I could not devote myself to making your declining years more happy by being with you; but you will live in peace and freedom and I shall have directly contributed to that, so here again my life will not have been in vain.
Your loving Son
Today we say “Thank you” to such fallen, “Thank you” for the lives that they gave in order to protect and defend the freedoms and the peace that we enjoy; freedom to worship (including wearing a cross in the workplace), freedom of speech (including ideas that are inconveniently lacking in political correctness) and many other liberties that are a blessing to our land.
We honour the memory of the many brave men and women who died too young in the fields of armed conflict – and we choose today to live in peace with one another to demonstrate that they died purposefully and not in vain.
Repentance
Finally, repentance. Patriotic summaries of World War II portray righteous allied forces liberating the world from Nazi tyranny. And of course they did, at great sacrificial cost. But we must remember too with humility and tears that allied leaders too will one day give an account to God for the carpet bombing of Dresden, where 25,000 civilians were burned alive in just three days, and for the decision to drop atomic bombs on the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Good must triumph over evil, but there is darkness, as well as light, in every human heart.
Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” He said it just hours before he died, laying down his life not just for one nation but for the whole world to liberate it forever from the tyranny of sin and death. His suffering and death too were purposeful. He laid down his life not to win peace from a wicked dictator who is here today and gone tomorrow, but to secure for us an enduring peace with God.
Jesus’ suffering and death have power to cleanse of all guilt, all sin everyone who turns to God in repentance and sorrow.
So let us use this day to repent, before God, of our jealousies, our pride, our feelings of vengeance, our lack of love, our vanity and our hatred.
Jesus too did not die in vain for, as the Bible so wonderfully testifies, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 14th November 2010
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