Sunday 13^th November - Remembrance Sunday

Readings - Micah 4. 1 - 5, Romans 8. 31 -  39

On this remembrance Sunday we pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice:  

It is because people in nations across the world were willing to give everything, even their own lives, that we are now free from tyranny. Because those who died and those who lived to tell the tale put duty and principle above the desire for self-preservation, that we are still living in a democracy.

A democracy that despite its many failings still offers us many liberties: the freedom of speech, the freedom to hold differing opinions, the freedom to be ourselves, the freedom that we enjoy came at a price.  

Some of those who were willing to pay that price will be at services across the county today.

They would have been teenagers when they signed up. They would have experienced unthinkable horrors and tremendous loss, that they may have silently carried with them. It is a privilege to be able to express our gratitude to those people and to honour with them those who fell.

To hear the names read out, reveals the magnitude of sacrifice that is staggering. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. They willingly chose to do so.

Each person who died was someone’s son or daughter, mother or father, husband, wife, friend. Their loss ripples out into those around them; families who did not ask for this were left with tragedy and heart break. We need to remember that the armies who go to war are made up of people, with many who remain, paying the cost of that decision for years and decades after the event.

But there are more casualties of war. In the last century we now see civilians dragged into the battle. It is unthinkable. Innocent individuals going about their daily business become the victims of a war in which they play little part.

Theirs is not a noble sacrifice. They did not give up their lives, their lives were taken from them. And today, though their names are not inscribed in stone, or Written on our memorials, we should remember them.

Those who lost rather than gave. Lives take away rather than sacrificed.

We believe in the sanctity of human life, and these acts undermine that and are abhorrent in every way. War is not confined to the battle field. We are right to feel passionately about this - to stand against this. And I believe the way to fight this fight is to meet that hate, with love.

Cease being the bringers of terror, but start being the bearer of peace.

When Jesus said no one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life.

He then called us his friends. And then laid down his life.

He encouraged us to love our neighbours, our enemies.

We must value another person’s life, just as much, if not more than our own. Because this creates the self sacrificing virtue of love, the goal of life. Love that forebears and forgives, refuses to be part of anything that oppresses.

There are many reasons we may have come to church this morning on remembrance Sunday. Or why you may be watching online. I don’t know and I certainly do not assume that all who are listening to these words believe that Jesus died for them, or maybe even believe in God.  

I know that I am speaking to a wide range of beliefs and I have no intention of trying to convince or persuade anyone of anything.  

In the letter from the bible that was read this morning, the letter written by Paul to the romans, we heard the following words:

‘For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Paul is also writing to a wide range of beliefs and he is letting them know what he believes. When we talk about our faith, we are accepting by the name, that it is faith. Not certainty. We cannot know for sure. We can have very strong convictions, suspicion, beliefs, and feelings, but by its very nature there is an element of trust involved. And the same applies to atheism. It takes faith to believe that all of this is by accident, that we were not designed, made with a purpose. That is a huge leap of faith and I appreciate that.

When Paul writes that he is convinced, I relate to that. Because the more I have looked for God, and let me tell you, if God is playing hide and seek, he isn’t very good, because whenever I choose to look for God, I find him fairly easily. Maybe he is too big I don’t know. The more I have come to know God, the more I am convinced of two things. Firstly, his indescribable majesty, size and power. I am lost for words when I stare up the stars and consider their size. And we are just a spec. Whoever made us, is bigger than anything I could imagine and nothing else comes close.  

And secondly, this huge God, actually loves me. Not just me because I am one of the billions of people here on earth and he loves earth, but like actually me, and you. We are precious as individuals to God as well as part of earth.  

So when I think about Jesus, laying down his life for me. I know that he did that because he loves me, and I know that God is more powerful than anything and so I am also convinced that if God is for us, then who can be against us? If we are so loved by God, then we have nothing to fear, and that counts if we are alive on earth, or if we have died. Because we are held in his hands.

When we feel grief and anger and injustice, or whatever we feel about war, this comes from our inner knowledge that life is so valuable. We have an instinct to protect and preserve life, even the lives of our enemies, because we - have faith - that life is so precious. Maybe even, I could use the word, sacred.

And when we think about that a bit more, we realise that to value life and want to protect it, that is love.  

We talk of God as being love, which can be a bit strange and abstract, but what we really mean is that God is all the pure bits of love with none of the selfish parts wrapped up as well. And God is so loving, that he cannot be un loving, and so he is love. He is perfect love.

Love that casts our fear.  

God’s victory is one in which Love, not weapons, not aggression, not bullies, fear or intimidation - love conquers all.

And may we, whoever we are today, however we came to be in this service and whatever doubts, faith, questions or grievances we may have - may we live as people who believe that love conquers all.