I went to see the poppies at the Tower of London this weekend. I was moved by the representation of all that bloodshed. For me there is no such thing as an unwounded soldier.
My father fought in WW2. My father-in-law is German and was sent to the front by Hitler when he was only 14. He was captured by the British and held as a prisoner of war. At the end of the war he was sent home to his mother. Strange that in my family I have both sides.
My grandfather was in the trenches during WW1. Sadly he was gassed and this affected him for the rest of his life. He was a lovely man and looked after me as a small child. He died as a result of his war injury when I was only 4. I sometimes wonder if he'd have lived would he have been able to do anything about the violent alcoholic that my father turned into. Did my dad become that way because of his war experience? I'll never truly know the answers to these questions but it makes me realise that I too am a victim in some way of both wars. Maybe that is why I am so dedicated to peace.
The following is a sermon I wrote last year when I was preaching at a church I had not been to before.
May my words be in the name of the living
God, creating, redeeming and sustaining. Amen.
Thank you for inviting me to take your
service here today. I bring greetings from all at St Augustine Academy and we
are proud to be a secondary school serving your community. I know you have at
least one of our students here and I thank you for bringing Matthew to
confirmation.
When I agreed to take today’s service I
didn’t notice the date, just the gap in my diary. For me Remembrance Sunday is
always challenging. I hope you will also share my sense of challenge.
For my text this morning I’d like us to
concentrate on that last verse of our gospel reading “Now he is a God not of
the dead, but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
Those of us who are living have an awesome
responsibility. When I was at school we learned about many wars and lots of
people who had died. I remember being really moved by the poetry of Wilfred
Owen, who wrote his poems from the trenches. We were often clear about who were
the “good” people as history is nearly always written by the winners of war.
Where has all that education lead me too? How have I made sense of all of that
in the context of living out my theology and my understanding of the gospel
message? Well, I have come to the conclusion that war is a
messy, bloody and destructive affair. War
doesn’t decide who is right, just who is left! Neither side is justified in its
actions. There are atrocities committed by all armies of the world.
Several years ago I went to Berlin and I
visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It had a profound effect on me. On
the train on the way back into the city after the trip I was chatting with the
tour guide. He was an ex-military man He had been quite senior but now was
anti-war and working to promote peace. We had a spirited discussion. One of the
things that he said that really stuck in my mind was “What if wars were fought
by the politicians and leaders who started the war rather than the soldiers who
really could see no difference between them and the other side?” He told me
that military strategists learn from war but politicians do not.
Today very little contact is needed to wage
war. The “Cold War” which frightened a whole generation was based on the fear
of pressing a “button” and that there were satellites at the fingertips of the
leaders. If we are honest many of us still carry that fear today.
The 1st world war was meant to be the war
that ended all wars. Then the 2nd world war would hopefully do that. I recently
found out that the only year a British soldier hasn’t been killed since the end
of the war is 1967. I find that astounding and disturbing. It’s like we are almost
guaranteed war and conflict. Why is that?
Today we feel so distant from war. We sit in
the comfort of our front rooms and watch the sky light up in war torn areas on
our TV’s, giving little or no thought to the people who lives are snuffed out
by that flash of light over the shoulder of the newscaster.
So what can we do? How do we work towards peace? How can this
world find an alternative to bearing arms in the name of peace and still fight
for something so dear? We may be many miles from the nearest war but it is a
part of our everyday life. We hear of war every day on the news. Some of you
may also have family in the army which brings the threat very close to home.
I think there is a biblical basis for non-violent
Peace building? We can use the New Testament as our basis. “Love your enemy” is
one I always remember. Another is “Love each other as I have loved you” There
are loads. I’m sure you could all think of your own texts.
Peace is often thought about as the absence
of war. But it’s more than that. It requires an active participation from us.
Like the peace and justice work carried out in South Africa by the truth and
reconciliation commission set up by Archbishop Tutu. Or those that work for
restorative justice services bringing together prisoners and their victims in
this country. The anti-violence workers who go into schools and teach young
people about equal and loving relationships. The list is actually endless. Are
you on it?
Here are a few examples of modern day peace builders:
In Hebron after Israeli forces demolished
the Al-Attrash home for the third time, the family, their friends and supporters
peacefully resisted the uncalled for use of force and told the soldiers, “Don’t
worry, we’ll build another one.”
The doctor who lost 5 members of his family
to an attack on his home who works in a hospital bringing hope and healing to
all who come through the door of whatever side and has written a book called “Thou
shall not hate”.
The activists and the women who camped out
at Greenham Common and the Iona community members currently demonstrating
against Trident to say nuclear weapons are wrong.
The children in my school who walk away from
conflict.
While war is definitely the opposite of
peace and is never desirable, peace has a broader meaning. Peace is the mutual emotion
of good will between two or more parties. This is true whether it be on the level
of a relationship between couples or the relationship between countries. It is interesting
to compare these two different sorts of relationships.
How long would a marriage last if the only
reason the couple was not fighting and arguing was because the one of them had
a large bat and was prepared to use it on the other’s head if they stepped out
of line? Of course, we say, the relationship couldn’t last with all of that
tension. So why do we think that international relations are any different? Are
people really that different as a group than they are individually? Do the
emotions of fear, anxiety and anger change because an individual is threatened by
the military machine instead of a cricket bat? I don’t believe there is a
difference.
The use of force is like putting a plaster
on a severed artery. That kind of so called “peace” can last only as long as
the dominant party remains strong and has the will to use its power. This has
become overwhelmingly clear in the power struggle between Iraq, Afghanistan and
America and Britain over the course of this last decade.
The result of security being based on the
use of force is that the violence trickles down (or up) into our everyday
society. Just look at the headlines of our daily papers and we quickly see many
violent stories. I truly believe that violence just creates more violence.
So how can we begin building peace within
ourselves? We need to look at Jesus’ example and like him preach love to a
warring world. We as peace building
Christians have a responsibility to spread our peace into this violence and into
a hurt and scarred world.
A Chaplain colleague will tell his school
this next week.
Shortly we will remember the 11th hour of
the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. And so ended a war they called “great”.
Estimates of between 9 million and 16 million soldiers and civilians from both
sides died of war related causes in a space of four years. This was “the war to
end all wars”. But history shows that we don’t learn from history.
We keep on remembering but then we keep on
forgetting. Names of countries cry out war. Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, The Falkland Islands, The
Former Yugoslavia, Burma, Vietnam, Korea the list goes on. Men, Woman and children
taking last steps on this earth before a bomb or bullet or booby trap or blow,
snuffs out the life of another brother or mother or father or daughter or son.
So it is correct that we remember this week
those that have passed on as a result of war. The selfless sacrifice and the
senseless slaughter. The faces of the known and unknown. The dead, the dying
and the ones that carry the scars both physical and emotional. The
conscientious objectors shot for cowardice. The millions of unnamed women and
children who are deemed collateral damage. It is right that we remember them
all.
In our red poppies we remember those lost in
wars past and present but in our white poppies we hold on to the hope of peace.
A peace that passes all understanding. You won’t find that kind of peace in the
latest game of Call of Duty or in the clenched fist before a fight. You have to
find it within and then speak it out.
“Blessed are the peacemakers” Jesus once
said “for they shall inherit the earth”. The military and politicians are
fighting over the earth. Will the peacemakers win? Maybe it’s up to us to bring
out the peace and kill off the war.
I started with that text from the gospel and
I want to end with it because we must remember and learn from all who have gone
before us and have died, especially the peacemakers. “Now he is a God not of
the dead, but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” Amen.
