Reflection for Remembrance Day 2014

Micah 4: 1-8
Matthew 5: 43-48

It surely can’t have escaped anybody’s attention that this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.  There have been special programmes on television this year, both documentaries and dramas and special events held not just in this country but all over the world.

When I think of the First World War three things come to mind.  The first is the television comedy, Blackadder Goes Forth.  I’m specifically thinking of the end of the final episode when Blackadder and his companions are about to leave the trenches and “go over the top” and charge the German lines (you can watch it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM).  After nearly six episodes of comedy things turn serious.  Baldrick turns to Blackadder and admits that he is afraid.  The others, including Blackadder voice their own fear.  Then the whistle blows and they climb the ladders and charge the German lines.  In slow motion they are all killed and then the scene fades and is replaced by a Flanders field full of poppies.  Brave people are not those who feel no fear, they are those who are afraid but go ahead and do it anyway.

The second thing that comes to mind is the visit I made to Belgium with school when I was fifteen, because we were studying World War One.  I remember we went to two of the WW1 cemeteries.  It was a very sobering experience, even as a teenager, to stand among rows and rows of identical white headstones, each one of them representing a soldier who had been brave enough to give his life for something he believed in.  Even as a teenager I was stunned into a subdued silence!

The third thing that comes to mind is that the First World War was once called “the war to end all wars”.  Sadly, as all the other wars of the 20th and 21st centuries attest, it was no such thing.  The sad truth is that human beings continue to fight and kill each other over land, or ideology or religious belief.  Sometimes that fighting is in a just cause to oppose a great evil like the Nazis to defend the weak and innocent, evil it can be argued it would be a greater evil not to oppose.  At other times that fighting is motivated by selfishness, greed and hatred.

My study of the Lectionary readings for Remembrance Sunday tells me that war is contrary to the will of God, it is far from God’s best for us and God’s desire is for peace on earth.

In the reading from the book of Micah that desire of God for peace on earth is abundantly clear.  Inspired by God Micah prophesies a time when “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”  In that future paradise war will be truly a thing of the past because we will live in harmony with each other and with all creation.  There will be nothing to fight about because we will all have enough and we will all know the truth about God.  This is the utopia promised at the end of the book of Revelation when “the home of God is among mortals.  God will dwell with them; they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.”

Our passage from Matthew’s gospel gives us guidance as to God’s will for us until the time we will spend eternity in paradise, in the very presence of the living God.  It comes from the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus has already said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  Now Jesus says “You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

It is easy to hate your enemy when they are faceless, when they are not really thought of as human beings, but as the enemy.  But if we start to see our enemies as human beings, human beings with the same passions, drives as vulnerabilities as ourselves it is not so easy to hate them.  If we start to actively pray for them we start to see them as God sees them and our attitude changes.  It is very hard to fight people who are like us in so many ways; it is very hard to kill somebody you have prayed for.

During Christmas 1914 there was an unofficial and totally unplanned truce along the Western Front.  British and German soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts.  On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day many soldiers from both sides independently ventured into no man’s land, where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. It is widely believed, though doubted by some, that troops from both sides were also friendly enough to play games of football with one another.

It’s hard to kill somebody you have played games with, exchanged gifts with and sung carols with.  When the truce end officers on both sides had to force the soldiers to resume the fighting.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

If you love your enemy you cannot fight against them and you cannot kill them.  1 Corinthians chapter 13 tells us, “Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”  To love your enemy is to be at peace with them.

War is a sometimes necessary evil; it is sometimes necessary to defend either yourself, your family or your country against an aggressor with evil intent.  Until God renews our earth when Jesus returns it is sometimes necessary to defend the innocent and defenceless by opposing evil with force.  But it must always be a last resort, when all other options have failed!

In times of conflict we should, even as we honour the bravery of those giving their lives for a cause they believe in, pray for peace, God’s ideal for the world!

I’ll finish with a couple of verses from a modern hymn:

We pray for peace,
but not the easy peace
built on complacency
and not the truth of God.  We pray for real peace,
the peace God’s love alone can seal.

We pray for peace,
and, for the sake of peace,
look to the risen Christ,
who gives the grace we need
to serve the cause of peace
and make our own self-sacrifice.