Remembrance Sunday 10 November
Readings: Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; Heb. 9. 24-28; Mk. 1. 14-20
Theme: Remembrance
One of the characteristics of civilizations is that they are respectful of their dead, especially of those who have fallen in battle defending their country. Remembrance of our war dead is a way in which their struggles and sufferings are not forgotten, but lives on amongst us. One might say, that in remembering them, they are still amongst us.
In the Bible, war and destruction are a consequence of sin and infidelity. This is what we have in our first reading from Jonah. Jonah warns the Ninevites that if they do not change their ways God will bring destruction upon them, and fortunately, for the Ninevites, they listen to Jonah’s warning and repent, so God does not bring destruction upon them. Our Gospel takes us into different territory. It announces the call of the apostles, Peter and Andrew, James and John, as Jesus walks by the sea of Galilee. This scene is at the start of Mark’s Gospel and its focus is on the calling to discipleship that is the specific vocation of the apostles. The connection between this and Remembrance Sunday is not immediately evident. What does vocation have to do with the suffering and death of those who have fought for their country?
The answer is the call to service. Just like the apostles Peter and Andrew, James and John, those who are called up to serve their country are following a vocation. A vocation to follow the decisions and the orders of those politicians who believe all other options for a solution to a conflict have been exhausted and war is the last option available. Of course, as we know from the complicated history of wars, not all wars are fought for the right reasons and sometimes ordinary people are slain on the altar of the egos of powerful men. The decision to go to war needs to be the final one taken in conflict resolution and it needs to be proportionate to the evil which is being combatted.
The particular focus of our Remembrance Sunday is obviously the First and Second World Wars. In the struggle of ideologies which tore apart the twentieth century, the campaigns for democracy gave a framework for the various conflicts in Europe, Africa, the Atlantic, the Middle and Far East which have made their way into the history books which I am sure that many of us have studied whether at school or later on. These wars were a reminder that the beliefs and the ideas that we cherish can become the noble reasons for entering into conflict. They are not simply whims and fancies that we hold to, but deep and cherished beliefs which correspond to the values of our civilization. These beliefs and values are, you might say, what makes us civilized, whether that be the belief in freedom, the dignity of the person, or the quest for justice.
These values emerge out of a long conversation between Christianity and the ancient and medieval worlds and their philosophies which have bequeathed to us a set of values which we consider to be sacred. No individual should be sacrificed because they are held to be unimportant. All people are valuable because they are made in the image and likeness of God and it is this which gives them their dignity and it is inalienable. This dignity comes with responsibility. The responsibility to exercise our freedom with a view to how it affects others and so promotes or hinders justice. A constellation of values and principles weave together to create our understanding of what it means to be civilized, and when this is under threat the ultimate action we should take is to defend it in war.
This is what we are remembering today on our Remembrance Sunday. Those who have sacrificed their lives for us and our values are not to be forgotten, as it says in our epitaph that was read out at the start of this celebration today, “They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them, we will remember them.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.