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Nov 11, 1918 the armistice was signed and the war to end wars was, in essence, over. And in the wake of the joy and relief of that blessing came the startling figures…over 11 million soldiers killed in action, over 6 million missing in action…more than in any conflict since.
This was the beginning of Remembrance Day …
I was taught growing up that on Remembrance Day we remember the glorious fallen. Those who fought and died in a just war, for a good cause…just as John McCrae wrote in Flanders Fields… “take up our quarrel with the foe: to you from failing hands we throw / the torch; be yours to hold high.” A call to a valiant and honourable cause from an honoured and valiant soldier.
In the wake of a conflict that left nearly every family in the British Empire in mourning, it was very important to set aside a time to mourn and also to try and justify such a staggering loss. The war to end all wars; a noble and just cause, these were words of comfort for so many families. It is a romantic remembrance, and one that remembers all those in uniform…young men…who died that we may live.
But it also forgets. It forgets, or perhaps avoids those who died in other circumstances. It forgets the civilians who died in crossfire, the nurses, doctors and drivers and those who survived physically, but were suffered and were injured mentally.
Now, over 100 years later we are painfully aware that the war to end wars didn’t quite live up to its name. There have been over 70 wars since that time…so many we don’t even know their names. And during that time there have been countless millions who have died…military, civilian, humanitarian.
Even now, as we sit, there are 60 ongoing, armed conflicts raging in the world, 18 of which have caused the death of over 1,000 people since January…including the Tigray war, Ethiopian Sudanese clashes which began just last year and have already caused up to 52,000 deaths.
In a world where there is so much violence…so much death… it is easy to become numb…insensitive. To wish to forget, or to focus on the past, because, many of these present conflicts don’t touch our lives, many of them we don’t understand, and many we are completely unaware of.
But today we set apart time to remember. Not just those who lost their lives in WWI and WWII, but those who are dying as we speak. And we remember not just those who fought and died, but those who healed the wounded, prayed for peace, fled with their families, sheltered the innocent, stood fast in passive resistance…and were killed regardless.
Or at least we make space to remember. Because in truth we cannot remember them all. That is the dark side of Remembrance Day, we remember some and we forget others.
We read in 1st Peter “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you,…” And as difficult as it is… I think we forget that the ‘other side’ is remembering too. Not only that, but it is very likely that regardless of the conflict, or which side you are on…all people caught up in war reach out to God in one form or another.
The psalmist tells us that God is our refuge and strength a very present help in times of trouble. This is not only a hope, but a promise. God is with us, not in the abstract, but a very concrete way. A very present help…here and now, to each person, in each time and place.
In every time and conflict, those in fear and need have reached out to God…seeking in God both refuge and strength…help for their present time….regardless of which part of the conflict they are in. For God is present for the soldier and the civilian, for the old and young. God has not forgotten neither allied nor axis, nor has God forgotten passivist or extremist, God is present to all who call on him. The names of all of God’s children are written on the very hands of the Lord, and God knows each hair on every head.
We see the world and all that is in it differently as time passes, and we see the world differently depending on which side of the conflict we are on. But there are always mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, innocents and victims, regardless of where and when you are.
Just as there are always oppressors, dictators and terrorist… and they too are always remembered by God, even when God’s people neglect to pray for them. It is challenging in the midst of personal pain to pray for those who hurt you, and it is difficult in the midst of political, ideological and religious conflict to forgive those who differ from you. Yet, this is what we are called to do. To remember the past and the present and to pray for all those who are in danger and those who are dying.
Praying for them and for us, that we will have the courage to do what we can do to bring about the peace of Christ’s kingdom until that time when Christ comes again and wars will cease.
God walks in the midst of chaos and violence alongside those who call his name and all those whom we have forgotten. God walks with them, calling each of his children by name…speaking through his experience of human suffering that they are not alone.
Today, we set time apart to remember…To remember all those who died in the war to end all wars, we read aloud the names of men long dead and reflect on the young lives cut short. We remember all those behind the lines, and on the home front.
We remember the victims, the innocent, the refugees of today’s conflicts. We remember the militaries and the governments that are continuing in battle.
We remember and we commit to God all those whom we have forgotten and we pray that Christ will come soon and establish his kingdom of peace where death, war and tears will cease.
But until that time we, with God’s help, will remember them…