Remembering - something you do.

Remembrance Sunday Sermon 2015

On this day each year we gather to remember.  “We will remember them” we say year by year. I have spent a considerable amount of time recently as I prepared for today considering why we do this and what remembering actually involves and I think it can be summed up in one word, it may be a surprising one, that word is Peace. That is what today is actually about – it is about peace. Let me tell you why I have come to that conclusion.

We are here sharing in our memories and thoughts, giving thanks for selfless sacrifice, confessing the failings of a sinful human race, praying for peace on earth & an end to the madness & waste of war.

We heard from the Old Testament prophet Micah earlier, he had been predicting terrible times of war for the people of Israel. But then he goes on with the amazing vision we heard today – the day when peace will replace warfare and swords will be made into ploughs. We’re still waiting. Since the end of the Second World War 70 years ago there have been some 250 major wars in which over 50 million people have been killed, tens of millions made homeless, and countless millions injured and bereaved. In the history of warfare the twentieth century stands out as the bloodiest and most brutal - three times more people have been killed in wars in the last 100 or so years than in all the previous five hundred.

How long Lord, must we keep hearing the prophecy of peace? When will it come? Christians believe that ultimate peace and justice and joy will come with the Kingdom of God but that doesn’t mean that we just sit and wait – it is never too soon to start cultivating the oasis of peace in the desert of our war mongering world. In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, “Peace is not something that you wish for. It is something that you make, something that you do, something that you are, something that you give away.” And that is why our remembering must be active – it must be more than casting our minds back or standing in silence. It must do something.

And that is after all what those who have died in battle that we remember today were fighting for –they were not creating war for something to do, death and destruction for its own sake. The soldiers who died fighting whether in the First World War, Second World War, the Falklands, Iraq, Afghanistan or countless other conflicts did not die because they wanted war, they died because they wanted to bring justice and peace.

And if we really want to honour those who died in war, if we really want to remember then we can do no better than by building a more peaceful loving world for their children and ours. 

And that is why remembering is so important, that is why this annual day when we pause and remember and reflect is so important. We are called to make peace, to turn swords into ploughshares. There is nothing - no sword, no gun, no bomb, no tank,

that cannot be turned into something else - a shovel, a table or a plough. And there is no broken person or fractured community which cannot be transfigured into something whole, something beautiful for God.

 The Gallipoli Campaign in World War One was carried out between 25th April 1915 and 9th January 1916 on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire.

HMS M.33 in the Historic Dockyard here in Portsmouth is a unique survivor.  Launched in May 1915 she is the sole remaining British veteran of that year’s bloody Gallipoli Campaign and the only British warship from the First World War that is currently open to the public.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy and Hampshire County Council have worked to conserve, restore and interpret HMS M.33. She sits in No.1 Dock alongside HMS Victory. A new interpretation bring alive HMS M.33’s history, the stories of the men who served on board, and the bloody history of the Gallipoli Campaign. This little survivor, a ‘Monitor’ of 568 tons with a shallow draft allowing it to get close-in to shore and fire at targets on land, carried two powerful and oversize guns, but was a basic metal box lacking in comforts. The 72 officers and men who sailed for the Gallipoli Campaign were crammed inside and away from home for over 3 years, trying to bring justice and peace.

A warship transformed into a way of remembering, of hearing stories of people who fought for peace and of helping us to do the same.

There are of course plenty more recent stories, Corie Mapp, a 36-year old Army veteran who served in Afghanistan for example. Corie originally served in The Household Cavalry Regiment as a Life Guard and later drove tanks in Afghanistan. Originally from Barbados, he joined as a Commonwealth soldier. He wanted to serve the Commonwealth and make a difference, for the sake of his children. To create a world of peace and stability for them.

Corie’s military service was cut short in 2010 when an IED blast in Musa Qala, Afghanistan resulted in the loss of both his legs.

He was flown back to Birmingham’s Selly Oak hospital and in a story that shows his determination, within two weeks of waking up from an induced coma, he was moving around on prosthetic legs. This determination has lead him to a remarkable recovery and allowed him to excel in a range of sports.

After his injury Corie became involved with sport, starting out on a journey that would begin with Sitting Volleyball and take him to the Warrior Games, the Invictus Games, and to winning a gold medal at the World Cup Para Bobsleigh race this year. He now plays disabled cricket for Hampshire, and is still a part of the GB Paralympic Bobsleigh team and captain of the Volleyball team. Corie is applying to be a volunteer case worker for the Royal British Legion in Swindon, where he lives with his wife and three children. Corie appears across the country in newspapers and magazines, as well as on posters and billboards as an Ambassador in the 2015 Poppy Appeal campaign.

So if you see Corie’s photo tell your friends and family about him, share his story and how the poppy, how remembering, helps brave men and women like him. Share their stories to show people how The Royal British Legion's poppy is both a symbol of Remembrance and one of hope for our recent veterans and serving men, women and their families. A symbol of an ongoing striving for justice and peace. Remembering on this day is not about thinking back with sad thoughts or warm thoughts, it isn’t just about showing gratitude for those who gave so much for us, although that is important, it isn’t even about a two minute silence unless during that two minutes we commit ourselves afresh to striving for peace. Not many of us are ever likely to be in the position to broker any major cease fires but we can all do our bit of peacemaking. 

 So remember the old prophet Micah taking his sword to the blacksmith saying hammer this out….

Remember the warship transformed into a means of educating and promoting peace.

Remember Corie and his commitment to live his life to the full despite the sacrifices he has made in the name of peace.

Then consider whatever you have in your life which has the potential for violence or destruction, that which could destroy peace and harmony, even life itself - Offer it to God and say Lord remake it – transform and transfigure it, transform and transfigure me.

Remembering is not a reflective, contemplative action.  It is a defiance in the face of evil and destruction in the word. It is a refusal to accept that we can do nothing about injustice  but have to wait it out. It is a commitment to do all we can to bring in God’s kingdom of justice and peace.

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 any more;
4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
    and no one shall make them afraid;
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.