Preached at St. Leonard’s at 9.30am on Sunday 10th November 2024
“It was Sam [Gamgee]’s first view of a battle of Men against Men. And he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead [man’s] face. He wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace”
That’s a quote from The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien. Sam being one of the little hobbits on a long walk to destroy the weapon of power.
In Normandy, at the German Cemetery, with over 21k burials, there is a plaque on your way in that says something like: Not all who are buried here chose the cause or the fight. So this year is Eighty years since the D-Day invasion of Nazi Occupied France – 6th June 1944. D-Day itself involved 13 countries, 24k paratroopers to land behind enemy lines, a naval barrage and then 130k soldiers landing with help from an Amada of over 5k vessels. 10k of them died that day. Tens of thousands would die in the days to come. So, whilst- from this point on, it would seem, with hindsight, the outcome of the war was pretty certain, Nonetheless it remained a hard fight all the way to May 1945.
What will you be remembering? In the 2 minutes silence – at the War Memorial straight after this, or the Civic Service after that, or tomorrow, or on Tuesday at Seaford Cemetery – what will you be remembering?
For many of us our minds go straight to the personal. My Dad – he never flew an operation, though he was trained as a navigator on Lancaster Bombers, or my Uncle who served in the Queens Royal Lancashire Regiment in NI and elsewhere, or a man called Jim who designed the trollies for wheeling the bouncing bombs out to their aircraft. Or I think of my American friend who went to Afghanistan for a whole year and came back a different man. I could keep going. And it’s no bad thing to spend some part of this weekend remembering them. But what I’d like you to try and do with your remembrance this year – is to turn it into prayer. Yes to give thanks for those who “for your tomorrow we gave our today”, but also to intercede for those places in the world that need God’s peace. Some of which have been in the news, many of which haven’t.
We continue, as a world, to be committed to the doctrine of Redemptive violence. So that if you slap me on the cheek what I should really do is punch you so hard that your children feel it, and so they in turn will want their revenge, and within a few generations we will have no real ability to discuss who started it, nor will we be well equipped for finding a cessation of hostility, where should we find hope for peace, or for forgiveness, healing and rebuilding. So Putin is absolutely clear in his mind of his righteousness as he sends other people’s children into his war. And no doubt there will be Russian clergy who will be phrasing that thought differently.
Today’s reading from Hebrews reminds us of our accountability before God – for we are all destined to die once, and then to face judgement. But the writer to the Hebrews, his comfort, his point, is that Jesus is not a short-term High Priest, momentarily cleansing the sins of the moment. As with all human High Priests, they lived they died. But with Jesus not only do we have a permanent High Priest but we have one who is actually at work in heaven. Please note, in this bit of bible, the reminder that Heaven is more Real than earth. The earthly cleansing sacrifices being merely symbolic of what is really happening in heaven. So Jesus in heaven, a better priest, a better sacrifice, a better blood, where the aim is for Sin to be done away with, the sins of many taken away.
So who’s fault was it? Was it God’s fault – for putting the tree there in the first place, for allowing the snake to be in the garden, for making the one rule Don’t eat the apple, for… How many excuses will we use to justify ourselves, our sin and selfishness?
But Note how God does not play the game of Who’s Fault was it? – as if somehow an answer to that would bring peace – but instead, at the culmination of the ages, God incarnate, in Jesus, takes the blame, pays the price, re-establishes that bridge that allows for sins to be taken away, for redemption and reconciliation to be possible, for healing of our souls, and please even of our earth. In the meantime, Hebrews simply says that we are to Wait for Jesus. Wait for Jesus to re appear and bring in salvation, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. Our job is to Wait.
How are you at waiting? I’m really not very good at it. So then listen to Jesus. In the Gospel reading Jesus calls Simon and Andrew and James and John – Come Follow Me – and they do.
They’re being invited to be part of a new community. It starts with the Good News that God has not forgotten you, that God has come close to you, that God’s Kingdom is not a distant dream but one worth pursuing, praying for, building up. And it starts with a call to Repent. We often define repentance quite personally, as a change of mind, a change of heart, a personal turning around, turning away from sin and towards what’s right. Good. Carry on.
But we don’t often repent of a system that knows how to keep people distrusting other people. We don’t repent of a culture that encourages labels and lists of people who are Not Like Us and because they’re not like us we are allowed to not like them. So Simon, Andrew, James and John – the way that they will Wait for the Return of Jesus is by living in this new community that finds a way of welcoming in a collaborator, tax collector, Matthew, that finds a way of accepting a well trained assassin, religious zealot, also called Simon.
Repentance for them was about letting go of accepting the status quo of hate.
How will Israel get their people back – those held Hostage by Hamas? And How will the innocents in Gaza or Lebanon, find peace, forgiveness, to heal and rebuild a new community. And what can you do? Yes Pray. Every time it pops up on the news. Persist in prayer. Yes Give money – we’ve been encouraging the red envelopes of Christian Aid as part of the Disaster Emergency Committee And add to that the importance of here, building a new kingdom that repents of the simple disparaging of different groups for race or religion or geography or history. But instead applies the hard work of forgiveness and reconciliation to those around us today.
The book of Hebrews calls us to Wait for the Lord – because God has not forgotten you, Jesus is taking away the sin of many, the Kingdom of God is close. So we wait. But perhaps our waiting could be a busy sort of waiting. Where we here find a way to build a loving supporting forgiving caring including community. It’s not easy. Hurt and hate are ever at the door.
Perhaps in your moment of Remembrance, you might include not only personal memories of old, but add to them a prayer – yes for peace in distant lands, but also for a heart to work here for a little glimpse of the Kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen.