Readings: Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44
We pray: Loving God, in this time of reflection, may
our hearts and minds be open to your word for us today. May we be strengthened and encouraged in your
way we pray. Amen.
It was on the 11th
hour of the 11th day of the 11th month when the war they
called the Great War was formally ended.
It was a war unlike any other – pulling in nations from around the
globe, using increasingly destructive technology in a society that gave orders
with scant regard for human worth, where conditions were beyond belief. It was called the war to end all wars, horror
to end all horrors. Not so - we can say 100 years later. Not only do we understand that the violence,
the horror and the pain did not end with the signing of the armistice, we can
also list however many wars came after and still continue.
As the ODT editorial said on
Friday – it was an ugly, unnecessary, futile war – as so many are.
There is an awful
lot of rhetoric both attacking and defending the process of war. Some seem
unable to separate the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought believing they
had no choice from the fact that war is an abhorrent and futile act. Others deride those who went, seeking to lay
blame from a distance of 100 years without understanding decisions made in the
context of time and culture – and heart.
Let’s stop playing that useless game – let us instead examine what it is
that we do as God’s people to stop the avalanche of violence and war.
In preparing for today, I was
sent a reading and prayer of confession penned by Malcolm Gordon intended for
Remembrance Sunday. In the dialogue he has two people – one giving thanks for
the end of the war and the other suggesting that we learnt nothing from
it. The second reader begins to list the
conflicts that followed - 21 years later
we were at it again –60 million soldiers
and civilians killed this time – and then the Cold War, the Korean War, the
French Algerian War, the Sundanese Civil War, the Suez Crisis, the Vietnam war,
the Six day war… and they continue.
As a society we don’t seem to
know how to stop – as Christians we confess that we don’t seem to know how to
find a different way.
We run the risk of
sanctifying this war and the sacrifices made –rather than honouring those who
gave their lives in so many ways – soldiers, medics, civilians… We find it easier to identify our enemies
rather than look for the value in those who we disagree with. We prefer pre-emptive strikes because they
can give us some control over our fear.
Hear this prayer from Malcolm
Dear God.
We are sorry that there are so many wars, both in our past and in our
present. Help the future to be different.
We are sorry there are so many people who think that war is a good
idea. Please change their minds.
We are sorry that we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes, but keep
finding ways to make them bigger and more painful. Can you show us a different
way?
We are sorry that in our eagerness to remember the bravery and
sacrifice of those who fought, we often sanctify the whole awful thing. Help us
to tell the truth.
In your forgiveness, grant us new eyes to see our enemies as people
made in Your image. In your forgiveness, grant us renewed imaginations to find
constructive ways to resolve our conflicts.
In your forgiveness, grant us healed hearts that are not so vulnerable
to fear, but which hold out hope for Your renewing of all things, of all
people, the wiping of every tear from every face.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the prince of peace. Amen.
On Thursday night
we watched the movie Joyeux Noel about the coming together of the ‘enemy
factions’ at the front on Christmas Eve 1914.
Two things struck me after watching this story again – one was that this
coming together happened not just in one place but spread along the front – in
fact, left to the people, peace could well have been declared in that
moment. But we all know it wasn’t –
every effort was made to disband and destroy such ridiculous thinking.
The second – the
encounter between the village priest who was compassionate, hands on, deeply
moved to lead a simple mass that brought together the people of God and, on the
other hand, his Bishop, eager to preach the destruction of the infidel and God
on our side, to say that the priest had sinned by daring to speak of peace. One believed he had the authority of the
church, the other the authority of Jesus – and they were not the same.
And so, much as
Adam was asking us last week ‘what is our response as Christians to the
environmental catastrophe before us?’ today we need to ask ‘what is our
response as Christians to the continuing use of violence and war in our world?’
In our Gospel
reading today Jesus is calling out the priests and the scribes who fail to
understand what the kingdom of God is about – who use their power to corrupt
and their influence to gain respect for their own sake. There is very little wriggle room for us in
this reading – if you do not walk the path of humility, justice for the poor,
generosity of spirit to all people then
be sure of the condemnation of God.
Some of the
scribes were, says Jesus, drifting away from the Gospel –and it seems to me
that this is the core of our teaching for today. There are many who claim the name of
Christian yet preach and practice aggression and selfishness and superiority –
all of which give permission to treat others, especially the vulnerable as the
enemy or as the expendable. And some of
the Scribes were doing just that.
Embedded in the gospel reading is the line ‘they [the Scribes] devour
widow’s houses…’ And the question has to
be asked - is the widow poor because her house was one that devoured by the
Scribes?
So as the body of
Christ – are there ways we are behaving as the scribes of this reading, where
we have developed a Gospel of self importance, of serving ourselves? And when we see it happening around us, are
we doing something about it?
Where and when are
we causing harm by our actions? Are we
failing to think of the consequences of the way we live our faith. Do we prance around rather than humble
ourselves to serve others?
And especially for
today - are we aware of the ways in which we condone or encourage division
rather than reconciliation –where we prefer to dominate rather than walk
alongside, where we oppress and ignore, where we see some as less valued or
others as being not worthy of God’s love?
Does ‘God on our side’ creep into our faith understanding at all?
Do we practice
economic violence in any way, are we tacitly encouraging a culture of poverty
for some and extravagant wealth for others?
For when we do any
of these we are drifting away from the Gospel as revealed in Jesus Christ – and
we need to haul ourselves back.
This remembering,
at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th
month, those who went to war, those who never came back– we honour them by
creating a way of living that does not allow war to be a solution, that does
not present people of today with that dilemma of should we fight or not.
This remembering
is not about asking for the continuing sacrifice of lives to fight for peace
but instead honouring those who have died by doing everything we can to live in
the peace of Christ and, where there is conflict, to wage love not war!
Just like those
people at Christmas 1914 – like the priest and the soldiers for whom the
presence of the infant Jesus reconciled them to each other and brought hope and
peace to place of horror.
A prayer with its
roots in words by Stanley Hauerwas
Dear Lord – at our
feet lie the dead of our wars – the men and women, the children, the animals,
the land. We ask your mercy on these war
dead. We ask for the same mercy for
ourselves, for our failure to be your peace, to be the end of war…We know we
cannot will our way to peace, for when we try we end up fighting wars for peace. So compel us with your love that we might be
your peace, thus bringing life to this deadly world. Amen.
Margaret Garland
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