No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
 
The sixth commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai, the first governing the relationship we have with the other members of our community was “Thou shalt not kill” This month, as we pause to remember those who have given their lives in the armed forces during and since the first world war, it is worth reflecting on how far we have travelled, or not, over more than a hundred years.
 
The Poppy Appeal motto “Lest we forget” rings somewhat hollow in the face of the atrocities committed most recently in the Ukraine, and in Gaza and Israel, as well as the other 44 active armed conflicts being fought in the Middle East and Northern Africa. How can we forget when hatred, and pain and destruction of war are an ever present reality in a broken and fragmented world? Perhaps that is why the poppy itself is such a potent and appropriate symbol. It was chosen as a symbol of remembrance after being made famous in John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields” as the flower that grew so readily in the disturbed soil where fallen soldiers were buried. The only flower that would grow in the barren soil of the battlefield, it is also a symbol of hope - hope that out of destruction, and because of the sacrifice of the fallen, some good could come and new life begin and grow and flourish.
 
The 11^th of November has become and must always remain a day when we draw together as a community, both those of us that still remember and those of us who rely on the memory of others. We come together to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice for king and country and to pray to God that we will be able to honour their sacrifice by building the future they fought for. They were not fighting so that war would continue but to bring it to an end. They died in battle so that we might live in peace. They died for a future made of communities that care for each other; where bridges instead of trenches are built between strangers; where foreigners, the oppressed and those with no voice of their own are welcomed and defended.
 
One hundred years later we still have much to learn. The cry of Jesus from the cross, “forgive them Father for they know not what they do” is also a reminder, that Christ will never give up on us. We must not give up either. As long as one soldier anywhere in the world is still firing a gun, we must continue the quest to make a world of lasting justice and peace.      
 
Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Mathew 5:9)
Revd Eddie