Remembrance Sunday

No-one has greater love than this that to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Earlier this year we lost our last living link with the First World War. With the death of that truly remarkable old gentleman Harry Patch we said farewell to the last of those who could remember that war because they fought in it. The living memory of that terrible conflict has gone.

Tragically though we are now continually reminded far too frequently of the devastation and the tragedy that war brings. Week by week on our television screens we see the bodies of our young men being repatriated. Like the men of Harry Patch’s generation they too were killed in a foreign field. Having offered the supreme sacrifice of their lives with courage and with valour they are brought home to their country and their grieving families. We need no greater reminder of the evil of warfare then to witness the waste of young and hope filled lives cut short. And the grieving lines of widows mothers and children. Greater love has no-one than to lay down one’s life for ones friends.

Once again the cream of a generation is being taken from us as we hear the testimonies of families and colleagues to the courage and the nobility of these young men. Such an offering should call forth a response from all of us. But what should that response be?

I think that there are a number of things that we can and should do – all of us. In a sermon given in this very pulpit eighteen months ago  when the freedom of the borough of Stafford was offered to 22 Signal Regiment and  the Tactical Supply Wing, Padre Colin Butler spoke of the bond which should exist between a nation and its armed forces. He described that bond as a covenant not unlike the covenant of marriage. The bond between us and our soldiers, sailors and airmen and their female colleagues should be as close as that. As they are prepared on our behalf to offer the ultimate in loyalty and service to their country so it behoves us to offer to them the highest loyalty and support that we are able. Our armed forces need to know that they have our fullest backing, our greatest goodwill and our utmost support. Day by day they put themselves in danger. We have heard from Wing Commander Etches of the conditions under which they serve. They have an absolute right to know that we are with them. And their loved ones waiting at home need to know that they have our fullest support and concern.

How do you live from day to day trying to get on with your life knowing that your husband or your son or your dad is in harm’s way? We should be looking out for ways to help and support them. And the veterans too. We rightly know  of those who lose their lives in Afghanistan. But for every one of them there are more who suffer dreadful injuries in body and mind and for whom life will never be the same again. Many of them face long and painful struggles to regain their lives. So what can we do?

Well, as a Christian and a priest I have no hesitation whatsoever in urging you to pray for them all and for the situation in which they serve. If war is the evil which causes so much death and suffering and heartache then its whole situation and those caught up in it need to be bathed in prayer to the God of all Goodness. In the end he alone can bring peace - a peace based upon justice and right to the world which is his. So pray every day for peace. Pray for the safety, welfare and wellbeing of our armed forces and their families. Pray for the veterans and victims of war who bare its scars on their bodies and in their minds. Pray for our politicians and the dreadful and fateful decisions that they have to make. And pray for an end to the spirit of hatred and violence and division that makes for war. In the Christian understanding of prayer praying must lead to doing. Each of us.  Each community.  And the nation as a whole needs  constantly to renew our commitment to our armed forces and to demonstrate that commitment and indeed the gratitude that we should have towards them in whatever practical ways we can.

We all know just how much the troops appreciate the reception they receive from towns, cities and communities when they return home. That was demonstrated here in Stafford last February when we welcomed home members of 22 Signal Regiment on their return from Afghanistan. How else can we show our support to you and your families? That will be a real possibility us here in Stafford as over the next few years we shall welcome many more armed forces and their families amongst us as the ministry of defence site on Beacon side is further developed.

Support of the veterans and those suffering dreadful injuries and support for their families is vital. We can show that in practical ways by our giving to and support of the British Legion and the Armed Forces Associations.  It’s vital that we do. There is another area though that is perhaps more difficult and controversial. And in this I hope I am not being party political. I am merely reiterating  what all of us believe. That when a government of any party send its young men into war and puts them in harm’s way, they need all the resources and equipment  available to ensure their safety as far as possible and that they can fulfil their objectives as safely and efficiently as possible. That is a basic and I would say moral requirement of any government. There must be no question and no equivocation and no doubt in any one’s mind that all that can be supplied is being supplied. But there is a further difficulty which has arisen lately in regard to the war in Afghanistan. Our armed forces serving in dangerous conditions out there need to know not only that they have the practical means to fight but also the solid will of the nation behind the objects and ends of the war. What are we fighting for?  Why are we fighting?  What are the objectives? Government, The people and the armed forces need to be at one in the answers to those crucial questions. In the light of the increasing number who have been killed and injured doubts about this present campaign have been raised. Is this a war that we should be fighting? Is it a war that can be won? Are the consequences of not fighting this war worse that the consequences of fighting it? Is it worth the death and suffering of our young men? We really do have to be at one as a nation in this. These are very important questions which need to be earnestly and prayerfully addressed by us all.  Our Armed forces have the right to know that we are fully behind them and all that they are doing.

For most of his long life Harry Patch remained silent about the war in which he fought. Towards the end of his life as he began to speak of it he spoke movingly of the death of his friends and comrades in arms. He spoke of the horror of it all. And he spoke prophetically of the madness of war and of how in the end war has to give way to wiser ways. Reconciliation leading to peace has to be found. People and nations have to be brought together again. Differences have to be reconciled. The death in war of those whose greater love causes them to lay down their lives has in the end to lead to reconciliation and peace.

The Christian faith tells us that reconciliation is costly. To reconcile mankind with God cost the death of God’s own Son. Jesus Christ upon the cross was and is the means of our peace with God our peace with each other and our peace with ourselves. Every sacrifice made for the good of others has its own nobility. Every sacrifice made of others is a sign to us of that one greater sacrifice of God’s own Son for the peace of the world and its people. The full and perfect sacrifice made for the world and its peace was that of Our Lord Jesus Christ who by his death and resurrection has reconciled us to God and to each other.

On this remembrance Sunday we honour the love, the loyalty and the courage of those who lay down their lives for their country in war. So too we honour that even greater love of God in the laying down of the life of His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ for the peace of the world and its peoples. Of him it was first written ‘No-one has greater love than this than to lay down one’s life for ones friends’.