MEMORIES
On January 27th 2001, the first Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated at Westminster Central Hall. Amidst the story of sufferings, Rabbi Jonathan Sachs recounted how after the liberation of Auschwitz, there was discovered in a crevice in the wall a small scrap of paper. It had been placed there by a former inmate in what was a desperate communication from that place of death. On it was just one word - Zahor - the Hebrew for “Remember!”
Remembrance is something that we often need to do. In Nicaragua at a time when so many people were disappearing as a result of the then government’s death squads, Archbishop Oscar Romero began the practice of reading the names of those who had disappeared in the previous week, prior to the celebration of the Eucharist. And as each name was read, the congregation acknowledging their link with those who had been taken from this life, would respond by proclaiming “Presente” - "Present!"
Today we come with our own need to remember. We remember those who were caught up in the wars that have afflicted our land during the past century. We remember;
Soldiers and civilians,
Heroes on the battlefield and those who in fear deserted,
Those in whom war brought out the best and those in whom it brought out the worst
Those on our side and those who were the foe
All alike caught up in the human tragedy that is war. For make no mistake, what we are remembering today is the tragic propensity of the human race to resolve its conflicts by expecting the ultimate sacrifice particularly from its young on the field of conflict.
Today we can have no doubts as to the awfulness of the events we remember. It was after all a soldier, General Sherman, a man fought in the American Civil War, who perhaps put it best when he proclaimed;
“War is hell!”
Indeed it is horrendous to think how those who might in other circumstances have got on perfectly well, find themselves in mortal combat in our so often divided world.
One of the most moving episodes of the Great War was the unofficial Christmas truces that took place over the Christmas of 1914. Sharing fags, the singing of carols and apparently the odd game of football, British and German soldiers for precious hours or days enjoyed their shared humanity before their respective High Commands ordered a resumption of the slaughter of war that was to continue for another ghastly four years.
The writer Thomas Hardy puts it well in poem;
“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipper kin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face ,
I shot at him and he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because-
Because he was my foe,
Just so - my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d ’list perhaps,
Off- hand like - just as I -
Was out of work - had sold his traps-
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown”
And in those words we are reminded of a shared humanity which points us to both the awfulness of war and the place of hope. For all those who fell in the conflicts we remember today, were precious children of God. Each and everyone valued by the God who sees even the sparrow fall unnoticed in the street. How much more does God care for the fallen who are in our hearts and minds today!
During the past week there was a television programme which looked at the Great War through some of the survivors. When the programme was begun there were twenty seven survivors. Now there are only four survivors left. In the programme, the humanity of these grand old men shone through. Some had very painful memories. One had not spoken of the war for eighty years until in a nursing home he suffered flashbacks as a result of bright lights. But perhaps the most moving scene was when one of these splendid old ‘Tommies’ whilst visiting war sites in France, went to lay a wreath in one of the German cemeteries. His humanity was a shining light on a site where he as a young man had witnessed all too painfully the darkness of death and destruction. And if he could take time to ‘remember’ those who had been the foe, then surely it is only right that we take time to remember those who went from this area and made the ultimate sacrifice
Back to the story from Auschwitz and we find from the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs the ultimate purpose of what remembrance is about for after telling the story, he observed;
“It is for us to remember not in hate or anger, but simply so that what happened should not happen again.”
This idea that remembrance is a key to a new future is something that is echoed at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem where the visitor is greeted by an inscription that reads;
“In remembrance lies the secret of deliverance.”
But that is not an understanding that should in any way be alien to us for it is at the heart of our service of Holy Communion. There we remember the sacrifice of Christ which empowers us to live for him in the world.
This morning we seek once more a path to deliverance. So much of human suffering is beyond any explanation. And yet the Scripture give us a vision beyond war. Isaiah offers a vision of new inclusive communities in his vision of a banquet of all peoples. He dares to imagine that God will ‘destroy the shroud that enfold all peoples’ and a future in which death will be swallowed for ever. Instead is offered a hope of a time when ‘swords will be turned into ploughshares.’ Time and again from the Scriptures comes the calling for the people of God to be peacemakers. And surely that is our calling in response to the debt of honour that we owe to the fallen and all those who have suffered in conflicts.
Recalling the sacrifices of precious people calls us to
- let not their memory dim
- to treat well and with respect those who have served in times of peril and surely it is saddening to read the British Legion’s report on how many of our veterans are rather than living as heroes, living in poverty
- to commit ourselves to the search for peace and mutual respect between peoples.
Back in 1940 Coventry Cathedral was destroyed as a result of heavy bombing. In the rubble workmen found a large number of nails from the Middle Ages. The nails were gathered up and fashioned into crosses plated with silver. One cross of these nails was set on an altar in the ruins of the old cathedral. Behind it is a large charred cross and inscribed on the wall behind are the words, “Father forgive.”
Many of these crosses have been sent to other countries and thousands of postcards depicting the Coventry Cross of Nails and the words, “Father, forgive” have been distributed all around the world. Out of destruction has come a symbol of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
But forgiveness, reconciliation and peace can only come against a background of remembering. Barbara Streisland’s classic song, ‘The Way we were’ contains the haunting lines;
“What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget”
But that is about evading reality. Today we do remember because it the right things to do and because it is the only background that can enable us to repay all those who sacrificed by creating a world of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
This was a Sermon for Remembrance Day Nov 13th 2005 preached at Bideford.
Remembrance is something that we often need to do. In Nicaragua at a time when so many people were disappearing as a result of the then government’s death squads, Archbishop Oscar Romero began the practice of reading the names of those who had disappeared in the previous week, prior to the celebration of the Eucharist. And as each name was read, the congregation acknowledging their link with those who had been taken from this life, would respond by proclaiming “Presente” - "Present!"
Today we come with our own need to remember. We remember those who were caught up in the wars that have afflicted our land during the past century. We remember;
Soldiers and civilians,
Heroes on the battlefield and those who in fear deserted,
Those in whom war brought out the best and those in whom it brought out the worst
Those on our side and those who were the foe
All alike caught up in the human tragedy that is war. For make no mistake, what we are remembering today is the tragic propensity of the human race to resolve its conflicts by expecting the ultimate sacrifice particularly from its young on the field of conflict.
Today we can have no doubts as to the awfulness of the events we remember. It was after all a soldier, General Sherman, a man fought in the American Civil War, who perhaps put it best when he proclaimed;
“War is hell!”
Indeed it is horrendous to think how those who might in other circumstances have got on perfectly well, find themselves in mortal combat in our so often divided world.
One of the most moving episodes of the Great War was the unofficial Christmas truces that took place over the Christmas of 1914. Sharing fags, the singing of carols and apparently the odd game of football, British and German soldiers for precious hours or days enjoyed their shared humanity before their respective High Commands ordered a resumption of the slaughter of war that was to continue for another ghastly four years.
The writer Thomas Hardy puts it well in poem;
“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipper kin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face ,
I shot at him and he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because-
Because he was my foe,
Just so - my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d ’list perhaps,
Off- hand like - just as I -
Was out of work - had sold his traps-
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown”
And in those words we are reminded of a shared humanity which points us to both the awfulness of war and the place of hope. For all those who fell in the conflicts we remember today, were precious children of God. Each and everyone valued by the God who sees even the sparrow fall unnoticed in the street. How much more does God care for the fallen who are in our hearts and minds today!
During the past week there was a television programme which looked at the Great War through some of the survivors. When the programme was begun there were twenty seven survivors. Now there are only four survivors left. In the programme, the humanity of these grand old men shone through. Some had very painful memories. One had not spoken of the war for eighty years until in a nursing home he suffered flashbacks as a result of bright lights. But perhaps the most moving scene was when one of these splendid old ‘Tommies’ whilst visiting war sites in France, went to lay a wreath in one of the German cemeteries. His humanity was a shining light on a site where he as a young man had witnessed all too painfully the darkness of death and destruction. And if he could take time to ‘remember’ those who had been the foe, then surely it is only right that we take time to remember those who went from this area and made the ultimate sacrifice
Back to the story from Auschwitz and we find from the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs the ultimate purpose of what remembrance is about for after telling the story, he observed;
“It is for us to remember not in hate or anger, but simply so that what happened should not happen again.”
This idea that remembrance is a key to a new future is something that is echoed at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem where the visitor is greeted by an inscription that reads;
“In remembrance lies the secret of deliverance.”
But that is not an understanding that should in any way be alien to us for it is at the heart of our service of Holy Communion. There we remember the sacrifice of Christ which empowers us to live for him in the world.
This morning we seek once more a path to deliverance. So much of human suffering is beyond any explanation. And yet the Scripture give us a vision beyond war. Isaiah offers a vision of new inclusive communities in his vision of a banquet of all peoples. He dares to imagine that God will ‘destroy the shroud that enfold all peoples’ and a future in which death will be swallowed for ever. Instead is offered a hope of a time when ‘swords will be turned into ploughshares.’ Time and again from the Scriptures comes the calling for the people of God to be peacemakers. And surely that is our calling in response to the debt of honour that we owe to the fallen and all those who have suffered in conflicts.
Recalling the sacrifices of precious people calls us to
- let not their memory dim
- to treat well and with respect those who have served in times of peril and surely it is saddening to read the British Legion’s report on how many of our veterans are rather than living as heroes, living in poverty
- to commit ourselves to the search for peace and mutual respect between peoples.
Back in 1940 Coventry Cathedral was destroyed as a result of heavy bombing. In the rubble workmen found a large number of nails from the Middle Ages. The nails were gathered up and fashioned into crosses plated with silver. One cross of these nails was set on an altar in the ruins of the old cathedral. Behind it is a large charred cross and inscribed on the wall behind are the words, “Father forgive.”
Many of these crosses have been sent to other countries and thousands of postcards depicting the Coventry Cross of Nails and the words, “Father, forgive” have been distributed all around the world. Out of destruction has come a symbol of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
But forgiveness, reconciliation and peace can only come against a background of remembering. Barbara Streisland’s classic song, ‘The Way we were’ contains the haunting lines;
“What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget”
But that is about evading reality. Today we do remember because it the right things to do and because it is the only background that can enable us to repay all those who sacrificed by creating a world of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
This was a Sermon for Remembrance Day Nov 13th 2005 preached at Bideford.
posted by Rev Paul Martin at 1:16 PM
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