notre dame montreal

Remembrance Sunday 1998

Sermon preached by
The Reverend Alan Kirk
November 1998

Introduction

There was a very unusual job advertised last weekend. I don't imagine too many people will feel equipped for it, for among the requirements are:

  • Successful senior management experience within a substantial organisation with a high profile;
  • Experience in dealing with governments at a senior level;
  • An ability to work with people from different backgrounds and nationalities;
  • Be ready to act largely independently in day-to-day business contributing substantially to policy development;
  • Have strong financial awareness;
  • Have a record of success in using resources in the most effective manner;
  • The ability to fulfil a representative role at ceremonies.

Salary: from £65,000, based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

This job exists because of two world wars. The job title is 'Director-General and Secretary to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.' The Commission, under its royal charter, is responsible for marking and maintaining the graces and memorials of members of the forces of the Commonwealth who died in the two world wars. Its member governments are Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and its task extends to operating in nearly 150 countries around the world, commemorating 1.7 million dead, and managing over 2,400 war cemeteries and 200 memorials. The Commission employs 1,250 people around the world.

You might think that remembering those statistics would be enough in themselves to put people off further wars. But no. In newly-released documents at the Public Record Office, Winston Churchill is revealed as having, in 1944, considered drenching Germany with poison gas. He wrote to the Secretary of the War Cabinet,

"We could drench the cities of the Ruhr and many other cities in Germany in such a way that most of the population would be requiring constant medical attention. I do not see why we would always have all the disadvantages of being the gentleman while they have all the advantages of being the cad. There are times when this may be so but not now.

He went on,

"I want the matter studied in cold blood by sensible people and not by that particular set of psalm-singing uniform defeatists which one runs across now here now there."

When Churchill received the report, which did not support his idea, he wrote back,

"I am not at all convinced by this negative report. But clearly I cannot make headway against parsons and warriors at the same time. The matter should be brought up again when things get worse."

Fortunately, they didn't. You might think that remembering the awful results of the use of mustard gas in the First World War would have been enough to put its further use off altogether. But no. How do we remember? I imagine that Remembrance Sunday for most people is still linked with two world wars. On this Remembrance Sunday 1998, most of the population of this country, and throughout the rest of the world, have no personal recollection of either war, which belong to past times. The reason is simple: most of the world's population is well under 53 years of age: 1998 minus 1945 equals 53! So, most people are dependent, for remembering two World Wars, on what is handed on to them, whether by word of mouth, by newspapers, radio and television, or, of course, by film. But which memories are accurate, and how many facts are still hidden from view or played down? The consequences of the two World Wars continue right up to the present, as evidenced by the ongoing work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as evidenced by people whose lives were tragically transformed by those wars, as evidenced by the continued justification of wars in pursuing both 'good' and 'evil'.

A couple of weeks ago, Jean and I went to see the Steven Spielberg film 'Saving Private Ryan.' It was not a film to 'enjoy' or to call 'entertainment', because the special effects departments had been given free reign to make the scenes as realistic as possible. If anyone came away from that film thinking to themselves, "I wish I could have been with the Normandy Landings", they should be candidates for sectioning under the Mental Health Act! It was truly horrific, and those who were caught up in that situation, and lived through it, are never going to forget it. They will always remember. What do we remember? But what about everyone else, including most of us? What are we remembering? What did we do with the 'two minutes' silence'?

  • I hope we all prayed that none of us would ever be put into a situation by our political leaders which meant that we had to label a whole nation of human beings as 'the enemy'.
  • I hope we all prayed that in times of international crisis, the belief that killing people will sort the problem out, is not taken seriously.
  • I hope we all prayed that the horrors inflicted on previous generations by the violence of bomb or bullet, by mustard gas or nerve gas, by landmines, will not be inflicted on future generations.

Some of you will think those are hopelessly idealistic prayers. In which case we need to acknowledge that our 'remembering' over the past fifty years has changed nothing, has taught us nothing, is worth nothing. Someone has said that the only thing which has changed over the centuries is our skill at manufacturing ever more sophisticated weaponry, but it is still under the control of the same flawed human nature. That is a very pessimistic opinion, though right as far as it goes, but I believe something else has changed as well, which needs to generate more influence upon those who rule us. That is the effect of our 'remembering': which is not of 'glorious victory', but of the depth of human suffering visited upon people from every nation, who were given no choice in the matter. If, at the end of the day, 'might is right', the future for our children and grandchildren is bleak indeed. If God has created a universe in which good can only overcome evil by brute force, then I have misunderstood Christian theology.

Why do we remember? When St. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, and spoke about 'belief in the truth', 'our gospel', 'the teachings we passed on to you', and being 'strengthened in every good deed and word', he was not referring to a kingdom which would be dominated by hatred and violence, by suffering and anguish, by tears and sadness. He was talking about the values of the Sermon on the Mount:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Those are the values we are called to aspire to. If we cannot do that, then at least we should aspire to the words we shall use in the Act of Commitment:

Let us pledge ourselves anew to the service of God and others: that we may help, encourage and comfort others, and support those working for the relief of the needy and for the peace and welfare of the nations. Our remembering needs to have a purpose. And that purpose should make a difference to the way we think and speak and live.

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