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As far as I can remember, today is the first Remembrance Sunday when I have not attended a Remembrance service in church or an Act of Remembrance at a war memorial. I hated such events when I was a child and completely failed to understand why they seemed so important to my parents, grandparents and their generations. As a teenager I was highly critical of the way that Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day events appeared to glorify war - or so it seemed to me. I was wrong. Since then I have begun to understand why it is so important to remember both lives lost in war and those who survive. It is important to honour both the dead and the living. It is important to remember the worst people do to each other, the best people do for each other, the courage and selflessness shown in war as well as the pain, fear and brutality. It is important to acknowledge our human failure to live together in peace as diverse children of one God. It is important to remember in order to strengthen the comm...

Remembrance Sunday is when we remember the worst people do to each other and the best people do for each other. It is when we remember that “the war to end all wars” failed to do that. It is a time to lament that there have been few days of peace since the Armistice that ending the fighting of World War 1 on 11 November 1918.  There is no war that is not horrible, however 'noble' a cause might be, or said to be. One of its many horrible aspects is that most casualties in modern conflicts are civilians, including children.  What a mess the world is in. We could blame people in power. We could blame uneven distribution of resources. We could ask, why does God allow dreadful things to happen? This Welsh teenager's letter to God was written some decades ago, but it says what many feel about lack of peace between people: "Dear God,  I’m writing to complain about the state of the world. I would like to know what you’re going to do about it. Are you still in charge...

11 November 2018 marks 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of World War 1. Like many others I took part in a Remembrance Service and Commemoration this morning, as I have done every year since childhood. And every year it gets harder. We, the human race, are wounded by war even when it does not destroy us. We create those wounds because, in our sinfulness, we have not learned how to live in peace with each other. And it continues to be the case that war is for some a very profitable business. Sometimes it seems all we can do is to lament. The sonnet 'The Wound in Time' by the British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy was written for Remembrance Day 2018, to be read aloud on beaches around the UK and the Republic of Ireland, in recognition that most of those who served in our armed forces in WW1 and WW2 left by sea and many never returned. Those attending the beach events were asked to draw silhouettes of people in the sand at low tide, knowing those would be washed aw...

A lot of words will be said and sung today in Remembrance Sunday services and commemorations across the UK. Words made familiar over time will be repeated. Some words said and sung today will be poignant and beautiful, some nostalgic and sentimental, some lamenting. Other words may be hopeful, pointing to a vision of a better world and inspiring children, women and men to work for 'all that makes for peace and builds up the common good'. Whatever is said and sung today tends to raise more questions than they answer. The one word, 'why' seems to hover over all our remembering. Perhaps the best thing about Remembrance Sunday is silence rather than words. The 2 minute silence is more eloquent on such occasions than our inadequate and sometimes misguided words. And silence can be the best way to pray. If you want some words for a prayer today, here is a prayer by Stephen Vincent Benet that I hope you thing is worth praying. It is not a specifically Christian...

I never sing the patriotic song, 'I vow to thee my country'. When it comes to singing it at Remembrance Services, I am a conscientious objector. I keep my mouth firmly closed while others sing - at least for the first verse. I sometimes join in the second one. I have no wish to upset or offend anyone by this post. I acknowledge that many people who served or serve in military service and their families have an attachment to this anthem and find in it layers of meaning that speak to a need. Because of that, when it is sung in services, I stand out of respect for those who want to sing it. I keep silence with my eyes on the service sheet, while using *alternative words in my head.  'I vow to thee my country' is a well-known anthem in the UK and Commonwealth countries. The words are based on on original poem 'Urbs Deo' (City of God) of 1908 or 1912 by Cecil Spring-Rice . During World War 1 he served as British Ambassador to the United States. He rewrote th...

'In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.' Blood red poppies, symbols of lives lost in bloody battle, of bodies disfigured, of families shattered, ... but a sign too of new life in war-ravaged soil. The red dissolves to white as the blood is drained. White poppies rise, symbols of lives lost as a consequence of war, of bodies maimed, of families broken, ...  but a sign too of peace, of hope, of working together across the barriers for justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. ('Meditation: Poppies' by  Gillian Collins ) Image Credit: Geograph, CC License

A universal prayer for Remembrance Sunday or any time: Our globe is nothing but a little star in the great universe.   It is our duty to turn this globe into a planet   whose creatures are not tormented by wars,   nor tortured by hunger and fear,   nor torn apart in senseless divisions   according to race, colour or creed.   Give us the courage and foresight,   to begin this work even today,   so that our children and grandchildren   may one day take pride   in being called human. Stephen Vincent Benet, from 'Prayers Encircling the World', SPCK 1998 This is the prayer of the United Nations. Image Credit: Wikimedia Previous Posts for Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day: Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday 2013 Remembrance Day 2013

On Remembrance Sunday... At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. We will remember them. Thanks to the Royal British Legion poppies continue to be a symbol of lives given, lost or damaged by war and the need for support for those affected. Not all who die or suffer through war are heroes. Many performed heroic acts in service with the armed forces in the wars of the last century. All deserve respect and should be honoured and remembered with thankfulness. But in modern wars and conflicts the majority of casualties  are civilians, including children. You only have to think of places like Syria. We remember them too. What a mess the world is in. We could blame people in power. We could blame uneven distribution of resources. We could ask, why does God allow dreadful things to happen? I wonder - would he ask us the same question? In many Remembrance Sunday services today, these words of Jesus from the Sermon on ...

96 years ago, on the western front during World War 1, Private Cecil Roughton picked a poppy.  He sent it to his parents as a, “Souvenir from a front line trench near Arras, May 1916.” He survived to old age, as did the carefully pressed poppy. Last year his family gave it to the Royal British Legion .  Thanks to that organization, poppies continue to be a symbol of lives given, lost or damaged by war and the need for support for those affected. Today in the UK is Remembrance Sunday . Today we remember the worst people do to each other and the best people do for each other. We remember that “the war to end all wars”  didn’t; that there have been few days of peace since 11 th November 1918; that this year more UK service personnel came home from Afghanistan wounded or dead. And in many places of the world more people will die today as a result of conflicts. More families will grieve. T here’s no war that isn’t horrible. According to UN estimates, around t...