Remembrance Sunday...2004 War is obscene

There always has been, and there always will be those who believe so strongly in a particular cause, that they are ready to kill-or be killed-for it.

 We are so much more aware today, of the horrific devastation that fanaticism and terrorism leaves in its wake, as we watch the reality of it all, thrust upon us, on our television screens each day.

There always has been, and always will be those who violently oppose war, because they believe that nothing at all can justify the destruction and waste of life.

 Some of these are former soldiers, who through bitter and harsh experiences became angry and disillusioned men. I think particularly of those who served in Vietnam.

There are those who see war as a sad necessity, and who are willing to endure pain, suffer imprisonment, even give their own lives in order to defend their country, and their loved ones, in order to stand full force against an evil enemy; and it is their belief that to defeat and kill that enemy is right and just!

But even they, and I'm sure the dead if they had voice, would agree that there's nothing glorious about war.

It is obscene!

Simon Weston, who was badly injured in the Falklands War, once said,

'Bad people, I've learned don't go to war. It's the young who go to war, the nice lads. And it's the civilians who become the real innocent casualties of war. But the people who actually wage war are so far behind the lines that they don't even get a smell of cordite, let alone hear the shells explode.'

'War is obscene…

When you consider the guilt, the nightmares and the flashbacks many soldiers suffer, both during a war and in the aftermath of war… when they can't bring themselves to confront their horrors, and have to suppress them…and consequently become broken people, because they can't lay their burdens down.'

Then War is obscene!

When even a single person's health is destroyed by a lethal cocktail of drugs given to protect them, and which attacks their immune system, so that their pattern of life is changed forever.

Then War is obscene!

If, as some say,  wars are decided upon because military budgets are enormous, and to dismantle the defence industry would mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs… and when , as some say, a short successful war becomes political gold for a President seeking re election.

Then War is obscene!

When war is portrayed as being a glamorous affair, full of bravery and bravado on the movies, on television, or on propaganda posters and adverts.

Then this is obscene

When the cost of war is phenomenal, and developed countries spend about 20 times more on their military programmes than on economic aid to the poor countries of this world, where millions face starvation.

And when one war, such as the Gulf War cost $53 billion. Then it's obscene!

War is obscene, when it helps to invent and create new and even more powerful weapons, lethal weapons, many of which are now in the hands of unstable governments and unpredictable regimes.

It is obscene to criticize other countries for trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction, when fail to see the huge stockpiles of similar weapons in the Western world. And we arrogantly tell ourselves that we can handle them, and we would be discerning and wise about their use…

George Zabelka was a Catholic priest who was stationed on a small island in the South Pacific in August 1945, and who counselled reconnaissance airmen who observed the after effects, when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

One crewman's description, in his confession brought a cry to the depths of his soul, as the priest uttered these words…'My God, what have we done?'

War is obscene when it gets to the point when we can sit and watch it all played out on our screens like some highly realistic video game, with jets screaming in and out of view, with bombs exploding in tiny white puffballs, and an excited commentator provides an excited blow by blow account of the carnage.

Despite all the talk of pride and technical prowess and expertise expressed, nothing is mentioned of the bombs effects, no images of what was actually happening way down on the ground.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, nine out of ten victims were soldiers. 

Now due to modern technology, the arms trade and the nature of war itself, the situation is now reversed.

Nine out of ten victims are now civilians, and the vast majority of these are women, children and the elderly.

Let us remember this morning that when we look at headlines full of statistics of war, through history and into the present day;

of  numbers in the thick of the fight,

of the numbers of those preparing for battle,

of the numbers of the dead…

that each life is or was precious to God, and each person is or was known and treasured by a mother and father, a sweetheart, a relative, a family.

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Two stories I've encountered just this last week…bring this home to us.

One is written by a young woman I've been asked to marry in February , and whose husband will go out immediately to serve in Iraq…she writes…

'We've banned the news in our house, and I'm really frightened, because basically, it's getting worse. I think the Americans have botched everything up.

I keep telling myself he 's not going to have to go…I'm in denial.

I know there'll not be much communication out there, and I know I'll be worried sick all the time

The last is written by a member of our own congregation, whose son is there now, in the thick of it all…

‘It's the most awful thing to hear your son's voice on the phone…utterly depressed… and unable to do anything for him!

All I can do is write a letter, but that's not the same as putting your arms around him.

It makes you very proud...he's doing such a dangerous job!

Indirectly he's protecting his own people, and someone's got to be there.

But it's extremely hard, I watch the news every hour, on the hour…for the first 4-5 minutes, just to hear if any of our lads have been killed. I watch the ordinary news too.. and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I wander through here and I just put the news on.

If you hear that any of our lads have been killed, you sit and wait for the doorbell going. If my son, who is 36 years old, and who has been in the army for 20 years,  is scared out there; then how are these 18 year olds feeling? You see their faces on the news and they look terrified.’

Today we're called to remember all those involved in wars, past and present, who have so willingly and bravely responded to a call THEY COULD NOT IGNORE, to serve and fight and die for their country. Through their sacrifices we have the freedom we enjoy today.

As Christians we too have been called to a life of service and sacrifice.

We really don't know what the future holds for each one of us.

Just as Jesus prophesied that the stones of the temple in Jerusalem would fall, so too the temples that we think are secure, that we ourselves have built, these also may yet come crashing down…

but we, as Christians, have heard a CALL from God that WE CAN'T IGNORE, and we must remain faithful, and pray and endure in the faith that we hold in Jesus Christ, so that we can be a support and towers of strength to the broken and fearful and traumatised people of this world.

And so today, as well as remembering those who have sacrificed their lives for others, who inspire us to persevere and endure and make sacrifices ourselves, let us pray to the Prince of Peace to begin a work of deep and lasting peace in this world, and to begin with each one of us.

But let us also remember those who have died defending what they believe is a just cause, and we are seen as the enemy!

Amen

Remembrance Sunday Responses:

Act of Penitence

Priest: Let us confess to God the sins and shortcomings of the world:

its pride and selfishness, its greed;

its evil divisions and hatreds.

Let us confess our share in what is wrong,

And our failure to seek and establish peace

which God wills for His children.

After a short silence  all say:-

Most merciful God,

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We confess that we have sinned

in thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

In your mercy forgive what we have been,

help us to amend what we are,

and direct what we shall be;

that we may do justly, love mercy,

and walk humbly with you, our God

Amen

Almighty God, have mercy upon US,

pardon and deliver us from all OUR sins,

confirm and strengthen US in all goodness and

keep US in life eternal life.

Intercessions

Act of Remembrance

Let us remember before God,

And commend to his sure keeping:

Those who have died for their country in war

Those whom we knew, and whose memory we treasure

 And all who have lived and died in the service of

 humankind. We pray this day for all who have suffered and who still suffer as a result of war…

 Priest:

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Repeat

All: We will remember them

Here follows the two-minute Silence

The Last Post and Reveille followed by Amazing Grace

Priest: Almighty and eternal God

From whose love in Christ we cannot be parted,

either by death or life:

Hear our prayers and thanksgivings for all whom we remember this day;

Fulfil in them the purpose of your love;

And bring us all, with them to your eternal joy;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Blessing:-

God grant to the living, grace…To the departed, rest

To the Church, the Queen,

our country and all humankind; peace and harmony

And to us and all God's servants; life everlasting

And may the blessing of God Almighty…