Talk By Alun Rowlands

I’m sure many of us know the musical Les Misérables, and that final reprise of the song, ‘Do you hear the people sing,’ as the cast march downstage in a group waving the huge red flag singing the words:-

‘They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the ploughshare, they will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward.’

Now that’s a good secular text for us today. The original novel of course was written by Victor Hugo but I’m sure the writers of the musical Alain Boublil and Claude – Michel Schossberg had in mind the Bible passage of Isaiah Chapter 2 verse 4, ‘……and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

I always find it useful when we can connect secular to scriptural references. It aids memory and life thoughts. And aren’t these tremendous words of hope and promise for humankind. But today we come to remember all those killed, maimed or affected by war. And for many Christians this can cause some confusion. We know that war itself is never good – it is terrifying and it leaves huge permanent scars. Of course, individual acts of bravery and self-sacrifice during a war are to be acknowledged and remembered but we all know that war itself is not good.  We know there is evil in this world of ours and this needs confronting in some way, but the rights and wrongs of war itself when used as a blunt edge tool to solve problems is a tricky one for a thinking Christian to work out. And once war is underway, Christian values are pretty much thrown out the window, aren’t they? The virtues of gentleness, generosity, forgiveness, love of enemy, and turning the other cheek are all core Christian values, but in a war how can they remain applicable.  Citizens of the nations involved are caught up in it whether they want to be or not.  A Christian who wants to practice forgiveness of the enemy at the time would probably be accused of treason.

We remember the world wars and all conflicts after that but in our messy horrible global stage right now, nobody seems to learn from history. But what should we Christians do? Well for the avoidance of doubt I believe we should remember with affection before God all those who fought for our freedom over the years and still do today. That’s only perfectly right and proper.

But we should always ask what would Jesus do? He after all is our role model in all things and he underwent extreme challenges and then unimaginable violence for our sakes. The interesting thing though is that as far as we know from our Scriptures, Jesus seldom, if ever, commented about public policy and affairs of state.  He spoke and taught of our individual morality, not national policy.

So perhaps we can only approach matters of war and peace on an individual and very personal level.  We are not in a position to make peace with the enemies of our nation, but we can make peace with people in our individual and personal circle. Perhaps, God willing, if we are people of peace, the people around us will ‘catch’ peacefulness and become persons of peace themselves.  And maybe it’ll spread wider and wider. Jesus said that when someone offends you, pray for them; call down God’s blessing upon them. You know, it’s very hard, if not impossible, to ask God to bless a person unless you yourself wish good things for that person. It’s always a good thing, as hard as it may be, to be the one willing to go first: to extend the hand of forgiveness and friendship, again and again and again.

So where does this all leave us. We Christians’ must be first and foremost persons of peace.  When we are caught up in conflict or, God forbid, even the evil maelstrom of war, the Christian must choose the side which has the least evil, and then must act with courage.  And surely these are the acts and the people we commemorate on Remembrance Day: those who gave their lives for the benefit of others; who struggled to uphold the greater good and resisted the greater evil.  But nevertheless, our calling is to be persons of peace, turning the other cheek, loving our neighbour as ourselves and loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. I believe we should constantly pray that simple but stunningly deep prayer as we interact with God’s world and his people –

God change the world but begin with me. Amen.

God bless. Alun