14.11.04 Colin Remembrance Sunday Luke 21: 5-19
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o I remember the day King George IV died in February 1952. I was 8 years old and was coming home from primary school and people were shouting to each other in the street sharing this news. It’s my first memory of a memory of a major national event. Fifty years on, I still remember just how momentous and scary this event felt to me.
o I remember the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 when for 12 days people really thought that the world would end in a nuclear conflict between Russia and the USA. I remember that as though its yesterday – I was 19 and I was scared, as were most people that the world really would end in nuclear conflict.
o I remember the disbelief and shock when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 – what effect would this have on the most powerful nation in the world?
o I remember the horror when Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968
o I remember the Biafran War from 1967-70 with the haunting pictures we saw of civilian horror and mass starvation.
o I remember the horror of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s
o I remember when the Berlin wall which divided communism from capitalism in was breached in November 1989, not even thinking that this would lead in 1991 to the ending of the Soviet Union and the many conflicts even today in Eastern Europe
o I remember the first Gulf war in the 1990s and, off course, the war in Iraq which goes on at this very minute in the terrible battle for Falluja..
I haven’t mentioned yet the Palestine/Israeli conflict brought to our attention again this week by the death of Yasser Arafat. Nor have I mentioned the terrible human suffering caused by the so called ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Darfur, or the endless suffering in our world so often brought about by the stupidity, cruelty and selfishness of mankind.
The list of violent horror is endless, and that’s just in my lifetime! I have to confess that as we remember today those who have died in conflict, my memory has been selective. There are millions who have died during my life time and I cannot even remember the name of those conflicts. I do remember the horror I felt..
SOME TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL SILENT REFLECTION
The memories I’ve shared with you were prompted by the Gospel reading. When I first read it and began to think about it, I felt it was describing the major events that have happened during my lifetime.. Jesus said ‘when you hear of wars and tumults’, ‘nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom’, ‘there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences’, ‘there will be terrors’..
Jesus makes it clear in the passage today, that he understands the fears and anxieties of his disciples. In verse 9 he states ‘When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for this must first take place’. His purpose in talking about the end of time is to reassure and encourage the disciples, for he knows that some will face persecution and some will be ‘delivered up’ and put to death. He wants them to know that their suffering will be limited. He gives them his assurance in verse 15 that he will ‘give (them) a mouth and wisdom, which none of (their) adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict’.. He is open and honest about the difficulties they will face, but declares in verse 19 that ‘by (their) endurance (they) will gain (their) lives’. Jesus’ perspective, as always, looks past the apparent reality of human life, into the actual reality of a life lived with God and in His presence.
There are two things that we can take from this tough, hard talking passage.
1. Jesus does not promise any follower of his an easy time. For some, the journey with Jesus will be very hard, but he promises that he will always be with them. When we face the harsh reality of the world, and for some of us, personal circumstances are as hard as national and international circumstances; we need to cling to the promise of Jesus that in good times, and in bad, he will always be with us. A priest in the story of Brother Lawrence (The Practice of the Presence of God) asks Lawrence, after he had received the last rites, what he was doing and what occupied his spirit. Lawrence replies ‘’I am doing what I shall do though all eternity. I am blessing God, praising him, worshipping him and loving him with all my heart. That is all our profession brothers, to worship God, to love him, without troubling ourselves about anything else’. Lawrence clung to the promises of God. Sometimes we think that activity and campaigning to change the world is the most important thing we can do.. Brother Lawrence had a different perspective on how we should conduct our lives - i.e. to lead a life trusting in the promise of God that he will always be with us.
2. But secondly there are things we can do. Jesus tells us in verse 13 what we as Christian are to do as well as clinging to the promises of God. ‘This will be a time’, Jesus says, ‘for you to bear testimony’. There are different ways in which we can bear testimony. For all of us there is the daily opportunity by our life and our words, to bear testimony to the fact that Jesus came into this world to bring peace with God and peace amongst people.
An international example of testimony to peace came from Martin Luther King in his acceptance speech for The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He said ‘I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of a thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth, and unconditional love, will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is still stronger than evil triumphant.’ Martin Luther King witnessed to the hope that his Christian faith gave him, and died for it.
Closer to home, the Nobel peace prize was won in 1977 by Malread Corrigan and Betty Williams. I hope that you are asking yourself who are they? They are not famous today like Martin Luther King. They were just two ordinary women in Northern Ireland, who had experienced at first hand the violent death of three young relatives. They were threatened by both sides in the conflict, but had real courage in the face of persecution and made a huge contribution in their time to the peace process.
Perhaps none of us will ever be as famous as Martin Luther King for our efforts to bring peace in the world. Probably none of us is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize like Malread Corrigan and Betty Williams. But, all that Jesus calls us to do is to witness to his peace.
The debate about the best way to bring about a different kind of world is a complex one and we will all have to find different ways to witness to the peace that God brings. But witness we must. If we are to share with God the task of bringing peace, we must be fuelled with a commitment to carry out deeds which bring compassion and justice and love in God’s name, until Jesus returns to bring about his final acts of judgment and justice.
As individuals then, and as a church, how are we preparing the world to celebrate with Christ at his return? What are we doing to bring light into this world?
Here are 6 ways we can be ‘witnesses’ for Jesus:
Ø We can tell others about the love of God and how he longs to share that love with them
Ø We can actively share the love of God by giving individual support to those we meet in our daily lives.
Ø We can share our wealth and give money to change the living conditions for the billions of people in our world who suffer starvation and poverty
Ø We can be politically active locally and nationally arguing for the Christian perspective on life
Ø We can work to work to make the environment of our world a better place for all to live in.
Ø We can fight for justice by sharing in the work of organizations such as Jubilee Scotland
If we are to celebrate with Christ on His return, then our task is to prepare the world for that return.
May God give us grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit, to make good preparation for the great celebration to come, when there will be a new heaven and earth and death shall be no more.