St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, November 11, 2007

Lest We Forget – Rev. David Mundy

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 Matthew 5:1-16

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This past summer when we were on vacation we passed some of our driving time listening to the CBC drama called Afghanada. It was actually a re-broadcast of the series but work hadn’t allowed us to listen the first time ‘round. It is well written and acted and gives insight into the challenges of day-to-day life for Canadian soldiers who are serving in the dusty and war-torn nation of Afghanistan.

It happened that we were listening to an episode as we entered our capital city, Ottawa, with the express purpose of visiting the Canadian War Museum. The museum is well worth the trip, even if you are doubtful about visiting a place that looks at the history of war in our country.

It is striking that the first exhibit upon entering the doors is about the current Canadian mission in Afghanistan. While there is plenty of history about wars of past centuries in the museum, this exhibit reminds us that we are a nation at war in 2007. In 2001 Canada agreed to participate in what was labelled “the war on terror “ a phrase we don’t hear much anymore. For six years now young Canadian men and women have been fighting and defending and rebuilding and dying because that is what the government which represents us has asked them to do.

Some have criticized the Afghanistan exhibit saying that it is nothing more than propaganda for the mission. That was not my feeling. There were informative facts and figures about the number of Afghanis who voted in the most recent election. Not only did eight million people vote, many for the first time in their lives, a significant number of them were women who had been marginalised by the Taliban. Millions more Afghani children are now attending school, including girls.

Of course there are still huge challenges. Afghanistan has one of the lowest standards of living in the world. The average lifespan is forty-four, and half of the population is malnourished. So, NATO forces are helping to rebuild in cities and villages, constructing schools and distributing much needed food.

While the Canadian presence in Afghanistan has involved fighting, which has resulted in the deaths of approximately seventy members of our armed forces we heard recently that Afghanis think of Canadians more in their role as re-builders. We hope that while Canadians are part of an army of occupation we are welcome because of the good we can do.

Today is November 11^th, the actual Remembrance Day in Canada, and a day when the motto “Lest we Forget” is still important not only as we acknowledge our dwindling number of veterans from past conflicts but as we honour and pray for those who are members of the military today. Some veterans and those who want to remember will be at the service which takes place a few minutes walk from here while others are doing the same in their churches.

What is it that Canadian Christians don’t want to forget this morning? We heard the reminder in scripture this morning that conflicts and violence have existed for centuries. The book of the prophet Habakkuk beings with the prophets cries of the heart to God: “how long will the violence and destruction continue?”

We don’t want to forget that Jesus, our saviour and friend sought a different way from anger and retaliation and war, We are well aware that Jesus lived in an outpost of the Roman Empire and he was considered just enough of a threat that he was executed by the Roman governor. While this was the most powerful invading empire in Israel’s history, it was certainly not the first. The armies of the Egyptian and Babylonian and Assyrian and Greek empires had marched through and occupied Palestine through the centuries and there were others which followed the Romans.

War and invasion and conflict are all part of the dreary, recurring realities of the human experience although it seems that we never learn from that experience. Sadly we are forgetful about the terrible cost of conflict and there has been no “war to end all wars.” In the beatitudes Jesus invites us to be peacemakers and says that this is way of blessing.

What do you feel about the realities of war and the peace which Jesus tells us is the blessed way, the way of God? Apparently Canadians generally have mixed feelings about our current involvement in war as part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. The results of an Angus Reid poll in April this year demonstrate this. It asked two questions which resulted in a very divided outcome:

Do you think having Canadian troops in Afghanistan is a good idea or a bad idea?

Good idea	45%
Bad idea	46%

Should Canada rethink the deployment given the number of casualties, or remain committed to the mission notwithstanding the casualties?

Remain committed	46%
Rethink the deployment	44%

We are rightly ambivalent about this war and any war, as Christians always have been. The Amish and Mennonites and Quakers have steadfastly refused to participate in conflicts through the centuries. The Roman Catholic church developed a theory of “just war,” acknowledging that there will be times when Christians are justified in military response to aggression. Our United Church has always advocated peace but we are not a pacifist denomination in a formal sense.

But of course this is not about abstract theory or theology. People die in wars. Real people who are loved by their families and whose lives are irreplaceable to those who are closest to them. A few days ago a young man drove me to the airport in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from the car rental office. When he found out that I was a Canadian he began talking about the mess of the war in Iraq. He told me that one of his brothers had died there this past March in a roadside bomb blast. Another younger brother is keen to sign up and do his part, much to the chagrin of family members who are still mourning.

We don’t have to leave our own community of Bowmanville to have loss come home to us. Earlier this year the funeral of Corporal Darryl Caswell, just twenty-five years old, took place down the street. Darryl too died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Today it is essential that we recognize the heroic sacrifice of these young men and of all the men and women of this generation and previous times. At the same time we know that this shouldn’t be. The heart-rending display in the Afghanistan exhibit in Ottawa contained no words only images. In a tribute to some of those who had died there were slide shows of various individuals, beginning with baby photos, moving through happy family gatherings, as well as scenes from graduations and proms and all those events which mark the passages of life. Then the photo of a young man in uniform and the dates of his far too short life. It’s hard to imagine anyone watching these montages and not being moved to tears. And they offered a simple caution against glorifying war and its effects.

So how do we honour those who have served and those have died while listening to the voice of Jesus who chose a different way? We begin by saying “thank you” in our hearts and in our prayers for those who given of themselves in conflict for the sake of greater causes and for our security and well-being. No matter how opposed to war we might be, it would be ingratitude on a colossal scale to fail to recognize these sacrifices and the ones who still stand watch on the ramparts. We will continue in our solemn services of recognition as long as it is necessary and we can experience the emotion which is a reflection of our thankfulness.

At the same time we can recommit ourselves to the ways of “shalom” which will lead to greater stability and justice for our world. During more than a week in the United States I had several conversations with brothers and sisters in Christ there, and the recognition of the terrible cost of war at every level was strongly expressed. There are a sadness and regret which are almost palpable.

Even though evil exists in this world, we can choose to be as resourceful as possible through our governments and in our individual actions to “wage peace.” I mentioned to you several years ago that when I visited the Taize Christian community in France we sang the beatitudes in French and I was struck by the phrase “artisans de paix” for peacemakers. While we can’t make a direct translation, the notion of artisans for peace, skilled craftspersons who fashion a world of hope and justice in Christ’s name. We need a “hopeful imagination” to use theologian Walter Brueggeman’s phrase about the message of the Old Testament prophets, an imagination which is illuminated by the light of Christ and which we reflect.

In the Afghanistan exhibit there is a photograph of a group of Afghani men who are melting down war materials for other uses and it brought to mind the phrase which is found in the words of the prophets Isaiah and Joel and Micah about settling disputes

2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord’’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

3 Many peoples shall come and say, ‘‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; 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 any more.

We will not forget those who have served for a greater cause, and we will not forget Christ’s call to be his disciples of peace. Amen.