3rd Sunday before Advent (B) - Remembrance Sunday

Prayer for Remembrance Sunday

God of peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Psalm 62.5-12

5         Wait on God alone in stillness, O my soul; ♦
           for in him is my hope.

6         He alone is my rock and my salvation, ♦
           my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.

7         In God is my strength and my glory; ♦
           God is my strong rock; in him is my refuge.

8         Put your trust in him always, my people; ♦
           pour out your hearts before him, for God is our            refuge.

9         The peoples are but a breath,
           the whole human race a deceit; ♦
           on the scales they are altogether lighter than air.

10       Put no trust in oppression; in robbery take no      

           empty pride; ♦ though wealth increase, set not      your heart upon it.

11       God spoke once, and twice have I heard the      same, ♦
           that power belongs to God.

12       Steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord, ♦
           for you repay everyone according to their deeds.

 Other readings:

• Jonah 3:1-5,10,
• Hebrews 9:24-28
• Mark 1:14-20

 On Remembrance Day we not only remember the victims of war - those who were killed, those who were widowed, those who were orphaned - but we are left wondering about the force of human nature that is willing to inflict cruelty and violence and that is willing to resist evil.

The Psalm set for today (62) balances the power of God against human power. The psalmist accurately observes how we are often seduced by human power, but that show of power is really just an illusion.

What we get by trusting in human power is oppression and robbery. It is true that sometimes wealth increases but such riches are not worth investing heart and soul.

Our shows of power usually do violence to others. Just as bulls aren't allowd in china shops for obvious reasons, so puffed up people are a danger to peace able to destroy fragile peace by their huffing and puffing.

So the psalmist invites us to reflect that "all peoples are but a breath" when compared to God's power. "On the scales they are altogether lighter than air".

There is the famous saying about angels by GK Chesterton. "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly". Those who take themselves too seriously are condemned to the rut.

On the other hand, God is our strength, our rock, our refuge.

Remembrance Day Poems:

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/RemembranceB.htm

includes the poem

There will be no peace:

till attitudes change

till self interest is seen as part of common interest,

till old wrongs, old scores, old mistakes

    are deleted from the account;

till the aim becomes co-operation and mutual benefit

    rather than revenge or seizing maximum personal or group gain;

till justice and equality become the law

    become the basis of government,

till basic freedoms exist;

till leaders - political, religious, educational - and the police and media

    wholeheartedly embrace the concepts of justice, equality, freedom,

tolerance and reconciliation as a basis for renewal;

till parents teach their children new ways to think about people.

There will be no peace:

    till enemies become fellow human beings.

David Roberts

22 July 1999

In Flanders Field

In Flanders field the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~~By Major John McCrae, May 1915.~~