11/11/2019

Good morning.Every year, on this day, I polish my father’s war medals. He was a Royal Engineer, a Sapper, one who was able to return home after the Second World War. The stories he told were all to do with good things, the welcome and hospitality the troops received from local people in France and Belgium, or early morning ablutions in icy cold water, and we never got tired hearing about the time he got pleurisy which kept him in hospital in England when his regiment went on ahead.Never did we hear of the horrors of war, or the stuff about which poets wrote during the First World War. Nor did we, as children, know of the great loss of life. That information came later in History lessons and English poetry classes. Each armistice we recall the bravery and sacrifice of so many, not just in the two world wars, but also in more recent conflicts. And we recall too those whose lives were utterly and traumatically changed. At remembrance services up and down the country we pray for peace. And with great emotion we echo the words “We will remember them.” As we remember those who were, and are, involved in active service there is another group, not perhaps so often remembered. These are the war widows and widowers and their families. My sister, whose husband was killed during what we in Northern Ireland call “The Troubles”, is the current chair of the War Widows Association so I know a little of the sadness this time of year can bring. They too should not be forgotten.Ever-living God we remember those whom you have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of your presence; may that same peace calm our fears, bring justice to all peoples and establish harmony among the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.