Every year since November 11, 1919 we have gathered here on this day, this day of being reminded to remember. This would make it the 88th time we gather. It matters that we do so.

It is not easy to be here. It is not an easy thing to remembering the terrible losses that war brings. It is not easy to stand and remember as the mountains shake in the heart of the sea. But let us also remember that God is remembering right alongside us here today, grieving what is lost and giving us strength and hope as we to remember yet again. And so in faith, we stand here with God who dwells among us.

We are gathered here to remember. We know that the cost of war is too great not to remember. We remember those many, many soldiers, many men, many women, and many, many children killed in wars, mothers, fathers, children. These are not the kings, prime ministers and generals of the nations who are remembered as much as it is the ordinary folk of every village, town, farmland, and city, of every family and community and place of worship who answered the call and gave their very lives. The names we will read today and every year are in some cases your own family names. And it is the same in every other community that observes this day. 

We are gathered to make a response. With resolve, those people who have given their lives give us a clear statement about war,  “By the grace of God never again!” We are here today to be turned by those who have passed on and by those who have fought in all wars towards that which makes for peace.

We are here as Christians to open ourselves to God’s presence. And we must know that even and especially in times of war, God dwells among us. We alone cannot save the world. But we can, as a Christian community keep alert to what God is doing in our midst.  One of the ways we can keep alert is by talking honestly the truth in love. I want to share with you something I wrote to God in March of 2003 as the American tanks were steadying themselves towards Baghdad.

God, you can show up anytime! Isn’t that what a loving parent would do when their children are scared. This child is scared and I need to see you God. Don’t leave us alone to learn from our mistakes. Come and save us from ourselves. I’m scared for what the world might become after this war. After this generation. After seven generations. I breathe the air outside now and am grateful for its nurturing qualities. I love the air. It is good air. It makes me and others healthy. How long will we have this healthy air to breathe? How long? I need you God. I need to run to you. I need to hold your leg like a toddler holds her parent’s leg for security against the unknown scary things. And so my feelings of fear lead me into prayer and I listen. Your Son, our Savior, Jesus, lived in a time when an Empire of power occupied the land and oppressed the people. In this place, Jesus proclaimed a hope that was shocking to the world. This hope came to the people in shocking ways. It came on the back of a donkey. It came through voices of the sick, the blind, the women, the children, the poets, those who hung on crosses.  The world of war is not the world you want God. You give us the 10 commandments and in one of them you say to all humanity, "I love you so much that I want you to treasure life, not just your own, but everyone's everywhere, even those called enemy. I want you to understand that the taking of all life is a terrible thing, a thing that puts an end to so much possibility."  Jesus became vulnerable and hung on a cross because Jesus had a vision for peace that he could not let go.

That is what I wrote in March of 2003

We are gathered here today because we too have a vision of peace deep in our hearts that will not let us go. We are witnesses to the truth that love and life are stronger than fear and death. God calls all people everywhere to a world-wide fellowship, a new world that sees beyond race, class, and nation. A world where the American will live with the Iraqi, the Arab will sit quietly with the Jew, the hungry will sit down at the table of the well-fed, the children dying of AIDS will be rocked gently in the arms of the drug-dealers, the homeless refugee will find shelter in the spare rooms of the rich and powerful, no soldier will ever die in combat again, and a little child will lead them all. We are here because we too have a vision for peace that will not let us go.

On this day called Remembrance Day, we are called to the holy work of remembering.  May God bless us all in our work.

Let us pray,
God,
Many today in the world do not remember the sound of guns ringing in their ears.
Many do not remember the soldiers buried in the mud, the tears running down so many sorrowful faces.
Many do not remember how it feels to kill someone with a bullet that they themselves shot.
Many in the world today, do not remember how it feels to have lost a limb or a friend in a war. It does not mean that these people do not want to remember. It means they do not remember because they were not there. Many remember only a time of freedom, peace, with loved ones near by to greet them lovingly at the end of the day.

Help us all to never forget the people who helped to make this freedom possible. Help us remember the soldiers (many very young) who gave all they had until the last drop of blood fell from their hearts.
And so we give thanks to all those who helped us live in this freedom, whether they lay in the fields of poppies or they live today.

We hold up before you God, all those who work for peace. Even friends and family members who try to bring peace between quarrelling loved ones. We pray for those who teach peace and those who live the way of peace. Help us all to be peacemakers in our homes, our communities and in our world. We pray this through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace who taught us this prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy  will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory…for ever and ever    AMEN