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Remembrance 2009 Ephesians 6: 10-17 John 15: 9-17 Missing the point Two things have struck me in this past week or which relate to this Remembrance Sunday observance which we have all come to be a part of today. Firstly I was musing on a time when, on a day with colleagues we spent some time discussing what we would be doing this Sunday and how we would approach Remembrance day (sometimes we need a bit of prompting or we can end up saying the same thing again and again). Anyway, in the course of conversation with these colleagues one of them talked about how when he was a curate the Vicar who was training him would have the press come and attend his Sunday services on remembrance day because this Vicar wouldn’t do anything special for the Sunday and would always spend his sermon railing against what he called ‘a glorification of war and violence’ and the papers came to report year on year how this Vicar responded to Remembrance Sunday. This prompted one clergyperson in the group to bec...

Today is 'Armistice Day' - Remembrance Sunday - the anniversary of the Armistice which ended the 1914-18 'Great War' (11th of the 11th at 11am). It is, I believe, roughly equivalent to 'Veteran's Day' in the States. Today we have given thanks for the sacrifice made by those who have fought for freedom in times of war. We have grieved at the bloodshed of wartime. We have prayed for those who serve in our Armed forces. We have committed ourself to peace. As a symbol of this Remembrance we wear a poppy, the flower found in abundance after the battles in France and Belgium in World War I. The blood red flower found where so many had fallen.