It can be so hard to know how to commemorate properly those who have gone before us and who have given their lives with the aim of bringing or preserving peace in our nation and the nations. We are committed as christians to work towards reconciliation and peace between nations, so that people everywhere may live in freedom, justice and peace. Today on Remembrance day we pray for all who have suffered bereavement, disability and pain due or who continue to suffer the consequences of fighting and terrorism. We also remember with grateful hearts and sorrow all those whose lives lost in world wars and conflicts both past and present.
You may want to pray this prayer today:
Father God we remember all those whom you have gathered from the storms of war into the peace of your presence. We pray that the same peace would calm our fears and that you may enable us to bring justice and peace to all peoples and help us to bring harmony amongst the nations of this earth. Through Jesus and in His name. Amen.
We put together the following video to help us commemorate this day of remembrance:
God is our refuge and strength;
a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46.1
I lift up my eyes to the hills –
from whence will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121.1-2
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew
their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Reflection
In a famous poem by Marjorie Pickthall, soldiers are described as 'a thousand Christ's' going by. It is so easy to observe a period of remembrance as Christians and wonder how this observance fits into our modern lives and also compares to the work that Christ has done for us.
Yet Pickthall's phrase helps us to lift our focus from earthly things and reminds us of the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for us. A sacrifice which didn't just bring a temporary peace but an eternal peace. Jesus' death on the cross bought for us a peace with God through great sacrifice.
The Apostle Paul wrote: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 – 19
If we are looking for imagery that speaks of peace, we will probably recall a pastoral countryside, a mountain view or a beautiful sunset. There is a great contrast between this popular view and the peace which we are thinking of when we speak of waring nations finding a road to peace, or broken relationships being restored, or even our relationship with God but all of these things are built upon sacrifices which are costly.
Sadly, the world is still full of conflict, between neighbouring communities, nations and races. It can often feel that peace is a hopeless dream but despite this feeling the resurrection of Jesus reminds us that even when all seems dark, where hope seems lost, where all we can see are gravestones; that there is hope, rising from the tomb. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be those who bring hope in the midst of despair and peace in the midst of conflict.
At this time of remembrance, we are also reminded of the great lengths to which our Heavenly Father has gone to reconcile the world to Himself, and this reveals to us the importance that God places upon making peace between those who are in conflict.
Being peacemakers can be very costly, and we are called to share in Jesus' ministry of reconciliation.
As we think of these things it may be that there are people in your life who you need to seek to reconcile with? Or do you live in a community where there is unrest or distrust? Can you bring peace and reconciliation? Maybe you can commit to praying for a part of the world which is currently suffering from the effects of conflict whether past or present.
We are called to be Christ's witnesses to a world which desperately needs hope and peace, if we have to make any sacrifice for this to be possible, for peace to come, surly this cost still pales into insignificance compared to the costliness of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. His sacrifice surely reminds us that peace and reconciliation are things which are still worth fighting for!
Legals & Acknowledgements
Music: I Vow To Thee My CountryComposer: Gustav Holst
Arranged by: Geoff Knorr
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Link to media: https://jub.onl/3oWWzuN
Audio file trimmed to fit video footage.
Jubilee Church is a ChristCentral Church, part of Newfrontiers, a member of the Evangelical Alliance and a registered charity, no. 1097142
CCLI License & Streaming Number:
#806461 & #357613