REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 2008 The poppy and its Christian counterpart.
THE POPPY HAS A LONG ASSOCIATION WITH REMEMBRANCE DAY. BUT HOW DID THE DISTINCTIVE RED FLOWER BECOME SUCH A POTENT SYMBOL OF OUR REMEMBRANCE OF THE SACRIFICES MADE IN PAST WARS?
SCARLET CORN POPPIES (POPAVER RHOEAS) GROW NATURALLY IN CONDITIONS OF DISTURBED EARTH THROUGHOUT WESTERN EUROPE. THE DESTRUCTION BROUGHT BY THE NAPOLEONIC WARS OF THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY TRANSFORMED BARE LAND INTO FIELDS OF BLOOD RED POPPIES, GROWING AROUND THE BODIES OF THE FALLEN SOLDIERS. IN LATE 1914, THE FIELDS OF NORTHERN FRANCE AND FLANDERS WERE ONCE AGAIN RIPPED OPEN AS WORLD WAR ONE RAGED THROUGH EUROPE’S HEART.
WHEN FIGHTING CEASED IN 1918 THE MUD OF THE BATTLEFIELDS WAS ALLOWED TO REST AND NATURE BEGAN TO BE RESTORED AND BEFORE LONG THE POPPY GREW AND BLOOMED ONCE MORE.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE POPPY AS A LASTING MEMORIAL SYMBOL TO THE FALLEN WAS REALISED BY THE CANADIAN SURGEON JOHN MCCRAE IN HIS POEM IN FLANDERS FIELDS. THE POPPY CAME TO REPRESENT THE IMMEASURABLE SACRIFICE MADE BY HIS COMRADES AND QUICKLY BECAME A LASTING MEMORIAL TO THOSE WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR ONE AND LATER CONFLICTS. IT WAS ADOPTED BY THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION AS THE SYMBOL FOR THEIR POPPY APPEAL, IN AID OF THOSE SERVING IN THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES, AFTER ITS FORMATION IN 1921.
THE COLOUR OF RED REMINDED PEOPLE OF BLOODSHED AND THE SACRIFICE BY MILLIONS. SO THE POPPY BECAME THE SYMBOL OF SACRIFICE, A SYMBOL OF THE BLOOD WHICH WAS SHED, TO BRING PEACE TO OUR WORLD. YET DESPITE ALL THE ACTS OF HEROISM AND SACRIFICE OF MEN AND WOMEN THROUGH THE CENTURIES WE STILL LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS AT WAR WITH ITSELF…
IN FACT THE SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN LONDON STATES THIS INCREDIBLE STATISTIC: SINCE THE BEGINNING OF RECORDED HISTORY, THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS BEEN AT PEACE LESS THAN 8% OF THE TIME. OVER THE LAST 4000 YEARS OF HISTORY, ONLY 268 YEARS SAW PEACE THAT’S 3732 YEARS THIS WORLD HAS BEEN AT WAR WITH ITSELF. MOREOVER IN EXCESS OF 8000 PEACE TREATISES HAVE BEEN MADE AND BROKEN.
CONSIDER THE CURRENT SITUATION FOR OUR OWN TROOPS SEEING ACTIVE TOURS OF SERVICE IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME SOME OF WHOM HAVE PAID THE HIGHEST PRICE, HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL, DOESN’T THIS CONTINUAL WAR THAT HUMANITY FACES CAUSE US TO QUESTION, “WHERE IS THE LOVE?”
IN FACT IN 2005 IT WAS THE AMERICAN POP GROUP THE BLACK EYED PEAS WHO HAD A HIT SINGLE CALLED “WHERE IS THE LOVE? THE CHORUS WENT LIKE THIS ……
“PEOPLE KILLING’, PEOPLE DYING’. CHILDREN HURT AND YOU HEAR THEN CRYING’. CAN YOU PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH? AND WOULD YOU TURN THE OTHER CHEEK? FATHER, FATHER, FATHER HELP US, NEED SOME GUIDANCE FROM ABOVE. CAUSE PEOPLE GOT ME QUESTIONING WHERE THE LOVE IS.
1. AND IT’S THAT QUESTION I WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER BRIEFLY FOR US TODAY, “WHERE IS THE LOVE?” JOHN 15:13
WELL LIKE THE BRITISH LEGION WITH THEIR SYMBOL OF THE POPPY WE IN THE THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, ALSO HAVE A SYMBOL. WHEREBY WE REMEMBER THE GREATEST ACT OF SACRIFICIAL LOVE EVER SHOWN TO A WORLD IN CONFLICT. IT’S THE CROSS OF JESUS, A PLACE WHERE THE BIBLE SAYS, GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE TOWARDS US WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS CHRIST JESUS DIED FOR US. A PLACE WHERE THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CAN BRING PEACE BETWEEN OURSELVES AND GOD.
• IT WAS WINSTON CHURCHILL WHO ONCE SAID, “NEVER IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN CONFLICT WAS SO MUCH OWED BY SO MANY TO SO FEW.” AND HOW TRUE IS THAT AND WE WHO ARE LIIVING TODAY ARE INDEBTED.
• BUT I SAY TO YOU, “NEVER IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN CONFLICT (WITH SIN) WAS SO MUCH OWED BY SO MANY (THE WHOLE WORLD) TO JUST ONE.
a) WAR IS ABOUT CONFLICT - THE CONFLICT WITH SIN WITHIN .
• THE BIBLE SAYS “FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.”
WHY ARE THEIR WARS IN OUR WORLD? WHY DO THEY NEVER CEASE? IT’S BECAUSE OF SIN IN THE HEART OF HUMANITY.(AGAINST GOD - REBELLION – LAWLESSNESS – UNBELIEF – BIASED TO DO WONG).
• AS ALBERT EINSTEIN ONCE SAID, “THE TRUE PROBLEM LIES IN THE HEARTS AND THOUGHTS OF MEN ... WHAT TERRIFIES US IS NOT THE EXPLOSIVE POWER OF THE ATOMIC BOMB, BUT THE POWER OF WICKEDNESS OF THE HUMAN HEART.
• YOU SEE THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM IS THE PROBLEM OF THE HUMAN HEART.
• WRITER G.K. CHESTERTON WAS ONCE ASKED, “WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE WORLD? IS ANSWER WAS “I AM”
SADLY SO MANY PEOPLE WILL JUST GO THROUGH LIFE THINKING THAT THE PROBLEM LIES ELSEWHERE. AFTER ALL THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEBODY ELSE WORSE THAN US! WE CAN ALL POINT THE FINGER AT OTHERS THINKING THERE FAR WORSE , YOU KNOW PEOPLE LIKE HITLAR, OSMAN BIN LADEN, SADDAM HUSSEIN AND SO ON. THAT THEY ARE THE EVIL ONES BUT GOD WILL NOT LET US DO THAT:
TRUE STORY: ‘DURING THE TRIAL OF ADOLF EICHMANN, THE MASTERMIND OF THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST IN NAZI GERMANY, A JEWISH MAN , WHO HAD JUST GIVEN EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM, WAS FOUND WEEPING IN THE CORRIDOR . HIS FRIEND ASKED HIM , “WHY ARE YOU CRYING?” THE MAN REPLIED, “BECAUSE I REALIZE NOW THAT HE IS JUST A MAN LIKE I AM.. I COULD HAVE DONE WHAT HE DID.” HE HAD IMAGINED SOME AWFUL MONSTER BUT, WHEN HE SAW EICHMANN RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, HE REALIZED THAT THE NAZI WAS JUST A MAN AND THE AWFUL TRUTH DAWNED ON HIM. THERE ARE NOT TWO CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE, GOOD OR EVIL. WE ARE ALL SINFUL. LIFE’S BIG QUESTIONS (IVP 2004) P48. VAUGHAN ROBERTS
SO THE REAL CONFLICT IOS WITHIN US ALL, WE ALL NEED TO FACE UP TO SIN IN OUR LIVES, AS INDIVIDUALS, AS COMMUNITIES, AS A NATION, AS A WORLD. RATHER THAN PUTTING THE BLAME ELSE WHERE IT NOT UNTIL WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE INTERNAL CONFLICT WITHIN US ALL, CAN WE BEGIN TO ADDRESS THE EXTERNAL CONFLICTS THAT RAGE IN OUR WORLD TODAY..
AN UNKNOWN MONK ONCE SAID, “ WHEN I WAS A YOUNG MAN, I WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD. I FOUND IT WAS DIFFICULT TO CHANGE THE WORLD, SO I TRIED TO CHANGE MY NATION. WHEN I FOUND I COULDN’T CHANGE THE NATION, I BEGAN TO FOCUS ON MY TOWN. I COULDN’T CHANGE THE TOWN AND AS AN OLDER MAN, I TRIED TO CHANGE MY FAMILY. NOW, AS AN OLD MAN, I REALIZE THE ONLY THING I CAN CHANGE IS MYSELF, AND SUDDENLY I REALIZE THAT IF LONG AGO I HAD CHANGED MYSELF, I COULD HAVE MADE AN IMPACT ON MY FAMILY. MY FAMILY AND I COULD HAVE MADE AN IMPACT ON OUR TOWN. THEIR IMPACT COULD HAVE CHANGED THE NATION AND A NATION COULD HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD.
HOW DOES THAT CHANGE COME ABOUT? WELL ITS WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL RESPONDS IN REPENTANCE AND FAITH TOWARDS JESUS CHRIST. BECAUSE HE ALONE DEALS WITH THE GREATEST CONFLICT OF HISTORY WITHIN US ALL…… (JOHN 15:13). ‘GREATER LOVE HAS NO-ONE THAN THIS THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS’ YET JESUS DID MORE THAN JUST LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE FOR FRIENDS HE LAID IT DOWN FOR HIS ENEMIES……
RIGHTLY SO, TODAY WE REMEMBER THOS MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR US BUT WE MUST ALSO BE DRAWN TO REMEMBER THE GREATEST SACRIFICE OF ALL WAS WHEN JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE SO THAT WE MIGHT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECEIVE PEACE WITH GOD AND END THE CONFLICT WITH SIN FOREVER ENDED THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FAITH.
SO WHERE IS THE LOVE?
WELL LOVE IS NOT A WORD THAT SIMPLY TRIPS OF YOUR TONGUE, LOVE IS AN ACTION. AND IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT DEMONSTRATED LOOK AT THE CROSS AT CALVARY
HERE WE SEE LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING, A LOVE FOR A FALLEN WORLD , THE DEATH OF JESUS ENDED THE CONFLICT WITH SIN FOREVER. HE WHO KNEW KNOW SIN WAS MADE SIN FOR US UPON THAT CROSS. IN ORDER THAT WE MIGHT BE FORGIVEN AND HAVE PEACE WITH GOD.
THIS DIVINE SACRIFICE CALLS FOR A RESPONSE? ON OUR BEHALF. THE BIBLE SAYS. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THST HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
AS WE CONTINUE NOW WITH A HYMN AND THE TWO MINUTES SILENCE, IN WHICH WE REMEMBER THOSE WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES. I PRAY THAT YOU WILL ALSO REMEMBER AND RESPOND TO THE ONE WHO LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR YOU. AMEN
