Remembrance Sunday Is A Day For Gratitude, For Blessings.

Prayer: My I speak in the name of the father, son and holy ghost, and let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Amen,

Remembrance Sunday, an introduction.

Today is remembrance Sunday as we know, and it is very important event in our church calendar as it not only helps us remember those who gave their lives, but it also helps us appreciate the peace we have today, and the freedom for which they fought.

Figures, the dead and dying.

Unfortunately, that peace came at a cost, a very heavy cost as we all know. … Figures vary, but it is estimated that in World War 1, there were over 20 million who died worldwide, 7 million of which were civilian. In World War 2, it is estimated that there were over 65 million deaths worldwide, 40 million of which were civilian.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I cannot imagine death on such a scale, nor the wanton destruction which ensued, and worse, I don’t want to imagine the horrors that these poor souls endured, and that is why it is important that we give our respect.

And neither do I want to imagine the pain and torment of the “lucky” wounded, who suffered, and who were never the same again … not to mention “those left behind”. Whatever way you look at it, it was absolutely horrible in the extreme.

Remembering war, and the horrors of war is difficult, but we do remember and pay tribute: to the dead, (both military and civilian) … to the wounded, (who tend to be overlooked), and to those who suffered for others, we give you our thanks for your sacrifice.

Other conflicts to remember.

And if this wasn’t bad enough, there has been other conflicts before, and since, there are modern conflicts that are also worth remembering, like the Falklands War, the Gulf War, the Iraqi Wars 1 and 2, the War in Afghanistan and of course the illegal war we have in Ukraine today ... a war where we feel so helpless.

To the dead and dying of all conflicts, we remember them, to the displaced civilians and their suffering, we remember; … to the innocent, our hearts go out.

Misery today.

Now as we remember them, we also remember that we have our own troubles as well. Our political establishments seem to have lost their way, and with them, the forecast for our economy is all but doom and gloom. We also have some political leaders trying to do something for our climate, which is good, but we know deep down it will not be enough as we have just witnessed about 5 or 6 weeks of constant rain and, temperatures more appropriate to our summer than November.

And to add insult to injury … we have Jesus telling us in our gospel reading this morning that: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdoms against kingdom; and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents (or warnings), and great signs from heaven. Where then is our hope?

Introduction to hope.

Now, I have painted a pretty gloomy picture this morning, because that is what most of us are consumed with today … whether we speak off it or not. Our futures seem far from rosy, and regardless of what is happening, or about to happen … we must somehow … endure this turmoil … and hopefully emerge healthier and happier than we are, at this moment in time.

How then do we do that? Well notice I used the word “hopefully”, because hope is the mechanism to help us get through all this. … I mean we need copious amount of hope, hope for our future, to get us through, we need hope for the present to lift our spirits, and hope, that our pasts won’t catch up with us. … We also need hope for our world and its affairs, hope for our country and its info-structure, hope for our economy, hope for our friends and family, and hope for ourselves that we have the strength to endure.

Where then could this hope possibly come from? Well in church this morning, we are here to worship our Lord Jesus Christ, the only man who conquered both sin and death … the only man who can save us from this world, and prepare us for the world to come … and … the only man who can give us hope; the living Christ.

And notice I have said the living Christ, because it was only he, who conquered death, and it is he whom we are here to worship today, the son of God himself, in-front of whom, we need not fear our past, our present nor our future. He is the one with us, he is the one in us, and he, is our hope of glory.