Remembrance Sunday

1 Thessalonians 4.13–end Matthew 25.1–13

Let me paint you a picture. It is a dark evening with a slight wind blowing. Together with dozens of others, you are standing waiting for an arrival. It is seven-o-clock in the evening, and you are at Bristol Temple Meads Station on platform 13. In the distance you see the lights of the train approaching. As it comes to a halt passengers leave the train and then those waiting on the platform climb aboard. A whistle blows and the train departs.

As the carriages pass you, picking up speed, you notice that along side of each carriage is a white stripe with many names printed along its length. Carriage after carriage passes each with a similar stripe. On the platform you remain, a single figure, as these carriages race past into the distance.

Carriage number 800306 is one of a unique set of carriages of Class 800, in terms of its livery. It has a special livery to commemorate the soldiers who fought in World War I and features a rose at either end of the carriages, with petals, showing pictures of some of the soldiers. In addition, there is a banner along each carriage which has the name of every soldier who lost their lives!

Here is another picture. It is one that can be seen in churches up and down the land today. Congregations have gathered together to remember those who gave their lives in war fighting for the values that we treasure so much today. As the service of remembrance progresses the point is reached when the actual names from the local community, who gave their lives, are read out together with, in some places, a short mention of their service career.

After the names of those who died are read out the words of remembrance are spoken ending with “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” In some churches members of the congregation are invited to light a candle in memory of a treasured one. Finally, a lone single voice affirms, “We will remember them.”

At eleven-o-clock up and down the land, names are read out before God. Hundreds and hundreds of names, thousands and thousands, all offered to God in remembrance. I am mindful of standing there at Bristol Temple Meads station as a lone figure on the platform watching a train leave with the names of the fallen during WWI emblazoned on the side of the carriages. As the names are read out in churches many come together to bear their witness, as each carriage passes together with its names, I, as a single person witness their departure.

Each time, in our worship, we pray for peace. That prayer is directed towards God but, also importantly it is directed towards the world’s leaders. In many cases the solution for peace lies within their own hands. They have the power and direction to move away from fighting and to work towards a peaceful solution.

Our Lord was born into an earthly family. He grew up knowing the joys and pleasures of family life. To see family units broken apart through strife must tear at his very heart. We pray for that peace for which our Lord also prayed. A peace that may be found in our hearts. A peace within ourselves for ourselves. A peace within us towards our neighbour, towards the stranger, towards those who raise up an arm against us.

We live to hope that no more names need to be added to railways carriages as they speed off into the distance. We live to hope that no more names need to be added to War Memorials in our cities, towns, and villages.

We will remember them.

Collect for Remembrance Sunday

Almighty Father,

whose will is to restore all things

in your beloved Son, the King of all:

govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,

and bring the families of the nations,

divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,

to be subject to his just and gentle rule;

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.