We were on holiday last week and as we travelled around, we witnessed dozens of impressive displays marking the act of remembrance being marked around the country over this weekend. We saw hundreds of poppies cascading down the tower of one market town Church, we travelled through villages with large poppies fixed to every lamp post, we saw silhouettes of soldiers, standing, rifle in hand and it felt as though the nation is united in this simple event, marking the tribute we pay annually to those who fell during the wars. I was at a meeting in one of our village chapels yesterday and loved this little tribute of around thirty knitted poppies on the small lawn. Large or small, this is our effort to pay homage and even eighty years since the second world war it is right that we do so.
Sunday by Sunday as I lead worship, I pray for peace and I long to see, not just an end to war, but an end to cruelty in whatever form it takes. I long to see a world where there is no more knife crime, no more fear, where people can go to bed on a nighttime and sleep peacefully. I long to watch the news and be cheered up by the good news of what is happening in the world, rather than the continual barrage of destruction. I find myself reading Bible stories of times gone by and it breaks my heart that the very areas where our bible stories are based is once again lost in the horrific scenes we have been witnessing since Saturday 7th October 2023. This would be bad enough if it weren’t for the conflicts in Ukraine and many other places around the world, not to mention terrorist attacks.
There are times when I despair and wonder if my prayers are in vain, whether peace in our time is ever really achievable. We are reminded in our reflections on what it means to be a justice seeking church we are thinking this week about our hope for transformation. I believe that moment we stop praying for peace in the world, we give up on our hope for global peace and our hope that God’s kingdom will reign supreme, a kingdom of love and peace. We read in the book of The Revelation, the final book in the Bible about the promise of the world where there will be no more tears, wars will be no more. If we truly believe this promise, then we mark the sacrifice made by so many in the history of the world and those who have died in recent days and weeks, and we pray once again on this day for an everlasting peace.
God calls us to live in hope and in ways that reflect God’s character and pattern of God’s kingdom. Thus, seeking justice involves honesty and truth, and may demand protest and resistance, restitution, forgiveness, reconciliation and ultimately, transformation.
A prayer for peace by Pope Francis:
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us, and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarrelling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.