Veterans Day Sermon - November 11, 2018

Photo by Christian Begeman

Last Sunday was of course 'Veterans Day' here in the USA, the sermon highlighted the history of this day along with the history of World War I.  The message of the sermon was concerning that if we seek justice without a grace-filled heart we will only do more damage and ultimately all is lost...

I've included both the sermon video and the manuscript of the sermon.

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His Grace,
Roy

Sermon given on Veterans Day 2018

On the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month of 1918 the battles stopped and the guns fell silent... and bells were heard across Europe and the world.

(bell rings 11 times)

Today we post Veterans Day on our Calendars and we celebrate and recognize all those who have served our Nation in the Armed Services.  I would like to ask all those who have served in the Military to please stand and allow the rest of us to recognize and applaud you for your service.  Please stand if you have served this Nation or any Nation.

(Congregation applauds our Veterans)

Thank you all so very much for your devotion and your service.

We honor all those who have served our Nation in the Armed Forces, whether they served in times of War or in times of Peace... whether they served in combat or whether they served in a support or an administrative capacity, we recognize and say thank you to all of these brave men and brave women.  Thank you all for devoting your service to our Nation.

Today... is as I said Veterans Day, a day that was originally known as Armistice Day, it was recognized as a National Holiday here in the US in 1919 and it took place on the first anniversary of the end of World War I... November 11th.  The bells that tolled at the beginning of this sermon were in the tradition that persisted many years ago of marking Armistice Day by ringing bells for eleven strikes on the 11th hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month.  The first Armistice Day was memorialized here in the US in 1919 as decreed-ed by a Congressional Resolution.  But, it's important to remember that this wasn't just a celebration here in the US, it was a date recognized around the Globe.

The poem “In Flanders Fields” has long been associated with Armistice/Veterans Day:

In Flanders Fields: By Dr. John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The poem “In Flanders Field” was written by Dr.  John McCrae in memory of his friend, Alexis Helmer:
Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was an officer in the 2nd Battery, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. He had become good friends with  Major John McCrae. On the fate-filled morning of Sunday, May 2nd, 1915 Alexis left his dugout and was killed instantly by a direct hit from an 8-inch German shell. What body parts could be found were later gathered into sandbags and laid in an army blanket for burial that evening.

Alexis was 22 years old and a popular young officer. Before the outbreak of war, he had graduated from McGill University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was the son of Elizabeth Helmer and Brigadier General R. A. Helmer.

Lieutenant Helmer was buried on May 2nd, and in the absence of the unit's chaplain, Major John McCrae conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting from memory some passages from the Church of England's “Order of Burial of the Dead”. A wooden cross marked the burial place. The grave has long since been lost. Lieutenant Alexis Helmer is now commemorated on Panel 10 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres; he is one of the 54,896 soldiers who have no known grave in the battlefields of the Ypres Salient.

The poem that Dr. McCrae wrote in memory and in suffering, trying to come to terms with the loss of his friend... and the loss of so, so many, many other young souls, is one of the connections that we still retain to those lost in the First World War.  There are of course memorials all across this land dedicated to those souls lost, and there are far, far, far more memorials from one end of Europe to the other.

One hundred years ago today, on November 11th, 1918, World War I, had come to an end... the war to end all wars as it was called at that time.  Ironically, it was a war that easily might not have been.  It was a tragic series of events, treaties, and alliances that allowed this war to come to be, though where it originated was no surprise to anyone at the time.  In the end, many millions where dead... and numbering vastly more than the dead were those left injured and maimed by the conflict.  The war was horrific even by the standards of war, and the use of chemical weapons made it all the more horrific.  These horrors of World War I are why we take such exception today toward chemical and biological warfare, and it is why these agents are not allowed by the Geneva Protocol. The war drug out for over four years and had it not been for the advent of the Spanish Flu, the war might well have gone on even longer.  In the final year of the war, more men were lost to the flu than to the fighting, the Spanish Flu, as it was called, may well have brought to an end the insanity of the fighting.

It was a war embroiled within the European Monarchies, most of whom ironically were related.  Many were related to the late Queen Victoria of England, who it was believed by many could have prevented the war from occurring had she still been alive.  Queen Victoria had seven direct descendants on thrones across Europe, and three of the main characters were cousins of one another,  Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany; King George V of England; and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.  Wilhelm and George were first cousins, George and Nicholas were also first cousins, and Wilhelm and Nicholas were third cousins.  Tsar Nicholas of Russia and King George V of England appear in many photos together as they had, as family, vacationed together and indeed bore such a startlingly resemblance to one another that they looked like brothers if not even twin brothers.

The end of this most tragic war left those on the victorious side... looking to avenge the loss of so, very, very, very many lives, and the destruction of property... entire villages, towns, and cities had been leveled and virtually removed from the face of the earth...  So the Treaty of Versailles was officially signed in 1919 to end the war and though there were those among the victors that wished to bring some mercy to the surrender, those that wished to punish and punish brutally held sway and the terms and conditions were well beyond justice and no desire for reconciliation was to be found.  Germany was especially brutalized by the treaty and their representatives literally forced to sign the agreement. There was, in the end, no justice... no justice at all... but how could there be justice with the scope and scale of the wrongs that had been heaped upon the world... there was only revenge... Sadly, this desire for revenge set the stage for what ultimately had to come out of this lack of grace... and that was an even more destructive and catastrophic war... World War II.

What do we as Christ-followers need to bring from this lesson of history into our own time here and now in this world... to God's Kingdom... what do we bring from this into our every day, hum-drum, seemingly mundane daily lives...

In our encounters with each other do we seek justice for ourselves and for others... or do we seek punishment... revenge... spurred on by our pride and egos... just like those Monarchs of World War I.  Do we rise to defend our friends even when we know that they are in the wrong, do we ratchet up our rhetoric when we know we're in the wrong... do we attack rather than forgive?  Do we hate rather than extend grace?

To quote myself from another sermon from another day: “The desire for revenge and punishment is all too prevalent in human justice, but to imply that it is a component of God's justice means forgetting entirely what we celebrate each week at this communion table.  The pursuit of human justice will never give us God's peace.  Any cry for justice that does not include and offer front and center grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation is not God's justice and will not bring us God's peace.”

This desire for revenge, for retribution, is so ingrained within us that we scarcely even recognized it within the words of “In Flanders Fields”... did any of you catch it?

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The lesson of World War I rings loud and clear... a desire to punish, to implement revenge... to obtain your pound of flesh... will only, and will always... end up causing further and even greater destruction and chaos.  Ultimately, we too lose...  we all lose... for our Father calls us to forgive so that we too might be forgiven...

Matthew 6:14-15   New International Version (NIV)
14  For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Mark 11:26  New King James Version (NKJV)
26  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Luke 6:37 New International Version (NIV)
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Grace, forgiveness, reconciliation... these are such gravely important matters that all three of the Synoptic writers chose to include these verses... we forgive because our Father has said we must... we forgive... because our Father COMMANDED that we must...

Our misconception of justice isn't just a personal issue, it is a corporate affair as well... corporate as in we as a whole, as a body of believers, as the body of Christ... we are as a whole... I am afraid to say, guilty of ill-conceived and misguided concepts and motives for justice.  As I see it today, the all too fashionable justice movement has at its root... and it's core... a desire not for the concept of justice but rather the desire for retribution... the desire and clarion call for a pound of flesh... those that have wronged me must now be wronged as well... in the end this road, this path... leads only to destruction and we... if we're honest with ourselves... we should be able to see this all around us in the world today.  There is no one, not one calling for true grace, for true forgiveness, there are none that burn for true reconciliation... none save the man, our God... the figure upon the cross.

If we due to our alliances, our pacts, our associations, just like those ill-fated monarchs of World War I... advocate the destruction of one vulnerable class while advocating for the protection of another... we have lost our way.  If we call for violence against those with whom we disagree and in turn cry out when we too are attacked... we have lost our way.  If we in our pursuit of 'Justice' do not first reach out our hand and say “I forgive you brother/sister, can we sit and discuss our conceptions and misconceptions of each other and our situation”... if we cannot do that... we have lost our way... WE HAVE LOST OUR WAY...

When I look in the face of far too many and I see piety masking hate, anger, and a desire for retribution... I cry within myself for the anger and hate that wells up within me... and I cry out in my own soul... “Father forgive me”...

It's time that we as a society, as the world... both religious and secular turn from this path that we are all so hell-bent on following... if we continue to follow it, we follow it only to our own graves...  and before any of us in our self-righteousness look at our brother or sister and say it's their doing, it's they that are wrong... they're the problem, it's their fault... we're all wrong, it's all our problems... we all... in our fallen human state... we are all seeking human justice... and far, far, far too many want to claim it's in the name of our God.  And trust me... I know all too well... I fully acknowledge... and realize that as I point a prophetic finger... that there are three pointing right back at me...

Jesus, upon the cross, did not seek nor desire to mete out justice... His desire was ONLY... for grace, forgiveness, reconciliation... He desired those things so, so, so much that He alone took upon Himself the burden of all of our failings... all of the injustices that we have heaped upon each other, all our desires for that other SOB to pay... He paid it... He paid it ALL... if we seek revenge and retribution in the name of Christ... we heap coals upon the head of the God that we claim to worship and obey...

God help us all...