This Sunday, we welcome our uniformed groups to our service of remembrance. We give thanks for the ultimate sacrifice made by so many to ensure our freedom and peace. We reflect too on the horrors and evil of war in our world today. With ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and the escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly filling our news screens, Jesus’ words to his first disciples over 2000 years ago resonate with our own time and age: “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24.6-7).
As we pray for peace and justice in the war-torn places in God’s world, may we do so as those who have Jesus’ words in our hearts as a source of comfort and strength. The end to the evils of war will come, says our Lord. There is a promised day when the earth will be filled not with violence, but with the peace of Christ, the one who sacrificed his life that we might enjoy peace with God.
May each of us know his presence and his hope in our lives this day.
Revd Simon Oatridge