Each November on Remembrance Sunday, as the days grow short and the air turns crisp, we gather in silence up on Green Street by the War Memorial. The bugle sounds the last post and reveille, poppies are pinned and we remember. Yet Remembrance Sunday is far more than a token tradition; it is an act of faith, gratitude, and hope — one that feels more relevant today than ever before.
When we stand together before the War Memorial, we do more than look back to the two great wars of the last century – not to mention other, more recent conflicts. We look into the heart of humanity — its courage, its fragility, its longing for peace. We remember those who gave their lives in conflicts past, but also those who suffer and serve in conflicts present. Our world, once again, is scarred by war: in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. The names and places may change, but the pain of violence and displacement remains heartbreakingly familiar.
For Christians, remembrance is never simply nostalgia. It is a sacred calling. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). When we remember, we honour that love made visible — in soldiers, medics, peacemakers, aid workers and in countless ordinary people who have stood up for what is right, often at great cost. But remembrance also challenges us. It asks: how will we, in our time, become makers of peace?
Remembrance Sunday is not only about mourning the dead; it is about renewing our commitment to the living. As disciples of Christ, we are called to seek peace and pursue it — not as a vague ideal, but as a daily choice. In a world where rhetoric is harsh and divisions run deep, the Church’s witness to reconciliation is needed more than ever. To remember is to resist forgetting; to hold fast to compassion when cynicism tempts us to despair.
When we lay our wreaths down this year and wear our poppies with pride, we do so not just in sorrow and remembrance, but in hope. Hope that the God who brings life out of death will also bring peace out of conflict. Hope that hearts can change, nations can reconcile, and justice can prevail.
So, let us remember — not to glorify war, but to glorify love. Let our silence be filled with prayer. And let that prayer shape our words, our choices, and our care for one another — until the day when swords are beaten into ploughshares and God’s peace reigns at last.
