Always Remember: Keep This In Mind

Deborah, my beloved first-born, asked me recently why she would have to be quiet after break today (Thursday).

I thought that was a bit of an odd question to ask until my wife helped me understand that it was Remembrance Day with the poppies and the things related to it. When that finally clicked, it gave me another opportunity to consider carefully what my position was on the reason and then how to convey to Deborah the pertinent information. Children are great for that – and for a mug like me, it’s particularly good at stopping me taking these things for granted.

When the time came for the time of silence in remembrance I thought about what it would be like next year when the date would 11-11-11 and how they would look to commemorate the time at that moment.

Beyond that though I looked at the very serious issues of war, sacrifice, patriotism and values worth fighting and dying for. I consider myself to be British (English really, but it doesn’t say that on me passport) because I was born here and the majority of my values have been influenced by British culture. (OK you could argue American culture because of the TV I watched, but I didn’t go to school with Americans, so there.) Yet my attachment to the country isn’t particularly historical. My parents come from Jamaica and to the best of my knowledge I don’t have relatives who were involved in any of the wars that are remembered at this time of year.

Furthermore despite my national affiliation, I’m not all that certain about what was really being fought for in all those wars. I get the argument that the freedoms I enjoy today in this country came about because of the sacrifices of men and women in the bloodshed of war to defeat forces that could affect our whole way of life. I acknowledge that and am grateful to God for it. Yet I also wonder if it was so pure and simple. When I consider the complexity of humanity – let alone the issues behind warfare, politics and the national interest – things are never so straightforward.

Awkward questions about the nature of the freedoms fought for arise. Questions around bigotry and racism, pride and prejudice, institutional prejudice (not just racism), convenient policies scheduled to liberate but actually inhibit the population. Questions on the values fought for not defined clearly and slowly subverted for different values that arguably are as poisonous to the human condition as the very values those wars were fought to defeat.

It’s almost as though I question what was the point in going to war when there was no idea how to create real peace. When I say that, it’s not almost – it is.

Yet in His divine wisdom God allowed these activities to take place and I am here in England. (Ha, let me see them stop me from putting it on me blog – not me passport is it?!) I have been granted citizenship here on merit of birth. I’ve been given an education and a residence. There is a rich history and culture to explore in the place in which I now am a subject of Her Majesty. So on those terms I have no problem observing Remembrance Day as asked.

What I do, however, to connect with my real citizenship is also use the day to remember the ultimate sacrifice that was not bought about by war, but by submission. I remember a Kingdom that did not establish itself through military rule or political manoeuvres but by the precious shed blood of the Risen Lamb. I remember the sacrifice and the victory that ensued from that.

I remember the promise given to those who choose to remember this that there will be a day when the one sacrificed shall return and rule eternally in a Kingdom of righteousness that need not be questioned for its purity. I remember the fact that His victory sees the cessation of all wars, the end to all sickness, the death of death and the installation of eternal joy.

I remember these things and thank God that these memories birthed in eternity can reach my temporal state. They transport me to that realm all too momentarily and strengthen the hope I have to carry on as a pilgrim and a stranger in these parts. It reminds me of an Andrae Crouch song ‘Always Remember’. I play it in my head at this time because it focusses me on Jesus – and as the central lyric states I look to always keep Him on my mind.

I remember these things and inform Deborah of the main points – the sacrifice of men for this country and then the sacrifice of the Son of Man for humanity and leave it to her and God to work through the rest.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd