Magazine for November 2010
Remembrance
The First World War ended on the 11th November 1918 at 11.00 am. In that war we brought together the latest technology to drench northern France in blood. Ever since then, in November, we have remembered the sacrifice of those who have died in war in the hope that such sacrifice will not be needed again. Sadly, as one conflict ends another starts and lives are sacrificed once again.
The justness of war is difficult to judge: there are always at least two sides and there is always pain and suffering experienced by many. At the heart of conflict is mankind’s fundamental problem which is of course sin. Sin is such a small word yet has immense consequences. The great evils that we see around us are the cumulative effect of many small sins by all of us – the things we have done and the good we have chosen not to do.
The sacrifices made by so many have had an effect but do not cure the root cause of the evils that give rise to war and oppression. Only one sacrifice has been effective against sin and that was Jesus’ death on the cross where He died for the sins committed by all mankind through the whole of history. Through Jesus’ death our sins have been paid and through His resurrection the gulf separating us from God has been bridged. It is in remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for us we see real hope for the power of sin being broken.
It is in this remembrance of Jesus that we see that we have been saved and that Jesus’ victory over sin and death belongs to anyone who calls on Him as saviour. This can perhaps be summed up as the three R’s of Remembrance, Repentance and Redemption.
David Bradshaw