Sermon for the 12th of November - Remembrance Sunday

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ So said the Spanish philosopher, George Santayana.

On this Remembrance Sunday, it seems as though we haven’t learnt from the past. And that we forget what should never be forgotten.

In 2023 it seems unbelievable that people are marching on the streets of London calling for Jewish blood. Listening to the understandably highly emotional voices, from both sides, on the BBC, one is left wondering how to make sense of it, and how to pray.

The journalist and rabbi Jay Michaelson reflects on the situation in the Holy Land. Terrorism is always wrong. Murdering and kidnapping innocent civilians is never justified. Posting executions online and dragging mutilated bodies through the streets is barbaric. And so is starving civilians of food, water, fuel, electricity, and medicine.

In a conflict, we are pressured to take sides. The Israel-Palestine conflict for many has become a binary contest, with the need to see one side as all good, and the other as all evil. And this is leading to some very dark and worrying places.

The Wisdom of Solomon encourages us to search diligently for wisdom. This Wisdom is referred to as female, and addressed as ‘lady’ or ‘she’.  It’s a refreshingly feminist critique of the writings of a highly masculine and patriarchal culture and society.

And the deep wisdom of the Judeo-Christian faith affirms the simple but profound truth that everyone, regardless of gender or religion or race or tribe, is made in the image and likeness of God.

Nicholas Kristof put this truth powerfully in the New York Times:

"When you care about some humans but not others, you've lost your humanity… If you care about human life only in Israel or only in Gaza, then you don't actually care about humanity… If your moral compass is attuned to the suffering of only one side, your compass is broken, and so is your humanity."

The pain of a grieving Israeli parent is no different than the anguish of a mother or father in Gaza. There’s no ‘hierarchy of human life… all lives are of equal value’.

Acts of violence, words of violence, are a choice. And so are words and acts of peace. Here are two examples which suggests that a different way is possible.

This year, we will again shortly be selling traditional Christmas tree glass baubles, made from recycled glass, with designs that change every year. They are handmade in Bethlehem. And they express a community that provides hope for a better future. Because the baubles are hand blown by Muslims, painted by Christians, and shipped by Israel. It’s a social enterprise is now supporting 38 families in Bethlehem.

Another prophetic choice is the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. It includes Arab and Israeli musicians, bringing different people together with their shared love of music. Coming together through music, it affirms their equal worth as human beings who deserve peace, freedom and happiness.

May these initiatives be an example of peace making, and provide a hope for the future, and may these be the voice of the majority of people, who so ardently desire peace, and not the acts and voices of extremists and violence.

We can also pray, because prayer changes us. When we can discover peace within ourselves, and this overflows to family, neighbours and the wider community.

We pray for God’s kingdom, God’s peace, God’s shalom, to come and heal our broken world. We particularly pray for the people of the Holy Land, and for the end to violence.

As our collect reminds us, it is the “just and gentle” rule of God in Christ which offers hope to a world “divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin”.

I would like to end with a poem from the rabbi and liturgist, Chaim Stern. It’s called, Prayer for Overcoming Indifference

For the sin of silence,
For the sin of indifference,
For the secret complicity of the neutral,
For the closing of borders,
For the washing of hands,
For the crime of indifference,
For the sin of silence,
For the closing of borders.
For all that was done,
For all that was not done,
Let there be no forgetfulness before the Throne of
Glory;
Let there be remembrance within the human heart;
And let there at last be forgiveness
When your children, O God,
Are free and at peace.

 

Reference
Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian, Fri 27 Oct 2023
From Chaim Stern, editor, Gates of Repentance (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1978).