Remembrance Day 2024

English Standard Version Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2  He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3  He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5  You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

80 years, 5 months, and 5 days ago. June 6th, 1944. D-day. Canadian soldiers, mixed with American and British soldiers, stormed the beaches of northern France in the singular biggest attempt in WWII to turn the tide of the second world war. 14,000 Canadians participated in the effort, some on the ground, some on the sea, and some in the air. By the end of that day, 1096 Canadians were casualties, and 381 were killed in action. By the end of August 1944 and the battle for Normandy, more 18,700 Canadians has become casualties, and over 5000 Canadian soldiers gave their lives on the battle field. (Canadian encyclopaedia; Britannica).

It’s at times like these that we ask the following questions:

How do we reconcile this? How do we justify this? How do we cope with the losses of so many lives? Many of those lives so young that they had barely gotten started. What does God’s Word tell us to do with the grief we share with the generations who have come before us?

We are told in

Ecclesiastes 3:8 ESV

a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

The writer of Ecclesiastes shows us that there are times in life when we must love, or when there will be peace. But perhaps as those who served at D-Day could tell us, peace comes at a cost. For those men and women who served on that day, in WWII or WWI, and many other conflicts that still happen today, they put their lives on the line so that we may have relative peace here at home. So that we may live in freedom.

Such horrors as D-Day were never part of God’s plan. From the beginning he made humanity to work in harmony, free of evil and sin. We disobeyed God and we fell. Part of the realities of a fallen world are times when brave men and women must put their lives on the line, push through, and fight to maintain peace, freedom, and justice.

This is why remembrance day is so important, so that we do not forget the high cost that has been paid for us.

God’s Word also pushes us to look - and indeed I think we all inwardly hope - for a time when these things will pass away. When things will be restored. Wars, rumours of wars, and the pain and grief of this kind of loss of life will be eternally ended.

Isaiah 25:8 ESV

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

This verse, prophecies so long ago, looks forward to when Jesus will return, and once and for all do away with the evil that ravages our world. This verse helps us place our hope in Christ, because there is a promise that he will do away with such things as D-Day or the need for it. No more loss, pain, death, killing. It will be done away with. He will swallow up death forever, and wipe the tears of grief, injustice, loss, and pain away once and for all.

So I want to encourage you, first to remember: While this world remains as it is, we will have evil with us. It is our duty and honour to remember those who serve and have served, and have given even their lives to keep us safe and free.

Second, I want to encourage you to be right with God, and look with hope for a time when he will do away with death, war, killing, pain and suffering, and restore. In these ways, we can appropriately remember D-Day, while looking to God and realizing that war, killing, pain, suffering, and loss will not always be the answer.