Remembrance Service

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY Luke 10:1-24 And so once again we gather on this Remembrance Sunday, Remembrance Sunday 2020. Gathering to remember once more the sacrifice of so many millions during times of war down through the years. Those who fought and died or were injured, those who remained at home and died or were injured, those of our armed forces and support services who even today are serving in war zones throughout the world. Most of us I suppose are able to keep the death and destruction, the heroism, those things that are all a part of war, at the back of our minds for much of the time because the events happened such a long time ago and we don't have close family or friends involved today with our armed forces. But then, even if that's the case, we can't help but be gripped and challenged anew when we see and hear the images and stories that we find in the media around this time, whether it be pictures of the battlefields of France and Belgium, documentaries of those who've been maimed as a result of being hit by bullet or shell, or interviews with grieving families. Now of course because of our current situation whether it be today in Church, or at war memorials or cenotaphs throughout the land today or on Wednesday, far fewer people than usual are able to gather this year. And that's a shame because surely this season of Remembrance is about more than remembering. It's also very much about shared feelings with others, it's about people coming together who are bound together with the same purpose; it's about community. And although, like the majority of people today, I personally wasn't around for either of the main conflicts of the 20th century one of the things that becomes clear when speaking to those who were is that, for good or ill, these conflicts had the effect of bringing people together. Because people then had a common purpose, common feelings of unease and dread, too often common feelings of grief; but also a common determination not to be beaten, and perhaps too a common desire to support and encourage one another. And maybe today these are still characteristics of those communities that have close ties with the men and women of our armed forces. But for the most part, for much of the time in our individualistic society, they tend to be absent. Unless something significant happens to bring us together for a while, which to some extent, perhaps, might be happening with the corona virus. Meanwhile people who went through the wars have spoken and still speak with some wistfulness, with feelings of regret, about those days when there was much more, they say, a spirit of community. And we who weren't there, even we think back to days when we seem to remember that people were more friendly and caring to one-another, when doors were open for neighbours to bob in, when folks were somehow more concerned and supportive of one another. But then of course we all know that our memories of times past become rosier with the passage of time because it's so easy to remember the good times and yet forget the bad ... and in times of war there are inevitably very bad times indeed. No war isn't, and never can be, the answer to our human problems. And it's a fact that for all of us there's always, to some extent, a hankering after what really never was. But then on occasions such as this, when people do gather in order to remember, although as we've said there'll be fewer than usual this year, there are genuine feelings of unity and camaraderie amongst those who wouldn't normally have a great deal in common; as regular church goers stand the regulation distance away from those who'd rarely be seen amongst them. So how do we go about maintaining these feelings of unity of purpose, of togetherness, that are experienced, for a short time at least, by many people every year at this time? Because surely this is something that we would all want. Surely something that the majority of those who went out to fight and those who remained at home would have hoped for as a result of their sacrifice. How do we achieve this feeling of being one in purpose? Well some of our politicians, I suspect, would tell us that it's about appealing to the basic goodness that is within each of us. That given the opportunity, seeing a need that isn't being met by others, most people's community spirit, what they might refer to as the Dunkirk spirit, will come to the fore so that examples of neighbours helping and supporting each another will be seen all over. But is that the case? Well the passage that we read this morning concerns a time when the followers of Jesus did behave in a united way, a time when seventy two of them went out together to fulfil a task that the Lord had set them all. It tells us about a particular occasion when God's son worked with a community of people and how, for them, it was a most wonderful, happy, fulfilling time. A time, which we're told in verse 17 of our passage, resulted in them being filled with feelings of great joy. So Jesus appointed and sent out 72 of his disciples. And although it's actually unclear from the early manuscripts whether the figure should be 72 or 70 the number could well have been meant to be symbolic of those who would form the whole people of God, the church in general. Because in Genesis chapter 46 verse 27 for example we read that 70 was the total number of the members of Jacob's family when they went down to Egypt, whilst Numbers 11 from verse 16 tells us that the total of the representative elders of the Israelites when they eventually left Egypt was also 70. So that our passage, with its example of happy fulfilled community living, can be read as pointing to God's purpose for the whole of his people at all times. In other words what we find here is how God wants his people to be today, how he wants us to live and work together; how he wants us to have this same kind of joy and fulfilment in Christ's service as these first disciples. What then was it about these 72, or 70, and their common task to spread the message of Jesus Christ before he followed on behind them, that led to their joy-filled experience and how can we have the same? Well the first thing that we notice about them was that they were appointed by Jesus. In other words they didn't simply go out full of enthusiasm but under their own steam; they didn't just decide amongst themselves that it would be a good idea to go ahead of Jesus preparing the ground for him to follow. No, Jesus was the one who chose them especially for the task so that they were able to go, knowing that they had his authority. Such that whatever they were to face they could have confidence in the knowledge that they were where they were because he'd willed it for them. And that's not all, we're also told that he sent them two by two; he made sure that they'd go with a companion. They didn't, in other words, go as individuals trusting alone in the one who sent them. Rather they were with someone who'd been given the same task as they had, someone with whom they could share both their highs and lows, who they could both encourage and be encouraged by. Then secondly we find that Jesus let them into the secret of the source of the success of their mission before ever they set out. There's much to do he said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." In other words he stressed from the beginning the need for prayer and intercession. Only after they'd brought their situation before the Lord were they to go, confident that it would be in his strength and according to his will that they went, whilst remembering that such prayer must be a continual process. As Bishop Ryle has said, "Prayer is one of the best and most powerful means of helping forward the cause of Christ in the world. It is a means within the reach of all who have the Spirit of adoption. Not all believers have money to give to missions. Very few have great intellectual gifts, or extensive influence among men. But all believers can pray for the success of the Gospel, - and they ought to pray for it daily." Thirdly Jesus gave the disciples clear instructions as to what to expect of the task that he'd set them, and how they were to tackle it. He pulled no punches, refusing to hide either the dangers that they'd find themselves in or the strict dedication to the task that would be required of them. They'd be like lambs among wolves, he told them. No, there was nothing safe about what they were doing, there'd be those who'd want nothing less than to kill them. And yet, instead of going carefully and timidly in the midst of this threat as you might expect, they were to go boldly and wholeheartedly, fully focused on the task before them. Nothing must be allowed to distract them. So that they were only to take the bare minimum of provisions with them, and they weren't to engage in any unnecessary chatter with people they met on the way. What's more, despite the potential hardships that they'd face from all around, they weren't to look to the people to whom they'd been sent to give them some relief, asking them for the best of food or for comfortable lodging perhaps trying out different people's houses until they found the best. No instead they were to be happy with what ever they were given accepting it without complaint. And this was because their main focus was to be the declaration of the message that Jesus had entrusted them with. And this they were to announce clearly and simply, refusing to compromise its truth even though that would mean alienating those who refused to listen when they were told: "The kingdom of God is near you". Well perhaps for us this doesn't seem at all like a recipe for fun filled service. So what was it about their experience that led the seventy-two to return to Jesus with joy in their hearts? Was it because of the results of their efforts, because, as they said to Jesus, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name"? In other words was it because they were so taken up with what they'd achieved, what they'd experienced whilst carrying out the Lord's instructions, that they were so joy filled? Surely not! Rather was it not because, in following Christ's directions, in accepting his appointment of them, in placing their mission and its outcome before God in prayer, and then in going boldly, together with their companion, despite the dangers that awaited them and suppressing their own needs in favour of the overriding need to proclaim the gospel, and then, seeing the evidence of God's power at work through what they were doing and saying, they became aware of the truth of what Jesus was to tell them when they returned. Which was that he had made them his representatives, he'd given them the authority to do what only God can do, (verse 19) "to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy". And this, they realised, was all by grace. They weren't the wise and learned. They hadn't like their heroes, the prophets and kings of long ago, yearned to know of these things. And yet they, who were merely children in their natural understanding of the ways of God, had been chosen to know him. And amazingly this was what they were now experiencing. As they found themselves carrying out Jesus' plan for them, so God was revealing more and more of himself to them. And together they were filled with joy! And surely here's the answer to our question as to how we can capture on a permanent basis that feeling of unity of mind and purpose that brings people together in community, which we perhaps get a glimpse of at those times when our shared feelings of adversity, or our memories of such times, draw us together. The answer is that, actually, it's only in Christ Jesus that it becomes possible. After all the Bible tells us and shows us how humanity was separated from God and from one another because of sin such that it is no longer natural for people to live in harmony with each other. And surely war itself proves this as do the conflicts and broken relationships that we see all around us. But Christ died and rose again to heal what had become broken so that by accepting his sacrifice on our behalf and receiving God's forgiveness and the Holy Spirit as the confirmation of our salvation, we can allow him to subjugate our will to his, such that not only we ourselves but also our relationships with each other, begin to change. So that what was unnatural for us before begins to become natural as we accept one another, as we value and love one another, and as we rejoice in sharing in community one with another. Does this sound a bit far fetched? Well the fact is that the world yearns for such community. Many people indeed spend their lives, their dreams, seeking out such close fellowship. And many have fought and died and many continue to fight and to die, for peace, for a better world. And we who have the word of God, who have the Gospel of Christ Jesus have the answer to all that yearning. Though the sad truth of course is that, as we know, the church of today isn't always the best example of a community that promotes unity and peace. So what can we do? Surely all we can do, all that we're asked to do by our Lord, is to submit to him. To forget our selfish desires, to prayerfully lay ourselves before him and go where he leads us, allowing him as he does so to change us ever more into a family that is united, that is together, that is an example of true community, and that through its very existence shows the answer to a world longing for peace and unity of purpose. The question is: are we prepared for the sacrifice that such aspirations will inevitably demand of us? Amen