Remembrance Sunday 1999
Sermon preached by
The Reverend Alan Kirk
Collect for Remembrance Sunday
Eternal God, in whose perfect realm no sword is drawn but the sword of justice, and no strength is known but the strength of love: guide and inspire all who seek your kingdom, that peoples and nations may find their security in the love which casts out fear; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Introduction
"… a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two, and to another one..."
Imagine—I am 'the man', and 'my servants', to whom shall I entrust my money? Well, it's obvious—'The Partnership', stars of Channel 4's 'Show Me the Money'! Laura the Sunday School Teacher, John the Church Treasurer and Charlie the Vicar!!! Yes, this is now, not 2000 years ago, so—Laura, here's five grand (£5,000), John, here's £500, and Charlie, here's £5!! Can you imagine how Charlie is feeling now? Only think about it, don't say it!! What will have happened to the relationship between Charlie and me? What will have been severely damaged, if not destroyed?
TRUST. Looking at the Parable The parable of the talents is one of the Bible's, and Jesus's, best-known stories. Does it have an application on Remembrance Sunday? [The Lectionary from which it comes is used across the world, and so is not fitted in for 'Remembrance', which is not commemorated with poppies in most of the world]. The parable is usually linked to the way in which all people are invited to recognise their own talents, and to put them to good use. Today I invite you to think about this parable in a different way, from a different perspective. The perspective of the man who was entrusted with very little in relation to his fellow servants. Put yourself in his shoes, and think about the relationship between him and his master, and him and his fellow servants. The consequences of mistrust At the heart of this parable is the issue of trust. Or, rather, the lack of it. The master didn't really trust the servant, and the servant didn't really trust his master. And so there was trouble. There was likely to be jealousy. There was likely to be misunderstanding. There was likely to be mistrust. There was likely to be hatred. All of this breeds insecurity, and all too easily leads to violence.
Now think about two world wars, and the countless wars which have raged since, and which rage even as we sit here. The ingredients? Jealousy, misunderstanding, mistrust, hatred. When trust breaks down, relationships falter, and one thing can easily lead to another. The picture we have of the one we no longer trust becomes more and more caricatured, and we are less and less able to see any good in them at all, and at its extreme, we desire their destruction. Adapting the final words of the parable slightly: "For the true Arian race who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw those worthless Jews outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
Could Adolf Hitler have said those words? "For the true Serbian race who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw those worthless Albanians outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" Could President Milosevic have said those words?
Wars are caused by the breakdown of trust, and the consequences are all too horribly familiar, particularly as we have seen so much of 20th century wars on TV programmes shown to mark the end of the 20th century: Jealousy, misunderstanding, mistrust, hatred. And how difficult and painstaking it is to rebuild that broken trust. How difficult to remove jealousy, how difficult to overcome misunderstanding, how difficult to develop trust, how difficult to love again!
Our response
Today, therefore, as we remember the events of the past, and the terrible suffering borne by so many, of so many nationalities, we need also to remember those who are trying to rebuild what has been shattered. We need to pray for politicians in Northern Ireland, that they may genuinely seek to move on from the jealousies, misunderstandings, mistrust and hatreds which have been nurtured for so long, sometimes, disgracefully, in the name of Jesus Christ. Can they learn to trust again, and put an end to war? It is the same in so many parts of the world—a breakdown of trust has reaped, and continues to reap, its harvest of death and suffering. Our remembering today has to encompass many people, and many situations. But what about ourselves as individuals?
- Where do we stand in the mutual trust stakes?
- Can other people trust us?
- What part do we play in the breakdown of trust : in the church, at our work, in our families, in our community?
- Do we ever consider others useless, and want to cast them out?
- Are we ever jealous because someone else seems to have more talents than us?
- Do we ever deliberately misunderstand someone else's situation to 'put them down'?
- Do we ever mistrust on purpose?
- Do we ever hate?
May God help us all to remember well today, and seek to be one of the Lord's servants, determined to make positive use of the talents he has given to us.