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13/11/2017
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Andrew Martlew, former Army Chaplain.
Last on
Mon 13 Nov 2017
05:43
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Script
Good morning.
The Remembrance season is over.Β War Memorials in city and village have their freshly poppied wreaths lying in wind-scoured ranks at their base.Β Medals are polished.Β Poppies are off lapels, β¦ and perhaps the odd one may even go into a drawer ready for next year.
Which might seem rather less like recycling and more like meanness.Β And that would not be good.
΅ώ³ά³Ωβ¦
Whatβs happened to all those thoughts that swirled around those War Memorials during the two minutes silence?
Whatβs happened to the wise words of preachers or the august words of the Act of Remembrance?Β Have they gone back into the mental drawer ready to be dusted off and pinned back into passing pious thoughts at next yearβs Remembrance Sunday?Β That would be even less good than recycling our old poppies.
βAt the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them. βΒ
But will we?
Will we remember them as our focus shifts from the Dardanelles to the Christmas turkey?
It would be good, whenever we pass the fading poppy wreaths around the War Memorials, if we did continue to remember them.Β The ultimate sacrifices of those who didnβt come back, and the living sacrifices of so many who did β from Flanders then or Afghanistan now.
Lord God,
we have grieved this weekend for the suffering that humanity has brought upon itself,
give us the moral courage all through this year both to remember them, and their sacrifice,
and to live our lives in ways that are worthy of that sacrifice,
to work together with our neighbours β whoever and wherever they might be, those like us and those we donβt like β to make a land fit for us all to live in.
Amen
The Remembrance season is over.Β War Memorials in city and village have their freshly poppied wreaths lying in wind-scoured ranks at their base.Β Medals are polished.Β Poppies are off lapels, β¦ and perhaps the odd one may even go into a drawer ready for next year.
Which might seem rather less like recycling and more like meanness.Β And that would not be good.
΅ώ³ά³Ωβ¦
Whatβs happened to all those thoughts that swirled around those War Memorials during the two minutes silence?
Whatβs happened to the wise words of preachers or the august words of the Act of Remembrance?Β Have they gone back into the mental drawer ready to be dusted off and pinned back into passing pious thoughts at next yearβs Remembrance Sunday?Β That would be even less good than recycling our old poppies.
βAt the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them. βΒ
But will we?
Will we remember them as our focus shifts from the Dardanelles to the Christmas turkey?
It would be good, whenever we pass the fading poppy wreaths around the War Memorials, if we did continue to remember them.Β The ultimate sacrifices of those who didnβt come back, and the living sacrifices of so many who did β from Flanders then or Afghanistan now.
Lord God,
we have grieved this weekend for the suffering that humanity has brought upon itself,
give us the moral courage all through this year both to remember them, and their sacrifice,
and to live our lives in ways that are worthy of that sacrifice,
to work together with our neighbours β whoever and wherever they might be, those like us and those we donβt like β to make a land fit for us all to live in.
Amen
Broadcast
- Mon 13 Nov 2017 05:43ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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