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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Rachel Mann.

Good morning.

Today marks the sixteenth anniversary of the London bombings which shocked the nation one day after the joyous announcement that we were to hold the 2012 Olympics.

I can barely imagine the abiding loss of those who lost loved ones in the attack nor the life-changing impact of injuries on survivors. Only a crass person would dare to suggest that those who mourn should move on or that a community should forget. I, for one, am moved by the simplicity of the permanent memorial to 7/7 – fifty-two stainless steel columns in Hyde Park, representing the 52 victims of the bombings, grouped in four sections to reflect the four sites of violence. It is an elegant, calm and powerful tribute to the lost.

However, I believe permanent memorials can only ever do so much. Community memory requires active commitment. Otherwise what we seek to remember will inevitably fade. Of course, not every act of memory is wholesome and sometimes the only right thing to try to do is forget. For all of us there are things we should prefer to let go of. Equally, to feed memory with the fuel of revenge or unabated anger creates grudges. The Bible exhorts us not to seek vengeance but leave space for God.

So today, as I remember those whose lives were destroyed by terrorism not only on 7/7 but in too many tragedies, I shall remember the victims, but I shall also seek to focus on the promise of peace, reconciliation and love, and the hope of justice.

Living God, when we fail to remember for good, call us to account. Help us to work for all that makes for loving community.

Amen.