麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rt Rev Paul Mason.

Good morning.

This weekend we may be more aware than usual of the war memorials in our towns and villages. They punctuate not only our civic landscape, but our history also.

So, what type of punctuation are they? Their obelisk design sets them out most obviously as:

Exclamation Marks: each engraved and fading name crying out an horrific truth of our past.

Question Marks Surely we ask 鈥渨hy鈥� when visiting a war memorial or we question the very nature of peace itself. A reminder to Christians that ultimate Peace lies in Christ and is not simply the absence of war.

Are they Brackets 鈥� 鈥淚nformation that is not essential to the main point鈥�. An aberration from an otherwise progressive history. We do well to remember that while there may be nothing new under the sun, there is the history we forget.

A Full Stop 鈥� Not marking the end of a story but the closing of a chapter, a chapter setting the scene of an unfolding narrative. As history unfolds it must recall its preceding twists and turns: keeping true to its past. In solidarity with its past.

Heavenly Father, you tell us there is no greater love than to lay down one鈥檚 life for one鈥檚 friend.
The fallen are our friends. We are the friends for whom they fell. Remind us that there is a bond of trust between us and if we break faith with those who died, they shall not sleep.

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them, may they rest in peace.

Amen

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