Greetings …

During the past week our electronic sign has read Lest we forget. Pray for peace, a message chosen especially for this week.  I was thinking about these words when Elizabeth and I attended our local dawn service on Tuesday morning.  As we were commemorating the local servicemen who had lost their lives, and the last lines of the Ode were being read, the dawn broke and the birds began to call, greeting the new day.  It struck me that as we were commemorating the end of one thing, the beginning of something else was being celebrated … two opposites converging at the same moment.

While I have never lived in a country where war is being fought, it seems to me that this type of conflict shows the worst of humanity, yet also the best.  As we consider the death, destruction and horror that war inevitably brings with it, we also remember those who willingly choose to go into places of conflict in service of their country.  Anzac Day is a day when we remember the men and women who have served in Australia and overseas, in situations not of their making, in times of war and also as peace-makers and peace-keepers.  We remember those who have never come home, and those who have returned with the scars of what they have experienced.  We remember those who are currently serving and all those whose lives are touched by the experience of war.  We should not forget the service of so many, often given with a posture of humility and a sense of community.

As a Christian, though, I am one who calls Jesus the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).  Jesus, God-self who came to dwell with us, came to retore broken relationships, to bring peace between us and God and between us and our neighbours.  This is why we need to continue to pray for peace, not just for ourselves but for the world. We need to pray for those who, through conflict, are homeless and refugees, those who have been dispossessed and lost their employment, those who have lost families and who mourn the loss of loved ones.

Lest we forget to pray for peace.

Blessings – Heather (she/her).