Sermon - Brookes Christian Resources - Updated

In July 2015 Margaret and I were in Istanbul, a day later we sailed down through the Dardanelles and around the coast till the Queen Victoria paused about two kilometres off the shores of Anzac Cove.    A large crowd gathered at the stern of the ship and stood in silence as the last post was played and a flag lowered in memory of those who died on that shore a hundred years earlier.   It was a moving ceremony.

A few days ago I finished reading Rachel Billington’s well researched novel, “Glory – A Story of Gallipoli”.   The novel tells the story from a British perspective but doesn’t flinch from spelling out the gruesome horrors of what happened on the Gallipoli Peninsula as the Allies sought in vain to overcome the Turks on their native soil.   The enterprise was a disaster.   Many good men died for a cause that was ill conceived and doomed to failure.   Winston Churchill – who inspired Britain with his leadership in the next great conflict was, it seems, largely to blame for this disaster.  

My childhood was spent in a country that chose to be neutral in the 2^nd World War – the Irish Republic.   I remember however that we had those black rubber gasmasks in the house, as kids we enjoyed playing with them.  And I remember that at night we would draw wooden shutters across the windows – lest the lights of Dublin enabled German bomber pilots to get their bearings for an attack on a British city.      My parents never fought in any war though I had an Irish Uncle who chose to serve with the British armed forces.  Consequently, it was not until I came to New Zealand that I learnt about the ANZACS and the importance for this country of the event that happened in Gallipoli - claiming over 2,700 NZ lives.   It was not until I came here that I learnt that some 100,000 New Zealanders, men and women, served in France and elsewhere during the 1914 – 18 war.    Sadly, over 18,000 New Zealanders never returned home and some 41,000 were injured during that war.  When we realise that the NZ population was just over 1m at the time it is not difficult to sense the impact of this on the nation as a whole.

Today is the 11^th day of the 11^th month and today is exactly 100 years since the end of the 1^st World War.   Today is Armistice Day, today is Remembrance Sunday.   At 11am we will stand for a minute’s silence in memory of those who died as a result of the 1^st World War.

Today then is a good time for us to pause and to reflect not just on what happened back then but also on what might be a Christian response in the 21^st century to matters of war and peace.   I am well aware that this is no simple matter for as many here will know sincere Christians have taken opposing positions - when it comes to military service.    Some in our own Church like the Rev. Ormond Burton (who said of the 1914 – 18 conflict that it was during that time that New Zealand became a nation) and a later Vice President of the Church Arch Barrington were strongly committed pacifists and suffered for their stance.   Ormond Burton was expelled from the Church during the 2^nd WW and not received back till the 1970’s.  At the same time others have felt it was their God given duty to fight for what they believed to be right and many suffered or died as a result.    The truth is that both were standing for what they believed to be right, not only in their own eyes but in the eyes of God.  

How then can we as Christians approach this matter?   Are there Biblical perspectives that might be helpful as we shape out our own position?   Does Jesus, does the Lord himself, offer us any guidance that might determine whether or not we might be a conscientious objector on the one hand or a soldier, sailor or member of the air force on the other.  Yes, I think that there are some insights that can help us in our thinking.

But first, let us acknowledge, that the Bible as a whole appears to be somewhat ambivalent when it comes to matters of war and peace.     We need to remind ourselves that there are parts of the Bible that are not only pre-Christian but which also fall short of where a Christian seeking to live in the spirit of Jesus Christ would want to stand.    

Jesus himself acknowledged this when he said: “you have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (which is a form of justice that has an element of fairness about it and is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible)) but I say unto you do not resist the evil doer.”    For this reason, while I believe that there are many God given insights in the scriptures written prior to the coming of Christ, we as Christians in order to be true to the name by which we are called need to take our primary cues for living from the New Testament, and as far as possible from the Lord himself.

Where then might be a good place to begin in terms of shaping our attitude to war and peace?    I believe, that the words that we call the beatitudes provide such a place.   Here we have the words of Jesus as Matthew and Luke with slight variations record them. Our focus this morning is on Matthews version.

For me three things stand out in Matthews version that can give us some guidance when we are faced with conflict, whether that conflict be local or international, personal or communal.   

First:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  For us as Christians I believe that is a very good place for us to start.   These words of Jesus carry the implication that for us the priority when faced with conflict, whatever the nature of that conflict, is to seek for ways in which resolve conflict and bring about peace.

Of course, you and I know that this is not always possible.  When it comes to international conflicts the key decisions are seldom in our power to make.   Nevertheless, I believe that as Christians we are called, challenged, to hold to this ideal.   Furthermore, as responsible citizens in a democracy we have a right at least to challenge the powers that be so that when faced with possible conflict a real effort is made to find a peaceful solution.

Let me give you an example.   Not many people, outside of Irish Methodism, know the story of Eric Gallagher.    Gallagher was President of the Irish Methodist Church in 1967 – 68.    In 1974 he was one of several Protestant church leaders who met in secret with the leaders of the Irish Republican Army in a bid to get the IRA leadership to agree to find a political way forward rather than the way of bombs and bullets in Northern Ireland.    Given the situation in Norther Ireland this was a brave and costly step for those Church leaders.    Unfortunately, the Special Branch of the Irish Police in the Republic got wind of the meeting which was held in the south and the meeting had to end prematurely with the hasty withdrawal of the key IRA leadership.

However, seeds were sown and it is notable that some years later when the IRA chose to decommission their weapons that it was a Methodist minister who was chosen to stand alongside a Catholic priest to witness that decommissioning.

Northern Ireland in the 1970’s was racked by sectarianism, Ian Paisley was at the height of his powers, and the Orange Order was a force to be reckoned with – It was in that context that Eric Gallagher motivated by the Gospel, took risks, opposed sectarianism and acted as a peacemaker.

But, what if no one will listen?   What if there is no openness to dialogue?   What if there is an undeniable evil that is determined to have its own way?   What does that mean for us as Christians?    Must we buckle under the tyranny, yield to the horror, refuse to defend what we know to be right?

Here Jesus is telling us that we as Christians are called to take a stand for what is right.    Jesus is not talking about self-righteousness – but about what is morally right and good for us as individuals and as communities.   He is calling us to take a stand for the values of love and justice for our ourselves and our fellow human beings.

Peace without justice is no peace.   When the peacemakers have tried and failed then what about our stand for what is right.   Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister 1937/38 tried to find a way to ensure peace prior to the outbreak of the second World War.  He tried by making concessions to appease the Germans and was roundly condemned for it at home, but, ultimately he failed.   

Was there some other way to contain Hitler and to avert the coming catastrophe without yielding to Hitler’s demands, I don’t know.   But the brutality of the Nazi regime, coupled with the attempt to exterminate the Jews and others that didn’t fit with Hitler’s racist views had to be stopped.      Otherwise where is the hunger and thirst for righteousness?  Otherwise where is justice, where is peace with honour?   These are not easy matters, for the Christian they are matters of conscience, and many Christians will have been caught between the role of peacemaker and the role of standing for what is right even if that means war.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.   May that too be part of our motivation, our desire, our commitment – when we are faced with conflict.

Finally, there is a third beatitude, to take into account.    “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”    Words that remind me of the words of Jesus from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Vindictiveness has no part in the Christian approach to conflict.   There was a strong element of that in the way the Allies treated Germany after the first WW and many historians now argue that this in turn led to the rise of Nazism and Hitler…and the terrible conflict that was to come.    I think they are right.

Kamel Ataturk showed us a better way as he sought to re-engage with the Allies after Gallipoli.  “The Turks,” he said, “will always pay … tribute on the soil where the majority of your dead sleep on the windswept wastes of Gallipoli.”    On a Gallipoli monument there are other words also attributed to Ataturk – though some debate whether he actually said them - but they are well worth quoting:  “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

Mercy, forgiveness, enables us to move on, to forge a new future, to establish new relationships.   Who would have thought, thirty years ago, that the Berlin wall would come down, that we could walk through the Brandenburg gate into the old East Germany, who would have thought that in this generation we could visit Vietnam as a tourist, or that people could come and go freely from Russia and China.  Is it too much to think that maybe in the not too distant future from North Korea as well.

The last century has seen terrible conflicts.  Millions of people, soldiers and civilians have died as a consequence.  That is an immense human tragedy – and New Zealand as a nation has been deeply affected by that.     It is a tragedy we must never forget.

But we must also learn from it.  Let us be those who Put peace making at the heart of our hopes, let us be those who seek to stand for what is right, and when the conflicts are resolved, let us be those who offer mercy, and who receive forgiveness, and who move on.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Thanks be to God for those insights which Jesus has shared with us.   He invites all of us who are called by his name to live by those insights.

Amen