SunLive - Tauranga remembers Armistice Day - The Bay's News First
Here I am again taking services at the RSA. An odd thing for someone who really is a pacifist. As I said at ANZAC Day I do this because I do think it is important to remember and honour all those who have gone to fight, even if most of the time I struggle with what the wars they were fighting in were all about.
There are a lot of myths around about how these wars were for our freedom. What really surprises me is how much that thinking has shaped the liturgical resources available on line. So many of the prayers give thanks for the freedom and peace we enjoy because of these wars. Lines like "We thank you for the peace and freedom our nation enjoys as a result of their sacrifice" constantly appear. I have to confess I simply could not pray this yesterday and left the line out. Lets be clear. War ends conflict for now. It never brings peace. And these wars were not for freedom.
On Marsland Hill in New Plymouth there is a war memorial for the Anglo-Boer War which gives thanks for those young men who fought for the Motherland and for the Empire. And that is exactly what WW1 was about, and that war led directly to WW11 and laid the ground work for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The decisions made at the end of WW11 laid the groundwork for the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, and probably didn't help in the other conflicts we have then fought in. All those decisions were about Empire.
So here we are again giving thanks for the freedom and peace we enjoy on a day that marks the end of a brutal and unnecessary wary that was simply about Empire, and which becuase it was about Empire did nothing to promote peace. Why is it we find it so hard to speak up about this. Why do we perpetuate these myths?
While politicians at the time needed to convince people that it what these wars were about, I find it appalling that we perpetuate these myths, and lay the ground work for politicians to use these hoary old chestnuts in the future to convince more young men and women to go and die for their wars.
So when will we as church start challenging these myths. When will we be clear that war never leads to peace, but sows the seeds for ongoing violence. When will we stand in the gospel of peace and declare that true peace is only found in God, and when we do as Jesus taught, loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength (rather than ourselves, our security, our prosperity, our power) and loving all our neighbours as ourselves, even when they are German, or Communist, or Muslim?
There are a lot of myths around about how these wars were for our freedom. What really surprises me is how much that thinking has shaped the liturgical resources available on line. So many of the prayers give thanks for the freedom and peace we enjoy because of these wars. Lines like "We thank you for the peace and freedom our nation enjoys as a result of their sacrifice" constantly appear. I have to confess I simply could not pray this yesterday and left the line out. Lets be clear. War ends conflict for now. It never brings peace. And these wars were not for freedom.
On Marsland Hill in New Plymouth there is a war memorial for the Anglo-Boer War which gives thanks for those young men who fought for the Motherland and for the Empire. And that is exactly what WW1 was about, and that war led directly to WW11 and laid the ground work for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The decisions made at the end of WW11 laid the groundwork for the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, and probably didn't help in the other conflicts we have then fought in. All those decisions were about Empire.
So here we are again giving thanks for the freedom and peace we enjoy on a day that marks the end of a brutal and unnecessary wary that was simply about Empire, and which becuase it was about Empire did nothing to promote peace. Why is it we find it so hard to speak up about this. Why do we perpetuate these myths?
While politicians at the time needed to convince people that it what these wars were about, I find it appalling that we perpetuate these myths, and lay the ground work for politicians to use these hoary old chestnuts in the future to convince more young men and women to go and die for their wars.
So when will we as church start challenging these myths. When will we be clear that war never leads to peace, but sows the seeds for ongoing violence. When will we stand in the gospel of peace and declare that true peace is only found in God, and when we do as Jesus taught, loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength (rather than ourselves, our security, our prosperity, our power) and loving all our neighbours as ourselves, even when they are German, or Communist, or Muslim?
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