Remembering well.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia.

As I have said a few times, we are in the middle of Easter, which lasts for 50 days. Last week I talked about how the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday invite us to reflect on those attitudes, behaviours, hopes and beliefs that lead us from living life to the fullest; from loving the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind by loving our neighbour as ourselves. This season invites us to leave all these at the cross to die with Christ so that Easter Sunday might dawn with new hope, new attitudes, new behaviours and beliefs that lead us and all to life.

This Thursday we remembered St. George. George was born into a Christian family of Greek decent in Palestine in about 280. Tradition teaches us that he followed his father to be a tribune in the Emperor’s body guard. In 303 the Emperor Diocletian ordered all soldiers to sacrifice to him as a god, and if they refused for them to be put to death. George refused the order, and went to the Emperor to tell him that the order was wrong. He was tortured and put to death. His grave is in Israel and he is remembered today as the patron saint of all Palestinians. A Muslim saying about St. George states that the righteous act is to say what is just in the face of a tyrant. George challenged the Emperor’s attitudes and beliefs that deprived so many others of life. And he willingly paid the price.

In the coming week we remember the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli, and the Battle of Gate Pa. Both occasions offer us a chance to remember the New Zealanders who died on Gallipoli and the Western Front fighting for the British Empire; and those New Zealanders who died here defending their land, and the British invaders. There is no doubting the courage and fortitude of all those who fought, especially at Gallipoli and the Western Front. These people were put in an impossible situation. There had never been this kind of war before and the generals were at a loss at how to do fight it. And the ordinary soldiers paid the price. We remember them.

This week’s readings are about the Good shepherd. We hear that old favourite, Psalm 23, which establishes the idea of the Good Shepherd in Scripture. The temptation is to romanticise this psalm, to turn it into something it is not. It takes the hard reality of life as both sheep and shepherd to describe God’s presence in the life of the Psalmist. It is still a hard life. This psalm is reinterpreted a number of times by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Matthew, Mark and John to expand on the themes the write of Psalm 23 introduces, and introduce some new themes depending on the people who were the first hearers. We hear part of John’s reinterpretation in John 10, which like the other gospel writers elevates Jesus to Good Shepherd. It is set in a moment of deep conflict with the Pharisees. Jesus is described as going before us through the agony and death of the cross, and we are invited to follow his tune. Let us not romanticise this reading either.

We also need to be careful we do not romanticise what WWI was all about and to do that in a way that still honours those who fought and the values they fought for and the reasons they went.  It is Easter and these commemorations offer us a chance to reflect on the attitudes, hopes and beliefs that led to both the New Zealand Land Wars and WWI. With St. George, a soldier himself, are we able to ask what beliefs so easily lead us to violence, and in the light of the resurrection to look for attitudes, beliefs and ways of behaving that lead to justice, peace and hope for all. We must remember all those who fought and died, on every side, and work with the Good Shepherd in their name to ensure that no more suffer the same fate.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia.