Remembrance and Trading. 10.15 HC 9th November 2009

Hebrews 9:24-end and Mark 1:14-20

So Remembrance Sunday. How can we best observe it? What will you think about during the two minutes silence? I asked that to some choir children yesterday and they gave very good answers; ‘we’ll think about all those who were brave enough to give their lives in war for others.’ Quite right. But of course you can only remember what you have first known, and as time passes most of us won’t know anyone from the two World Wars, though we may know of victims of more recent wars. So, yes, in the two mins silence let’s give thanks for our freedom and those who paid the price for it. But this morning I’d like to suggest something else we might do. It takes a bit of explaining so please try and stay with me.

Did you notice the language I’ve just used? ‘those who paid the price for our freedom’. Whether we like it or not, war involves trading – not with money but with lives. Generally, soldiers lives are traded for civilians’ freedom. Like it or not, this is the deal: those in the armed forces sign up to risk their lives and put themselves in the place of danger. It is a very big price to pay. In the First World War, roughly 14 million people died and in World War II, about 58 million – close to the population of Britain. Millions more have died since and are dying every day. Of course, it isn’t just those who have agreed to fight in a war who are the casualties of it; more civilians die in war than soldiers. Yet, even so, for most of us, thankfully, war is not our direct experience. Most of us do not offer to trade our lives for the freedom of our country. But let’s remember that each of us is involved in other sorts of trading. We may not call it trading, but we are doing deals with people all the time, even if we don’t spell it out. Take the choir here. You are very special because you give your time voluntarily. But you rightly expect something back from being in the choir. What do you gain? Training to sing well, enjoyment, sense of achievement, a smile from Mr Teague!

And those of you not in the choir, you’re not paid to be here either, but you have come to worship God, and rightly come with expectations about what will happen when you get here. (If you turned up to a locked door and a notice pinned to it saying ‘sorry, not open, clergy too lazy to get out of bed’) you would feel cheated, because there is an implicit deal going on here, an arrangement that’s understood. If you go shopping for a CD, find the one you want, and see that it costs £12.99 that’s what you expect to pay; that’s the deal. In Africa, it can be different. I first learned this when I was 20 and spent three months in Kenya. In a Nairobi market I enjoyed bartering for some wooden carvings; the stall holder started with a price, I halved it, he pretended to look hurt and brought his first price down a little, I brought mine up a little, he brought his down slightly, I pretended to walk away but eventually agreed a price. In the end he was happy and I was happy. A deal can only be reached if BOTH sides agree. If they don’t there is no deal.

I’m beginning to sound worryingly like Noel Edmonds! I don’t watch Deal or No Deal, but I’ve done a little research. This very popular TV show takes place in… The Dream Factory! Did you know that? The Dream Factory – the place where dreams are manufactured. If you open the right boxes, if you deal right, you will win lots of money and your dreams will come true because wealth can deliver happiness! (Oh, and do you know what the audience are called, those who come week by week to cheer the show on? Pilgrims!!) Interesting language. OK, let’s create our own Dream Factory. The real truth is that happiness is more likely to come from being at peace with ourselves and at peace with others. Of course we all want peace in the world too. Yesterday, some of the choristers made prayer poppies, writing on their own poppy a prayer for peace where there is war at present. Is it just a dream? Why has it been so hard for human beings to strike deals which avoid armed conflict? War starts because an agreement couldn’t be reached, a deal couldn’t be struck – one side couldn’t agree to the terms of the other. And it’s not unlike the conflict within ourselves, which robs us of peace – one side of me wrestles with another side of me, and I am not at peace. You may know this Chinese saying written by Lao Tzu in the 5th centuryBC. It goes like this:

“If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbours.
If there is to be peace between neighbours,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.”

And peace in the heart is something that God specialises in bringing about. Whilst it’s true that the reasons for the lack of peace within us are complex, it’s also true that much of our turmoil stems from our longing to belong and to be loved. Where we belong as human beings is to be held in the heart of God, and where we can be loved is there. We may know the theory of that and not disagree, but have no effective experience of it. But this is a deal which requires both sides to sign up to. God has put his offer on the table. There aren’t 22 boxes to chose from (in a Deal or No Deal guessing game). There’s only one box to open. We heard about it again in our reading from Hebrews: “he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Once for all – there is no more God can do to demonstrate His care for us – the sacrifice of Christ does it. We are not asked to pay for God’s love, to barter for the forgiveness He offers us. But we are invited to give him our lives in return. Jesus was holding out that deal to many as he began his ministry. “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ That’s the deal, that’s all that’s asked of you, that you repent, that is, acknowledge that you have not been living at peace with God and yourself. Then, come and follow the way of living which I’ll demonstrate to you. Many turned their backs on the offer and would not close the deal. Simon and Andrew, James and John welcomed it and agreed to the terms.

Maybe the best way we can honour those who have sacrificed their lives (and those who continue to do so) is for us to receive the free gift of peace, the gift made possible by the sacrifice of Christ. As we stand in silence shortly and then later come to the altar rail, maybe we can close the deal or if we have, to re-affirm it.

Let us pray…
Lord, continue to speak to us and give us courage to respond. Amen.