Someone once shared with me that in order to know where you are going you need to know and understand where you come from. It is in the remembering and the re-telling the stories of those who have gone before us that we discover insights into how to shape our future so that we hopefully do not re-live, once again, the past.
November 11 is just such a time, it is a day to remember, to re-tell the stories, and to honour those who gave of themselves as the ultimate sacrifice for you and for me. It is a specific time that we as Canadians are called to remember, honour and pray for those of us who have given of themselves so that we can enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we have in this wonderful country of Canada .
There are so many stories but this morning I share with you just a few:…………….
Nellie McClung is perhaps best known to Canadians for her involvement in the “Persons Case” in which women were, in 1929, finally declared to be persons and given the right to vote and hold political office. Among her other life roles, she was active in her church plus she was also a wife and a mother.
Of particular interest today for us Nellie McClung was a mother who knew the pain of sending her son to war. On a cold December day in 1915 she wrote in her diary: “This morning we said good-bye to our dear son, Jack, at the CNR station where snow lay fresh and white on the roofs and on the streets, white and soft as pure as a young heart.
“When we came home, I felt strangely tired and old, though I am only forty-two. But I know that my youth has departed from me. It has gone with Jack, our beloved, our first born, the pride of our hearts. Strange fate, surely, for a boy who has never held a gun in his hands, whose ways are gentle, and full of peace; who loves people, pities their sorrows and would gladly help them to solve problems.”
And, as if addressing her recently enlisted son, she concludes, “What have I done to you in letting you go into this inferno of a war? And how could I hold you back without breaking your heart?”……………….
On October 29, 1917 another Canadian soldier, Talbot Papineau, a member of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry wrote this letter to his mother:
“Dearest Mother: after all, I have been able to write to you again before going over. We have been fortunate so far and all things are cheerful. I have even shaved this morning in a little dirty water. I was delighted last night to get two letters from you, and a box of candy which I have actually carried with me and have enjoyed. It was a cold night and I slept only about one hour. Also a noisy night, I can assure you, and the earth was full of vibrations.
“I hope by the same mail you receive another letter from me to say all is successfully over. But of course it may be difficult or impossible to write for a few days, so don’t worry.”
“There seems so little to say when if only I knew what was to happen I might want to say so much. These would be poor letters to have as last ones but you must know with what a world of love they are written. Always remember that I could not love thee so well, or you love me, did I not love honour more. You have given me courage and strength to go very happily and cheerfully into the good fight. Love to all and a big hug for thee, my dear brave little mother.”
On November 5, 1917 , the mother of Major Talbot Mercer Papineau received a telegram confirming that her son had been killed in action on October 30, the day after his last letter to her.
The soldiers that give their lives, those soldiers that have given there lives were and are children of Canada and they were and are loved by parents, sweethearts, and by their own children.
In a cemetery a gravestone tells a tale of war and loss. The soldier’s name was on the tombstone sitting at the head of his wife’s grave. His grave is in France . They had been married mere days before he went overseas, and the headstone told that he was killed in the fall of the year 1918.
More recently since the year 2002, 133 Canadian soldiers have been killed serving in the Afghanistan mission along with one diplomat and two aid workers. Just yesterday there was a private funeral held for Lieutenant Justin Garret Boyes. He was a member of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and had been based in Edmonton . He was training local Afghan police when on October 28, just 10 days into his deployment he was struck by an IED blast.
On October 30, Sapper Steven Marshall, 24, had only been in Afghanistan for a week before he died as a result of an IED blast while on patrol about 10 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City . Marshall was a member of the 1st Combat Engineering Regiment, also based in Edmonton .
This coming week many of us will gather in our communities all across this great nation and at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the11th month, we will stand in silence participating in the traditional military act of remembrance, hearing the Last Post, The Silence, and the Reveille.
In remembering our past we are to take the lessons learned and move forward into our future as a people changed.
God’s call to the faithful is the same as it was in 1914 when world war one began and is the same today as it has been since the beginning of time. God’s call is always to peace, justice and mercy. In the parables and teachings of Jesus, he constantly challenged his hearers to open their hearts and minds to all of God’s people and to give without restriction God’s peace, justice and mercy.
In our context some 2000 years later this call to radical love still transcends time and boundaries. As a way of honouring those who have dedicated and are bravely dedicating themselves to serving our country we cannot and should not stand quietly by unwilling ourselves to enter into the need of justice for all. We are to ensure that the innocent caught in the middle of conflict are cared for, we are not to turn our backs rather as part of the world beyond their borders we are to continue to hear their cries and to stand firmly with them.
We must stand in solidarity with Christ who stood with and loved the least of these. Just as we heard in the Gospel story this morning regarding a poor widow who gave all she has into the treasury, so too do those who are powerless give all they have in the hope that perhaps today will be the day when they will have enough. If we are to make sure that justice exists for all, that freedom continues – we too must give up some things, we must be prepared to work without complaining, to go without some luxuries so that others might have a little of what they need, to do our duty – even though it costs us. To love one another is to be able to rise above differences and to be able to seek the best for the other, even if the other is different from us.
This is what our faith teaches us, this is what our history teaches us and this is why we remember those who served and those who are serving. These brave men and women so believe in our great nation and the need for justice for all that they willingly give of themselves for the sake of another. Can we, still at home, do any less?