We Will Remember
them ...
No-one in their right
mind glorifies war, and we like to think we are in our right mind. Nevertheless
this Sunday, at Ormond and the Cathedral, we will join cathedrals and churches
around the world, we will remember those who died and those whose lives
were unalterably changed by the war that changed the face of the world; we will
hold them before God in prayer and song, in spoken words and in silence. We
will hold in the presence of God our uncles, aunts, parents, siblings,
those we knew or knew of, and those no-one remembers. We will do so
because God ...
As Christians we are caught between the Already and the Not-Yet. We believe that in the mysteries of the Resurrection God's final defeat of sorrow and suffering, injustice and death was achieved. Yet in every war, in every newscast, in multitudinous conversations we hear of sorrow and suffering, injustice and death. As we remember those who died in the unimaginable horrors of 1914-1918, 1939-1945, and indeed every war and every injustice (and let us not forget Māori and Pakeha alike, all who died in the injustices of the land wars of Aotearoa New Zealand) we do so clinging to a strange hope that their death was not the end of life, because God ...
On Sunday we will sing hymns and say prayers and break open the word with these complex mysteries in mind. We will do so not as a people without hope but as those who cling tenaciously to the glorious hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ, that injustice, suffering and death are not the final word, because God breathed resurrection even into the death of God.
On an unrelated note, spare a moment to rejoice in the work our young families have done with the Community Garden. Already it is beginning to produce, and however small the crop maybe it is a reminder that we care for those who are not as fortunate as we are. Take time out to have a look (pull a weed), eat a lettuce leaf, and rejoice to in the work of Amy and Jennifer Whyman who completed the gospel proclaiming sign: "Go in peace: eat your fill."
As Christians we are caught between the Already and the Not-Yet. We believe that in the mysteries of the Resurrection God's final defeat of sorrow and suffering, injustice and death was achieved. Yet in every war, in every newscast, in multitudinous conversations we hear of sorrow and suffering, injustice and death. As we remember those who died in the unimaginable horrors of 1914-1918, 1939-1945, and indeed every war and every injustice (and let us not forget Māori and Pakeha alike, all who died in the injustices of the land wars of Aotearoa New Zealand) we do so clinging to a strange hope that their death was not the end of life, because God ...
On Sunday we will sing hymns and say prayers and break open the word with these complex mysteries in mind. We will do so not as a people without hope but as those who cling tenaciously to the glorious hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ, that injustice, suffering and death are not the final word, because God breathed resurrection even into the death of God.
On an unrelated note, spare a moment to rejoice in the work our young families have done with the Community Garden. Already it is beginning to produce, and however small the crop maybe it is a reminder that we care for those who are not as fortunate as we are. Take time out to have a look (pull a weed), eat a lettuce leaf, and rejoice to in the work of Amy and Jennifer Whyman who completed the gospel proclaiming sign: "Go in peace: eat your fill."
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