Both of our Bishops have taken part in civic Remembrance Sunday events broadcast online.
Bishop Guli preached and said the final blessing in a short service at Loughborough's war memorial for their civic Remembrance Service, which was livestreamed on Charnwood Borough Council's Facebook page. Revd Wendy Dalrymple led the service and the Mayor was present as was a Deputy Lord Lieutenant. It was much smaller in scale than normal but a moving, dignified occasion. Bishop Guli's sermon is copied further down this page.
Leicester Cathedral's Remembrance service can be viewed here.
Bishop Martyn led a virtual act of Remembrance for Leicester with a film commemorating those who have lost their lives in conflict. His reflection was broadcast by BBC Radio Leicester and shared online in place of the annual civic event at the war memorial in Victoria Park, Leicester. Created by the City Council, it was filmed at Edwin Lutyens’ Arch of Remembrance. Dignitaries including Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire Mike Kapur OBE, and Leicestershire’s Chief Constable Simon Cole, joined a small group of representatives from the Armed Forces and faith groups to lay poppy wreaths at the memorial last week. The wreath-laying is combined with stunning aerial footage of the war memorial, and the tributes left in memory of those killed in wars around the world.
You can read the Bishop of Leicester's reflection below.
Bishop Martyn's Remembrance reflection for the civic commemmorative film:
This year, as we gather remotely for this Act of Remembrance, our hearts and minds turn not only to those who gave their lives in years gone by, but also to those who continue to serve at this time of global and national crisis. Though separated physically, we remain united in our desire to remember and to honour all those who have sacrificed so much for our peace and our wellbeing.
I invite you to think for this moment about the theme of sacrifice – both in the sense of so many men and women giving their lives in times of war – but also in the sense of others ‘giving up’ something which is dear to them for the sake of a greater good. During the wars of the last century, those who stayed at home also sacrificed much of their freedom and their quality of life in order to support those who went away to fight in the war.
So too today, all of us are having to make sacrifices for the greater good – particularly our ‘key workers’, those in the emergency services, NHS staff, those who work in care homes as well as teachers and staff in schools. We give thanks for their sacrifices and we remember too their families who are also giving up so much.
The roots of the word sacrifice lie in its connection to holiness or to God. We are in some sense connected to God through sacrifice – both the sacrifices that God has made for us – and the way we are called to respond by setting aside our own pleasure for the sake of others.
So wherever you are today, I hope you will know that you are joining with thousands here in Leicester, and millions all around the country to mark this solemn moment. In all our diversity, we stand together to give thanks for the sacrifice of others, to give thanks for those who continue to protect us and care for us, and, like those who have gone before us, to give of our best in the cause of peace and justice and the good of all humanity.
Bishop Guli's Remembrance Sunday sermon:
May I speak in the name of God who creates, redeems and sustains.
Words can mean very different things in different contexts. “How are you doing?” might be just a throw a way line to a friend you bump into on the bus. But it’s far more loaded and charged when said to some one whose Mum is seriously ill in hospital or whose father is serving in a war zone. So context is everything. Meaning shifts and the same words can carry a different resonance and intensity depending on the setting. St. John’s words from today’s Bible reading are always sounding in at least two different contexts. There’s the immediate story line which unfolds the narrative of Jesus’ life and ministry, and then there’s the particular community for which John was writing nearly a century later - a Christian group experiencing persecution and struggling to define itself in an increasingly hostile environment.
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for a friend”. Within the story of Jesus and his impending death these words leap out as an interpretation of the sacrificial action Jesus is about to undergo. But within the context of John’s community the words took on an added nuance, referring not only to Christ but to the very real possibility of death and martyrdom for those undergoing persecution.
For me personally, these words sit within yet another context. They appear on a grave stone many hundreds of miles from here in Iran where I come from. They’re carved in Persian script on my brother’s grave who died 40 years ago in an act of self giving during the revolution that was sweeping through the country.
And then there’s our context here and now in Loughborough, listening to those very same words: “no one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend”. Hearing them compels us to recall and honour those who have laid down their life in times of war so that others might have freedom.
So these words spoken first by Jesus still resonate powerfully, connecting us today, to those who’ve died in war, to a 1st century Christian community and to a grave stone in the Middle East. Surely this demonstrates the multi-layered meaning even of biblical texts that keep unfolding and when viewed through the eyes of faith expand and deepen the meaning of Christ’s original words. Words that have the power to unite us with others across time and space, reminding us of how inter connected we are and how our individual stories are woven together, becoming the stories of communities, of nations and of the whole of humanity. In these times more than ever we need to remember those things that unite us, rather than those which divide us.
I’m deeply conscious that today, as we remember the war dead, honour those who live with the scars and give thanks for the courage of those who still serve faithfully in the armed forces, we cannot do so in the way we normally would. There’s a great deal less pomp and ceremony and fewer people to pay their respects.
The Covid virus has robbed us of much and we acknowledge the pain of that; but it hasn’t robbed us of the opportunity to pause, remember, give thanks, and reflect once more on the extraordinary power of love. Wherever you are as you watch this - with loved ones or on your own - I hope you’ll feel connected through this act of remembrance.
And even as we acknowledge our powerlessness and lack of control in this time of pandemic, I hope we’ll remember the many and diverse ways in which we can continue breathing life into Jesus’ command at the heart of today’s Bible passage - that we should love one another. For some this means serving in war zones, others are on a different kind of front line, maybe in the NHS or as key workers in other fields [as teachers, carers, those who ensure our supermarkets remain open and stocked with food, those who empty our bins and many more.] These too show the ongoing power of sacrificial love.
And what of the rest of us. Those who perhaps feel helpless and of little use. Well, don’t underestimate the power of love which shines through the smallest acts of kindness [- a timely phone call to a friend, the offer to shop for a neighbour, the gift of holding others before God in prayer.] All these things, small or large, help us stay connected with one another and ensure we are each doing our part to honour and respect the memory of those who paid the highest price by giving their lives so that we could have ours. [May they rest in peace and rise in glory.]
Remembrance Day 2020
Loughborough
John 15. 12-17
