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LEST WE FORGET…

By Helen Jesze, 11^th November 2018

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,”

John 15:13 (KJV)

“In the same way, after supper Jesus took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes’,”

1 Corinthians 11, 25 and 26

Today is Remembrance Day, also called Armistice Day, for 100 years ago today, the armistice was signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France. Hostilities ceased on the Western Front and took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning—the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. Celebrations, services and events to remember and give honour to those who paid the supreme sacrifice with their lives, also to remember those who did not die but were horrifically injured, fighting that we might have freedom and peace in our time, are being held all over the country, the biggest being in London, at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. During a service, members of the Royal Family, Members of Parliament, representatives of the Commonwealth and many other dignitaries laid wreaths at the foot of the Cenotaph. This was then followed by a march of 10,000 veterans and others connected with the forces, then and now. Later came thousands of the general public who wanted to pay tribute.

Laurence Binyon wrote his poem “For the Fallen” in 1939. He said that the four lines of the fourth stanza came to him first. These words have become especially familiar and famous, having been adopted by the Royal British Legion as an Exhortation for ceremonies of Remembrance to commemorate fallen Servicemen and women.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

You may wonder why the red poppy was chosen as the symbol of Remembrance of World War I, in Britain. It was found that this flower was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields, once the bodies, tanks and debris of war were cleared away. Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red was a public art installation created in the dry moat of the Tower of London, England, between July and November 2014, commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of World War I and again in 2017. It consisted of 888,246 ceramic red poppies, each intended to represent one British or Colonial serviceman.

This year thousands queued to see 10,000 torches which had been lit in the Tower of London’s moat every day this week, causing significant traffic jams in the city as people rushed to view it. At the start of the war, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey had famously declared: ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe.’

This vast array of torches was to represent the moment when the lights of Peace came back on again, at the Armistice. However, along with the Armistice was the grief of those who survived in mourning their loved ones and the need to rebuild a shattered world. I was surprised to read that millions of animals were also used in WWI. Horses, donkeys, mules and camels carried people, ammunition, supplies and pulled machinery and guns. Dogs were trained to stand guard or carry messages, cats were let loose to catch the rats which plagued the troops, slugs detected toxic gases and glow-worms in jars lit up the trenches!

Respect and honour are words and characteristics not often used or cultivated nowadays, but we should remember and be grateful to all those who fought and died that we might know the priceless gift of FREEDOM! Thank you to every one of them!

Yet even as we have celebrated this Armistice Day in some way, even more should we remember the One who gave His life that Mankind, each person individually might go free, not just in this life but for all Eternity. That is our wonderful Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ! Red – the colour of the poppies – signifies blood, courage and passion. Man’s blood was spilt in war but the blood of our Jesus was also spilt on the cross of Calvary, and this blood still has power today to wash us clean from every sin and to protect us from danger and satan’s attacks!

Thank you Lord Jesus, for your supreme sacrifice, which when we accept it, causes us to be able to stand before you as though we had never sinned, confident that the Father makes us his child, for Time and Eternity!