Remembrance Sunday All Age Talk 2015

Quiz - getting people to guess opposite words:

• Day / Night
• In / Out
• Up / Down
• Amateur / Professional
• Boy / Girl
• Dark / Light
• Innocent / Guilty
• Lack / Abundance
• Long / Short
• Parents / Children
• Young / Old
• Yesterday / Tomorrow
• Remember / Dismember (most people would say 'forget')

I would argue the opposite of to Forget— is to Recall, whereas the opposite of remember is to dismember. To dismember is to break up, or tear into pieces.  Whereas as to RE-MEMBER is to bring that which has been torn apart, back together.  To bring HEALING. 

I remember someone talking about this in a Remembrance Sunday service when I was a child, and that imagery of REMEMBERING, as a form of healing has always stayed with me. 

As the saying goes “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  If we forget about the past, we cut ourselves off from it.   That’s why it’s important we remember.

But remembering isn’t always easy.  It can be difficult and painful. Some would prefer not to remember.  But when we do allow ourselves to remember, we allow healing to take place.

When Christians gather for worship, particularly around the Lord’s table, we do it to remember the sacrifice of Jesus.  When Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples he said “Do this in REMEMBRANCE of me.” (Luke 22:19)

It is not just about recalling what Jesus did for us on the cross.  It goes much deeper than this.  It reminds us that Jesus came to bring peace to the world, reconciling us to God.  Remembering what God has done for us brings healing and power; it re-members us—it reunites us—with God, with each other, and with who God has made us to be.  

That is why Remembrance Sunday is so important.  It connects us to the past, as we recall the sacrifices others have made in the past for the cause of peace and justice in the world, but also reminds us the part we also play in bringing peace to our dismembered, fragmented world, so that the wounds caused by war and violence one day may be healed, because as God’s people we are called to be peacemakers and peace givers.