Today’s symbol is the poppy. It speaks without words. Worn on the lapel, growing in Flanders’ fields, drifting downwards in thousands through the air from above, it speaks.
It speaks of blood, dying, tragedy, life , sacrifice, pain, loss, our human lot, – blood spilt. The blood spilt in the trench warfare of WWI. The blood of one and a half thousand Israeli citizens killed by Hamas gunmen on October 7th. The blood of a Palestinian child crying on the streets of Gaza. The poppy speaks without words because words are struggling to express what we feel and we do not know what to say.
St Paul in his first letter to the Christian community in Thessaloniki (probably the earliest Christian writing we have) says: ‘But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.’ ‘So that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.’ He was thinking in particular of Church members who had died. What was going to happen to them? Paul recalls them to the hope Christians believe in. He does not tell them not to grieve. But he does encourage them to hope, to grieve with hope.
As we face up to the nature of the world we live in we are to grieve for it, but with hope. Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, who grieve over the world torn apart by the ravages of sin, for they shall be comforted.’ It is the divine gift of hope which transfigures our mourning and protects us from of despair.
Jesus is the giver of hope who asks us to fill our lamps with the oil of hope so that we can be ready, awake and prepared. His life, his ministry, his teaching, his deeds of power all established God’s Kingdom of peace and justice. His death and resurrection establish God’s Kingdom of peace with justice. The Spirit of Pentecost, poured out on us who are baptised into his death and resurrection, is the Father’s gift of Kingdom living. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that God’s coming Kingdom of peace with justice is not a vague wish but is God’s sure future for the world he loves. Hope is the Christian way of life.
And now in the power of the Spirit we live hopefully. We listen for the voice of the Spirit which may come to us in surprising ways. We hear the voice of the Spirit in the prayer of an unknown prisoner in Ravensbruck concentration camp left by the body of dead child.
‘O Lord, do not remember all the suffering the men and women of ill will have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have bought – our comradeship, our loyalty, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart …. and when they come to judgment let the fruits which we have borne be their forgiveness.’
Or the voice of Spirit from Iran, from a Father whose son has been murdered,
‘O God, we remember not only our son but also his murderers; our son’s blood has multiplied the fruit of the Spirit in the soil of our souls, so when his murderers stand before thee on the day of judgement, remember the fruit of the Spirit. And forgive.’
Or the voice of the Spirit in Islam,
Praise be to the Lord of the universe,
who has created us and made us into tribes and nations,
that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other.
The servants of God are those who walk on the earth in humility,
and when we address them we say, ‘Peace’.
Hope is one of the three Chrisitan virtues, faith, hope and love. The threefold way of Christian living. We live in a time when the Christian hope in God’s peaceable Kingdom needs clear witness and that is our calling.
Hope leads to the faith that can pray ‘Your Kingdom ‘ come. Hope releases the desire for peace with justice. Hope makes it possible for us to trust in forgiveness and mercy. Hope empowers our prayer for those directly involved in the conflicts of our time. Hope makes possible our prayer for those who work patiently for resolution in situations of conflict. Hope leads us to pray for ourselves that we become more and more God’s people of reconciliation, our lamps lit with the oil of hope ready and able to witness to the hope within us.
Service: Canon Bill Croft. 12th November 2023. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: 1 Thessalonians 4.13-end; Matthew 25.1-13