Your Mission: True Remembrance
by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts
Readings
Isaiah 2:2-5
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Psalm 9:9-20
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.
The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.
But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish.
Arise, LORD, do not let mortals triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
Strike them with terror, LORD;
let the nations know they are only mortal.
Read the written message below with music videos:
Both the U.S.’s Veterans’ Day and Canada’s Remembrance Day celebrate and/or mourn the veterans in our midst and those that have passed. What it means to be a soldier is different for many people, and I’m honoured to have had a number of veterans in my family share their various experiences and wisdom over the years. Both my grandfathers, my aunt, two of my uncles, and my brother, all have had both inspiring and critical things to say about the armed forces, and all have seemed to believe that serving their country helped to craft them into who they are. No matter our politics, this week we ought to honour the sacrifices and efforts made by our soldiers of all stripes, as well as honour the peace that most of these strive and yearn for as we seek to dispel the violence that so often takes their lives.
I have to begin this message remembering my grandfathers, both of whom are in the spiritual world. Indeed, let’s all take a moment of silence for our lost veterans, as well as perhaps any passed loved ones who, like a soldier, spent much of their life empowering and defending life.
My grandfathers were both a hoot. Always striving to make people laugh, like many grandfathers they often shed comical wisdom in our midst. I knew only one of them very well, and he would retell the comedy of war as he encountered it in the Korean War. I always wondered about the other side of it though, the tragedy.
Our soldiers, however, don’t need to wonder about tragedy. Most have seen it up close and personal and would rather move on, most of the time. Many seem to know to their core that there’s nothing too interesting about death and destruction, especially once you’ve lived it. Their injuries, their eyes, their plight, their voices, all remind us to take very seriously the avoidance of unnecessary war, as well as the importance of support for those we’ve sent to the woodchipper.
But like how we treat many of our downtrodden and overworked, many western countries undersupport our veterans. Our lack of general focus on free, supportive rehabilitation of body, mind, and economics for everyone, means that we often don’t know how to hold our veterans either, and many end up addicted on the streets.
That being said, many veterans shine in our midst and in our families. They become stalwarts in community and bring order, wisdom, and compassion to our lives. Having gone through so much even at the get-go of their service seems to often open them up to active engagement with whatever may come, even if sometimes their undertreated trauma gets the better of them.
Thus, our soldiers are a call. A call to service of our own. A call to remembrance, compassion, and active engagement with our community – if only to shore up the holes that so many fall through. Indeed, you could say our soldiers serve as a call to “holy war,” but a type of holy war that centres on the importance of every single life, the call to non-violence as much as possible, as well as on the awareness that we have vast resources to help everyone, if only we dropped our war-mongering habits, limited thinking, and sense of scarcity.
Our soldiers have often had little choice in what they do or when, but they have chosen to put their lives on the line. Many sign up with a sense of duty, but even more do so because their options are limited and they need the resources, the order, the job, and they value the work and their country. They grow to see the importance of their service, defending their country and values, while also often maintaining an awareness that not every fight or placement exists due to the best of intentions on either side. They give of their life for the betterment of the country, while not having much say in the policies, hoping that we the people, the citizens, are present enough to take care of them and direct our politicians. Hoping that all of us might have a voice enough to avoid the pitfalls of selfish, unholy war.
There’s a lot of war in the scriptures, from the Hindu Vedas to the Bible. Sometimes these wars are hard to understand, especially when a loving God orders what sounds like genocide. We must wrestle with these texts, as they often highlight the importance of avoiding such genocidal thinking. I think the text invites us to such wrestling, especially when we compare these passages to others that speak of how God will dispel war and fighting altogether, and that show Christ “bringing a sword” of truth and peace while telling us to set our material swords down.
From a metaphorical or parabolic viewpoint, which is often how the Bible repeatedly asks us to read it, we can start to see that the genocidal, war-mongering stories against people set on “destruction” and “corruption” might ultimately be telling us that we should go to war against our own internal, destructive impulses. As we internalize the text, from Genesis to Revelation, the meaning of holy war starts to become surprisingly clear, as the text repeatedly tells us that God is no god of war, but a God of internal purification and peace - just as many other traditions say. God’s sword of truth (coming from his mouth in Revelation), cuts through our delusional self-centered thinking, and opens our minds and hearts to the openness and quietude of present compassion. And as we internalize the text further, we find that to “go to war” against our divisive, controlling, habitual impulses, often means to watch them arise within without a fight, as they fade as quickly as they come (in this place of unattached, nonreactive thinking) it’s as though God drowns the enemy forces in the sea. As he commanded through Moses to the Israelites at such a moment as they escaped from Pharaoh, “Watch and stand still.” Another thing our soldiers get great at doing.
Like with anyone or anything, our soldiers have often been misused and underappreciated – not remembered. Like many civil servants, they give of themselves tremendously, while also putting their lives on the line for others. We often ask them to do heinous things under our governmental guidance, and for too many, we forget them until they’re gone. We must stand at attention for them. We must bring the power of presence and compassion, gifted from God, unto their plight, dispelling it into the sea. As we remember the issues plaguing many of them, we remember their service and heart with our thoughts and deeds, and as we help them, we help ourselves and all the downtrodden, often facing the same collectively surmountable issues today. Who are we to shy away from the mission, when so many of our soldiers have faced more insurmountable, deadly odds?
Peace and presence to you,
Rev. Cory