"Remember the Day
"
The importance of commemorating the day
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Text: Matthew 1:1 and 2:1-11
A few weeks ago a church member invited me to her home for afternoon tea. Never one not to take up such an invitation, I went. I arrived at exactly 3 p.m. and there before me was the most beautiful, carefully prepared repast. I sat down with the woman and her husband, whom I had never met, and we began to get to know each other. Our conversation went to our homes, backgrounds and lives.
I learned the man was born in Poland in 1917. As a military officer in the Polish Army during the Second World War, he fought with the British forces in North Africa and Italy. He saw some of the war's most terrible battles. He fought with the Eighth army in North Africa and at Monte Cassino. When the war ended he returned to his native Poland, but within months his country was overrun by the Soviets. As a military member, he was arrested and imprisoned for a long time. After being released, he made it to Canada where he has lived with gratitude ever since.
As we spoke, he reminisced about the fact that most of his friends never returned to Poland and none of them joined him in Canada. He talked about what he had seen and showed me pictures of Monte Cassino before and after the battle - sheer devastation! Then I asked him to show me his medals. He brought out a box which clearly had not been opened for a long time and proudly took out each of the medals. It was obvious that each one evoked a memory. Then his wife said, “Show Andrew the most valuable one.” The man reached under his shirt and showed me a medallion his mother gave him when he was a baby. He had never taken it from around his neck. The Polish inscription read: “God, take care of my son.” On the back, there was an engraving of the crucified Christ. As he looked at the medallion, tears came to his eyes. More than 50 years after receiving it, he was alive while many of his friends were not.
I have often asked myself, “In what ways can I - can our generation and those that follow - have any sense of what he experienced?” Only he saw and lived those moments. So how can we remember? And should we remember? Or will the memory die as the next generation becomes the first never to have met those who experienced the First and Second World Wars?
To find the answer, I turned to the passage from Exodus 13. It contains an incredible line: “Remember the day.” A better translation is “Commemorate the day.” Don't just remember; do something to commemorate it. But to which day was Moses referring? He was talking to the people of Israel, urging them to remember the day, or time, of the Exodus.
Though not a singular day, the Exodus was a time when the people of Israel were set free from the tyranny of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It was their moment of political and spiritual liberation; they were released from the bondage of slavery. Old Testament scholars agree the Exodus is the single motif that runs throughout the whole of the Old Testament and into the New Testament.
Moses wanted the Israelites to remember both the sacrifice and symbol of this day. The sacrifice to be made was a person's first male animal. It was to be killed and given to God as a remembrance of the blood that was on the doors when the people of Israel were saved from the flames. They were not only to sacrifice an animal, but also to make sure people understood their redemption depended on the sacrifices of others and the hand of God.
But there was more! The commemoration of the Exodus was also supposed to be symbolized. The people of Israel were to remember it with a week of eating unleavened bread and symbols on the hand and forehead. These were symbolic of God's provision, support and strength, for Moses realized they could never have been set free had it not been by the hand of God himself. Then, he challenged the people.
“You are to remember this in perpetuity,” Moses said. “When your sons and daughters ask you about this day, tell them. Don't let them forget the freedom of the Exodus, God's support and symbols of that day.”
Ever since, Jews have commemorated the Passover, which is the celebration of God's liberating power on behalf of his people. They have never forgotten the symbol and they have never forgotten the sacrifice.
Likewise, Christians commemorate the Last Supper and Jesus' death and resurrection. It is no coincidence that the Last Supper occurred during the Passover. It is no coincidence that the cross is the symbol of suffering, but also of God's gracious, liberating power and strength. That is why the mother bought her young Polish child a medallion with a cross on it.
You see, our traditions contain a very important remembrance of the day. Cultures, nations and people are sometimes moulded by their remembrance of the day, and so it should be. There is a need for us to remember the day. And even though we might not have experienced war any more than the Jews have experienced the moments of the Exodus, key moments when sacrifices were made for us should be engraved in our collective memory. If you don't think that a price was paid - think again!
Recently, I read a letter written on June 6th, 1944 by Sergeant Edward Warden, a Canadian infantry soldier with the third division who was part of an armoured brigade that landed at Juno Beach. He was writing to his wife on the day they prepared to land, ready to face whatever might be. These are his words:
To my darling wife:
How are you tonight? Fine, I hope, dear. Lee, darling, I find it very hard to write this to you. I only wish I could have seen you, but I can say this: I am fine, for I know that I have someone waiting for me who is very brave and knows how to smile. We are going in tomorrow morning, and as I write this, we are out on the waters of the big bay.
I often have wondered how I would feel, but I don't feel any different than I did before - thanks to you! I know I can truthfully say that if it were not for you, I would feel different. But it is the love and the trust that I have with you that will help me over many a rough spot. I am glad, in a way, that this time has come, for it means you and I can be together sooner - something that I have prayed for, and I know that you have, too.
So promise, darling, not to worry for me, for I will be all right and home before you know it.
The young man in question survived Juno Beach. But after the fighting ended, on April 5th, 1945, he was shot. He never came home. Can you imagine how his darling wife must have felt hearing that news? Whenever you hear the names Dieppe, Juno Beach, Ypres or Vimy, you know there are many more for whom the memory of such a day is deeply, deeply sad. How can a culture not remember those days? How can a person forget that day? You can't! You do not only remember that day for them, you remember that day for today. It must live!
Today is a poignant day for me because, within the past year, my last surviving uncle died. My Uncle Harold was very fond of me, and I of him. He was my mother's brother, and a special man who spent the early part of his life in the Second World War, fighting with Montgomery in North Africa. As a scout in Monty's army, he saw terrible things, many of which he would not discuss. Because he was a scout, he didn't carry a gun and he didn't kill anyone. Nonetheless, he saw tremendous pain. At the end of the war he contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized in South Africa. He was lucky to get home alive.
Uncle Harold was special, because he was the only uncle who remembered my birthday - October 23rd - and he called me from England every year. He never forgot the day - even last year, which was my “whatever” birthday. Do you know why he remembered? It was because October 23rd was the day the Battle of El Alamein began. He participated in what was arguably one of the most important battles in the Second World War. It was the beginning of the end; the beginning of change. So each October 23rd, Uncle Harold remembered the tragedy of war, but he also remembered me.
He talked about that many times; many times we reminisced. He was saddened by the fact that 25,000 Germans and Italians were killed and 13,000 allies were killed or injured in that battle. But he remembered, and he didn't want me to forget. Why? Because today we sometimes forget that the power of totalitarianism still raises its ugly head throughout the world, taking people's lives on many sides. There are still those who use power, influence, the military and the sacrifice of young lives for political gain - no matter what the consequence.
More than that, when the dogs of war are unleashed and bark viciously, they tell us there is still much to be done in this world. All too often today, we see war through an avatar - third hand on a screen. You cannot feel the pain and anguish; you cannot understand the conflict if you don't remember the day as it really was. In order to understand how we should live and act today, we need to remember past days - or else we repeat them! This very second, as I speak, Canadians are in harm's way because of the world's inhumanity.
We also need to remember for a new day. The Book of Revelations says there will be a new heaven and a new Earth; there will be a tree of life for the healing of the nations, and a day with no more death, war, pain and suffering. There will be a day of peace. To remember the past and the pain is to also remember the need to work for peace.
If you look in the boardroom today, you will see a photograph of young men from the Royal Canadian Air Force who gathered in this church in 1942 to pray. The place was full, very much like it is today. All their heads are bowed. At the end, the minister of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church at that time, The Rev. Dr. David McLennan, received their standard and colours, and prayed with them before they went off to fight. It looks so peaceful to see those young heads bowed in prayer.
Twenty-odd years later, David McLennan wrote a book in which he recalled a magnificent poem by Edward Shallito. Shallito understood that God identifies with us in our suffering. God does not want us to suffer or die; God does not want conflict in humanity. Suffering is a product of sin, not of the will of the Father. But in the midst of it, God understands the suffering through his son, the ultimate symbol:
The other Gods were strong, but thou was weak.
They rode, but thou didst stagger to a throne.
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
But not a God has wounds but thou alone.
God identified with us in our suffering, not that we should cause others to suffer, but so that we would work for peace. But there is little impetus, little concern for peace if we don't remember the day that sacrifices were made. Remember the day! When your sons and your daughters ask you what it means, as Moses said, “Tell them about the day.” Amen.