November 9, 2008
Twenty-sixth Sunday After Pentecost
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe
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Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’
Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
* * *
“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
A young man joined in the Canadian Expeditionary Force of 1914-1918. He served the duration of the war and sustained three wounds. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Amiens in 1918 and was sent home. He got married and had five daughters. He did not say much about the war experiences. One day, while he was fishing with one of his grandsons, he began to talk. His back was to his grandchild as memories of war swirled through and beyond him.
He recounted a story of how his patrol encountered a German machine-gun nest in a village in the Arras Sector of France. Everyone in the patrol except him died in the fire fight. When the machine-gun fell silent he fixed his bayonet and jumped into the machine-gun nest to discover one German gunner still alive. He saw a kid with “eyes like water, these watery blue eyes.” The German kid raised his hand to him, smiled and said, “Kamerad” – meaning “comrade” or “friend.” He bayoneted him in the forehead. And he carried the burden of that moment for the rest of his life.[i]
Paul Gross, the grandson of Michael Joseph Dunne, shares his grandfather’s burden and other realities of war in the movie Passchendaele. Over 600,000 Canadian men and boys enlisted to serve in the Great War. The Canadian population was less than 8 million in 1914. This means that about 15% of males in Canada fought in the Great War.
Gross believes that Canadian identity – strong, resolute and proud – was forged in the Western Front of Europe during the Great War. He asserts that Canadians “must pay honour to the 173,300 casualties, and we must do homage to the 67,000 who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”[ii]
Here are some truths about the Great War in our neighbourhood – the Beach and the East end.
Gene Domagala wrote the following in Beach Metro News:
“When I was researching this article, I went through many newspaper accounts of the war. Sometimes I just stopped and couldn’t go on reading, especially when it came to our area. … ‘Canadians winning at the Somme, at Ypres …’ At what cost? Every day for over four years, you would see pictures in the papers of our great heroic soldiers – John Smith of Lee Avenue died; Tom Brown of Queen Street died in a gas attack; Joe gave his life to save his brother in arms, and so on. … Sometimes it seemed that the Beach and East End would run out of volunteers. The parents and the community gave up so much for war and for the country. In St. John’s Norway Cemetery, we find crosses of some of those soldiers who gave their lives for the Beach and Canada.”[iii]
“Truth will make you free,” Jesus said. And we wonder what truth and how truth will make us free as we remember and honour those who fought and sacrificed in the Great War – the war that was going to end all wars – and in all the subsequent wars.
Truth is one of those over used and abused words that many of us have great difficulty accepting the way it is presented to us. We live in an age where truth no longer seems to be relevant. Truth, these days, is understood as relative, expendable, dispensable and even irrelevant. For some the word truth invokes religious and political extremism rather than conjuring up the notion of seeking ideals for human community.
This is how Wendell Berry, an American poet, expresses truths about war in his poem Sabbath 2005.
They gather like an ancestry
in the centuries behind us:
the killed by violence, the dead
in war, the “acceptable losses” –
killed by custom in self-defense,
by way of correction, as revenge,
for love of God, for the glory
of the world, for peace; killed
for pride, lust, envy, anger,
covetousness, gluttony, sloth,
and fun. The strewn carcasses
cease to feed even the flies,
the stench passes from them,
the earth folds in the bones
like salt in a batter.
And we have learned
nothing. “Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you” –
it goes on regardless, reasonably:
the always uncompleted
symmetry of just reprisal,
the angry word, the boast
of superior righteousness,
hate in Christ’s name,
scorn for the dead, lies
for the honor of the nation,
centuries bloodied and dismembered
for ideas, for ideals,
for the love of God![iv]
War continues in our global communities. It seems like we have not learned much from the previous wars. War is still a primary mode of resolving disputes and conflicts within and amongst nations.
A young man joined in the Canadian Expeditionary Force of 1914-1918. He served the duration of the war and sustained three wounds. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Amiens in 1918 and was sent home. He got married and had five daughters. He did not say much about the war experiences. One day, while he was fishing with one of his grandsons, he began to talk. His back was to his grandchild as memories of war swirled through and beyond him.
He recounted a story of how his patrol encountered a German machine-gun nest in a village in the Arras Sector of France. Everyone in the patrol except him died in the fire fight. When the machine-gun fell silent he fixed his bayonet and jumped into the machine-gun nest to discover one German gunner still alive. He saw a kid with “eyes like water, these watery blue eyes.” The German kid raised his hand to him, smiled and said, “Kamerad” – meaning “comrade” or “friend.” He bayoneted him in the forehead. And he carried the burden of that moment for the rest of his life.[i]
Paul Gross, the grandson of Michael Joseph Dunne, shares his grandfather’s burden and other realities of war in the movie Passchendaele. Over 600,000 Canadian men and boys enlisted to serve in the Great War. The Canadian population was less than 8 million in 1914. This means that about 15% of males in Canada fought in the Great War.
Gross believes that Canadian identity – strong, resolute and proud – was forged in the Western Front of Europe during the Great War. He asserts that Canadians “must pay honour to the 173,300 casualties, and we must do homage to the 67,000 who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”[ii]
Here are some truths about the Great War in our neighbourhood – the Beach and the East end.
Gene Domagala wrote the following in Beach Metro News:
“When I was researching this article, I went through many newspaper accounts of the war. Sometimes I just stopped and couldn’t go on reading, especially when it came to our area. … ‘Canadians winning at the Somme, at Ypres …’ At what cost? Every day for over four years, you would see pictures in the papers of our great heroic soldiers – John Smith of Lee Avenue died; Tom Brown of Queen Street died in a gas attack; Joe gave his life to save his brother in arms, and so on. … Sometimes it seemed that the Beach and East End would run out of volunteers. The parents and the community gave up so much for war and for the country. In St. John’s Norway Cemetery, we find crosses of some of those soldiers who gave their lives for the Beach and Canada.”[iii]
“Truth will make you free,” Jesus said. And we wonder what truth and how truth will make us free as we remember and honour those who fought and sacrificed in the Great War – the war that was going to end all wars – and in all the subsequent wars.
Truth is one of those over used and abused words that many of us have great difficulty accepting the way it is presented to us. We live in an age where truth no longer seems to be relevant. Truth, these days, is understood as relative, expendable, dispensable and even irrelevant. For some the word truth invokes religious and political extremism rather than conjuring up the notion of seeking ideals for human community.
This is how Wendell Berry, an American poet, expresses truths about war in his poem Sabbath 2005.
They gather like an ancestry
in the centuries behind us:
the killed by violence, the dead
in war, the “acceptable losses” –
killed by custom in self-defense,
by way of correction, as revenge,
for love of God, for the glory
of the world, for peace; killed
for pride, lust, envy, anger,
covetousness, gluttony, sloth,
and fun. The strewn carcasses
cease to feed even the flies,
the stench passes from them,
the earth folds in the bones
like salt in a batter.
And we have learned
nothing. “Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you” –
it goes on regardless, reasonably:
the always uncompleted
symmetry of just reprisal,
the angry word, the boast
of superior righteousness,
hate in Christ’s name,
scorn for the dead, lies
for the honor of the nation,
centuries bloodied and dismembered
for ideas, for ideals,
for the love of God![iv]
War continues in our global communities. It seems like we have not learned much from the previous wars. War is still a primary mode of resolving disputes and conflicts within and amongst nations.
We are burdened with the sin of war as we participate in another Remembrance Day worship service.
How do we remember and honour those who fought for our country without glorifying violence and war? How can our remembrances of war not be trapped in our national boundaries?
How do we begin to open eyes and hearts to acknowledge that war violates and desecrates each and all of us? How do we resist the seductive use of force – both emotional and physical – as primary means of resolving disputes and conflicts in our life?
How do we seek truth that will free us of the enslavement of “us” and “them” so we can truly see one another as relations and kin in God’s reality? And how do we dream together of God’s creation one day living in peace and harmony?
Wendell Berry continues his warnings about war in his poem.
If we have become a people incapable
of thought, then the brute-thought
of mere power and mere greed
will think for us.
If we have become incapable
of denying ourselves anything,
then all that we have
will be taken from us.
If we have no compassion,
we will suffer alone, we will suffer
alone the destruction of ourselves.[v]
There is a truth that Jesus invited his disciples to know. How do we search for truth that will make us free?
We are enslaved to half truths and political spins when we only remember one side. As long as we continue to remember “our” nation’s sacrifices and deaths without remembering “their” sacrifices and deaths, there will be war. As long as we continue to remember our side of the story as “truth” without listening to the stories of our enemies also as truth, there will be war. As long as we are deaf and blind to the innocent bystanders and victims of war, there will be war.
So remember the bombing of London, England but remember the firebombing of Dresden, Germany. 1,300 heavy bombers drop over 3,900 tons of high-explosives bombs and incendiary devices in four raids in three days, destroying 13 square miles of the city. The firebombing caused a firestorm that literally melted the city centre. Recent publications place the figure of civilian casualties between 24,000 and 40,000. Remember how those who were labelled by the Nazi government as socialists, communists, homosexuals, Gypsies and Jews were murdered as the enemies of the state. Remember how stateless Jews were given home by displacing Palestinians after the World War II and how the hatred and violence continue to this day in Palestine.
Remember Pearl Harbour but remember Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Remember how Americans and Canadians of Japanese ancestry were branded as “enemy aliens,” striped of their properties and sent to concentration camps across North America.
Remember 9/11 in the United States but remember the countless bombings of Bagdad and many other places in the Middle East where civilian casualties far outnumber the death tolls of 9/11. Remember Maher Arar, a Canadian engineer, who was deported to Syria and tortured. Remember that it was the RCMP which helped the US government to implement its policy of “extraordinary rendition.” Remember Omar Khadr, a Canadian who is incarcerated in the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp as one of the “enemy combatants” who are not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Khadr was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15 years old. Remember how human rights are being violated in the name of national security in Canada.
All human life is sacred. One death due to war violence is one too many. How do we discern the kind of truth Jesus talked about? How do we seek the kind of truth that will free us?
Majid Tehranian, Director of Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, is a leading peace journalist. Peace journalism attempts to transform conflicts from their violent channels into constructive forms by conceptualizing news, empowering the voiceless, and seeking common grounds that unify rather than divide human societies.’[vi]
Tehranian proposes Ten Commandments for peace journalism.
1. Never reduce the parties in human conflicts to two. Remember that when two elephants fight, the grass gets hurt. Pay attention to the poor grass.
2. Identify views and interests of all parties to human conflicts. There is not a single Truth; there are many truths.
3. Do not be hostage to one source, particularly those of governments that control sources of information. … and he goes on to say
10. Transcend your own ethnic, national, or ideological biases to see and represent the parties to human conflicts fairly and accurately.[vii]
Truth about war is that it is violent and people die – perpetrators and innocents, soldiers and civilians, friends and foes. Truth about war is that human beings kill other human beings and desecrate the rest of God’s creation -- the land, the waters, the air. Truth about war is that human beings – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, lovers and relations – are belittled, dehumanized, hated, maimed, desecrated, and killed in the name of national security and many other rationalizations that societies deem as “higher truth.”
But truth about war is also that we can unburden the memories of horror, violence, and pain of those who fought and suffered in wars by engaging in peace. We can choose to communicate and advocate for peace rather than war. Truth about war is that the colours of our eyes are various representations of colours of God’s love.
May we who are gathered here continue to find ways to communicate peace so that no friend has to sing of “empty chairs at empty tables.” May we who are gathered here continue to proclaim a message of Jesus – that truth will set us free of hatred of our neighbours in the global village, so no parent has to cry “bring him home” or “bring her home.” May we who are gathered here as Canadians practice gentleness, kindness and humility as part of our national identity and faith as we pay homage and gratitude to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Amen.
How do we remember and honour those who fought for our country without glorifying violence and war? How can our remembrances of war not be trapped in our national boundaries?
How do we begin to open eyes and hearts to acknowledge that war violates and desecrates each and all of us? How do we resist the seductive use of force – both emotional and physical – as primary means of resolving disputes and conflicts in our life?
How do we seek truth that will free us of the enslavement of “us” and “them” so we can truly see one another as relations and kin in God’s reality? And how do we dream together of God’s creation one day living in peace and harmony?
Wendell Berry continues his warnings about war in his poem.
If we have become a people incapable
of thought, then the brute-thought
of mere power and mere greed
will think for us.
If we have become incapable
of denying ourselves anything,
then all that we have
will be taken from us.
If we have no compassion,
we will suffer alone, we will suffer
alone the destruction of ourselves.[v]
There is a truth that Jesus invited his disciples to know. How do we search for truth that will make us free?
We are enslaved to half truths and political spins when we only remember one side. As long as we continue to remember “our” nation’s sacrifices and deaths without remembering “their” sacrifices and deaths, there will be war. As long as we continue to remember our side of the story as “truth” without listening to the stories of our enemies also as truth, there will be war. As long as we are deaf and blind to the innocent bystanders and victims of war, there will be war.
So remember the bombing of London, England but remember the firebombing of Dresden, Germany. 1,300 heavy bombers drop over 3,900 tons of high-explosives bombs and incendiary devices in four raids in three days, destroying 13 square miles of the city. The firebombing caused a firestorm that literally melted the city centre. Recent publications place the figure of civilian casualties between 24,000 and 40,000. Remember how those who were labelled by the Nazi government as socialists, communists, homosexuals, Gypsies and Jews were murdered as the enemies of the state. Remember how stateless Jews were given home by displacing Palestinians after the World War II and how the hatred and violence continue to this day in Palestine.
Remember Pearl Harbour but remember Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Remember how Americans and Canadians of Japanese ancestry were branded as “enemy aliens,” striped of their properties and sent to concentration camps across North America.
Remember 9/11 in the United States but remember the countless bombings of Bagdad and many other places in the Middle East where civilian casualties far outnumber the death tolls of 9/11. Remember Maher Arar, a Canadian engineer, who was deported to Syria and tortured. Remember that it was the RCMP which helped the US government to implement its policy of “extraordinary rendition.” Remember Omar Khadr, a Canadian who is incarcerated in the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp as one of the “enemy combatants” who are not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Khadr was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15 years old. Remember how human rights are being violated in the name of national security in Canada.
All human life is sacred. One death due to war violence is one too many. How do we discern the kind of truth Jesus talked about? How do we seek the kind of truth that will free us?
Majid Tehranian, Director of Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, is a leading peace journalist. Peace journalism attempts to transform conflicts from their violent channels into constructive forms by conceptualizing news, empowering the voiceless, and seeking common grounds that unify rather than divide human societies.’[vi]
Tehranian proposes Ten Commandments for peace journalism.
1. Never reduce the parties in human conflicts to two. Remember that when two elephants fight, the grass gets hurt. Pay attention to the poor grass.
2. Identify views and interests of all parties to human conflicts. There is not a single Truth; there are many truths.
3. Do not be hostage to one source, particularly those of governments that control sources of information. … and he goes on to say
10. Transcend your own ethnic, national, or ideological biases to see and represent the parties to human conflicts fairly and accurately.[vii]
Truth about war is that it is violent and people die – perpetrators and innocents, soldiers and civilians, friends and foes. Truth about war is that human beings kill other human beings and desecrate the rest of God’s creation -- the land, the waters, the air. Truth about war is that human beings – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, lovers and relations – are belittled, dehumanized, hated, maimed, desecrated, and killed in the name of national security and many other rationalizations that societies deem as “higher truth.”
But truth about war is also that we can unburden the memories of horror, violence, and pain of those who fought and suffered in wars by engaging in peace. We can choose to communicate and advocate for peace rather than war. Truth about war is that the colours of our eyes are various representations of colours of God’s love.
May we who are gathered here continue to find ways to communicate peace so that no friend has to sing of “empty chairs at empty tables.” May we who are gathered here continue to proclaim a message of Jesus – that truth will set us free of hatred of our neighbours in the global village, so no parent has to cry “bring him home” or “bring her home.” May we who are gathered here as Canadians practice gentleness, kindness and humility as part of our national identity and faith as we pay homage and gratitude to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Amen.
--
[i] Norman Leach, Passchendaele: Canada’s triumph and tragedy on the fields of Flanders: an illustrated history (Regina: Coteau Books, 2008), 2.
[ii] Leach, Passchendaele, 3.
[iii] Gene Domagala, War took great toll on Beach and East End, Beach Metro News, November 4, 2008, 20-21.
[iv] Wendell Berry, Sabbath 2005 in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008, ed. Philip Zaleski (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 11-12.
[v] Wendell Berry, Sabbath 2005 in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008, ed. Philip Zaleski (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 16.
[vi] XXX quoted in Philip Lee, The No-Nonsense guide to Peace Journalism, the World Association for Christian Communication [WACC] 2008.
[vii] XXX quoted in Lee, The No-Nonsense guide to peace journalism.
[i] Norman Leach, Passchendaele: Canada’s triumph and tragedy on the fields of Flanders: an illustrated history (Regina: Coteau Books, 2008), 2.
[ii] Leach, Passchendaele, 3.
[iii] Gene Domagala, War took great toll on Beach and East End, Beach Metro News, November 4, 2008, 20-21.
[iv] Wendell Berry, Sabbath 2005 in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008, ed. Philip Zaleski (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 11-12.
[v] Wendell Berry, Sabbath 2005 in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008, ed. Philip Zaleski (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 16.
[vi] XXX quoted in Philip Lee, The No-Nonsense guide to Peace Journalism, the World Association for Christian Communication [WACC] 2008.
[vii] XXX quoted in Lee, The No-Nonsense guide to peace journalism.
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