Remembrance Day, November 11, 2012
Today our country is commemorating Remembrance Day.
And also today the Church is hearing the story of the widow’s mite: the giving of our all.
God’s Life & the Church’s Mission
The life that we live is God’s life. It is not ours to cling to, but God’s to share. The Church’s mission is to awaken this truth of unitive Love and Life within the heart of every human being.
Awakened and Transformed
As our hearts are awakened, like the widow and her mite, a transformation begins to take place that has a ripple effect.
As our hearts are transformed into self giving, our homes are transformed, our church is transformed, our community is transformed, our province is transformed, our country is transformed, our world is transformed.
Self Giving and Sacrifice
This requires, as with the Widow, and foundationally with Jesus, self giving and sacrifice for the benefit of others.
Remembrance Day
Today is Remembrance Day, and we are remembering the men and women of our Armed Forces who have offered themselves for the benefit of others who could not help themselves.
Today we are remembering those who responded to the call to battle evil in conflicts such as:
- The Second World War and the evils of Facism and Marxism.
- Crotia and the evils of ethnic cleansing.
- Afghanistan and the political extremism and Terrorism of the Taliban.
Our Neighbours
The people of Europe in the 1940’s, the people of the Balkin’s in the 1990’s, the people of Afghanistan in the early 2000’s...
...All of these people are our neighbours, made in the image of God, and we are united with them in the very same Divine Spirit that we share and that we are.
Societies that know the gift of freedom and equality have a responsibility to find ways to offer something of ourselves for the benefit of those who cannot help themselves.
Some of My Own Story
During the Second World War my father and six of his brothers offered themselves to fight the evils of Hitler’s Facism.
As a chaplain in the Canadian Forces in the 1990’s, I had to help prepare soldiers and families for the conflict in Crotia.
In 2011 my eldest son offered himself to fight the evils of Taliban extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan.
I’ve had to reflect on such sacrifices in a very personal way. And I’ve had to ask myself “Is it worth it?” And the answer is Yes. It is Freedom's responsibility.
Jesus asks us to lay down our lives for our neighbours. The widow in todays Gospel offers her all. Free and equal people are called to help those who cannot help themselves.
So today, let us remember and give thanks for our men and women of our Armed Forces who have sacrificed themselves for others.
And may their sacrifice not be lost as we continue our stand against evil and injustice in our world.
As a young person I remember seeing pictures of very ancient and large stones standing in a particular formation and wondering what it was about. When preparing for my sabbatical, and indicating that I would be visiting Salisbury, one of my parishioners mentioned how close Stonehenge was and that I should try to take it in. I am so glad that they mentioned it. 
It is absolutely amazing to stand in a place with stones and structure that go back at least 3000 years. Not only to wonder at what it meant for the people that used it, or how they built it. But to have that sense of spiritual connectedness with the people, who, thousands of years ago walked and lived upon that very same ground.
The Hebrew scriptures tell us that we are from Adam, or in Hebrew “adamah,” which means made from the earth. Those same scriptures tell us God breathed his Spirit, his Life into “Adamah.” We are made from the earth and given the Breath of God. The same earth that every human being walks upon. The same Divine Breath that every human being breaths.
While at Stonehenge, I was aware of being “connected” or “at one with” with those who lived there 3000 years ago. It is indeed a sacred place. 
