|
Dear Friends,
Well as I write this the clocks are about to be turned back an hour and the lighter nights of summer are about to become but a distant memory.
November is upon us - but a week away - and once more we approach the month noted by remembrances, a month when different memories abound.
I personally have been remembering and reflecting on my time here so far as my first year serving you in this place has come to an end.
Perhaps for the younger ones in our Church family, no doubt their memories will revolve around:
"Remember, Remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot."
For them, the month of November brings great excitement with the prospect of firework displays, sparklers and bonfires, perhaps even toffee apples and toasted marshmallows remembering Guy Fawkes!
However, for many more of us, remembrance at this time centres around the 11th of the month and brings with it not excitement but deep emotion.
For this is a time when we are called to 'Remembrance' -remembrance of the dead of the two World Wars and the many on-going conflicts which abound in our world at this time.
There are still many in our own communities who recall loved ones and friends who went to war but never came home.
.
There are still many who went out to fight and returned home with the physical and psychological scars of battle. They too remember comrades who went out with them but never returned.
Remembrance Day is even now a day of deep memories and emotion - a day, very personal and full of sadness for so many people.
Daily, through news of world events we are made aware of the consequences of war and the continuing conflicts around the world which continue to this day and continue to give us cause for concern and prayer.
Remembrance is our time for thought - in recognition of all those who defend their loved ones at the cost of their own lives - in recognition of the need for Christians to pray and work for peace in the name of Jesus Christ who rightly referred to "the peace that the world cannot give" when he made the offer of his peace at the end of John Chapter 14.
Blessings
Caryl
|
