St Edburg's Church - Bicester

Remembering

The first half of November is a season of remembering. For many centuries (in England at least since the 9th century) Christians have remembered on 1st November all the saints, both known and unknown, who are with God in heaven, and on All Souls on November 2nd all those who have died.

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For more than a century, since 2019, we have also remembered those who died in conflict, originally on 11th November when World War One ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Nowadays the main services are on Remembrance Sunday (this year on 9th November), the Sunday closest to 11th November. Recently 11th November, the actual anniversary of the Armistice, has once again been marked by ceremonies and services and by observation of the two-minute silence at the exact time when the guns finally fell silent along the Western Front in Belgium and France in 1918.

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Obviously our first thoughts on these occasions are for those who have died. We remember and thank all the servicemen and civilians who died in the two World Wars and in many conflicts since 1945. These days, too, while we are focused on all the men and women from Britain who died, we also remember all those who have died in conflict whatever their nationality.

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On All Souls Day we tend to focus on those of our families and on our friends who have died. As well as remembering the departed, we also give thanks for what they have done for us, for all the service people and others who died so that we might live in peace, and for family members and friends who loved, supported and helped us.

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As well as remembering, honouring and giving thanks for those who we loved as well as for those who gave their lives that we might be free, we also need to look forward. We need to think how we can build on what those who have died have done for us individually and collectively to ensure that we do not damage or destroy what we have inherited. At a time when society seems increasingly divided and external threats appear to be growing, we need to work hard to keep our freedom and to use it constructively to follow Jesus’s two great commandments – love the Lord our God with all our strength, and love our neighbours as we love ourselves.