Remembrance Day Address 2024 (Romans 5:7-10 and Isaiah 11:6)

Presented to the Alberni Valley community at the Community Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Glenwood Centre by Major Michael Ramsay, Padre, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293, on 11 November 2024

 

August 4^th,1914 Canada, as part of the British Empire joined World War One. Four years later, when the fighting ceased on November 11^th, 1918, there were 888,246 Commonwealth soldiers who never returned home – over 18% of them, 160 000, were Canadian, Newfoundland, and First Nations soldiers.

 

Then from September 10^th, 1939, until August 14^th, 1945; 1,159,000 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people served in World War 2 and when the war was over, a further 44,090 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people had laid down their lives.

 

Robert (Robin) Watson was just 14 years-old when he joined the Army. On Thursday, at the Field of Honour. we held a memorial service for him; he was 96 years old. He was, I believe, the Valley’s last surviving Word War II veteran.

 

Many people marched out of the Valley to serve God, King, and Country in the first world war, the second world war and the conflicts that followed. In past years here I have shared many of their stories.

 

Today I would like to add to those stories, remembrances of George (Bud) Hamilton, James George, Eduard Clutesi and others. They were among the Nuu-Chah-Nulth soldiers who left the Valley here offering their lives for us, our ancestors, our descendants, our families, our friends and our allies.

 

George, 'Bud' Hamilton, as he was known, was the youngest boy in his family. He was a young Hupacasath man. He was a residential school survivor. Even so, he volunteered to serve with the Canadian forces during the second world war. He was a bright and resourceful young man. On his tests before entering the military, it is recorded that he was above average intelligence.

Letters he wrote home, to his dad Clifford, still exist. He wrote about how he applied to transfer to the navy. He wrote about how he looked forward to going fishing with his dad when he returned home from the war.

 

Bud Hamilton landed at Juno beach with the Canadian Forces on June 6th, 1944. Canadian forces on that day alone suffered 1,096 casualties, 381 of whom were killed in action. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, Canadian casualties exceeded 18,700. George, Bud Hamilton experienced all these horrors and Bud Hamilton survived to fight another day. But then...

 

as fighting continued into Belgium, in one particular small town, an enemy artillery shell exploded very near to him; it severed his spinal cord, and he slowly succumbed to his injuries.

 

He would never go fishing with his dad again.

 

Bud had a daughter whom he never knew. She was born after he died. I understand that she is living today in Idaho with a large family of her own - whom Bud never met.

 

There is also James Goerge. He was the son of Cecil George (George Hamiliton's brother). James was his only child. James survived the war; James made it back and with the money he made, he bought a commercial fishing boat.

One night he tied his fishing boat at a sandbar near where the orange bridge is today. There was an explosion, and he died in his boat that he bought with his pay from serving in the war.

 

I have mentioned Eduard Clutesi before, hereditary chief of the Tseshaht First Nation. [Josh Goodwill, I believe, sits as heredity chief in this seat today.] I will now share a little more of Eduard Clutesi’s story as I have come to understand it.

 

Eduard Clutesi was of superior intelligence, his military tests showed. He was a genius. He taught himself to play violin. He could draw your portrait perfectly. He was very quiet. He did not say much.

 

He served with a mortar unit. This was precise work. It involved intricate mathematical calculations. He served well. He was killed with his mortar unit in the battle of Caen and he was buried with his military comrades in Europe. He never did return.

 

Our First Nations, in many cases, were forced to renounce their status, in order to be enfranchised – until as late as 1960. Yet many, I am told saw the greater good and thus served and found true friendship with their Canadian Comrades and many died for us. Thank you. Thank every veteran who lived fought and in some cased died for us.

 

This week as well as laying to rest a veteran who signed up to serve in the war as a 14-year-old child, I also got news that my sister’s only child passed away suddenly at 22 years of age and it dawned on me that of the 200 000 soldiers who died fighting with the Canadian forces in the World Wars, the majority of them were children – no older than my niece. Canada’s youngest soldier was 10 years old.

 

Our service people, our family members who fought and died; their parents never saw their 22-year-old children, their 26-year-old children, their 17 or there 12-year-old children again.

 

The veterans who served and survived those wars weren’t in their 90s then, like they are now, if they are still around. Mostly, they were children in their 20s or even younger.

 

Our service people who died for us and the veterans who lived and saw them die. Please let us remember them.

 

And in remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, Let us be better men and women, and give us peace in our time.

Lest we forget.

 

We will remember them.

Colossians 3:11, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26ff: Hate: the Division; Love: the Unity.

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 29 August 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

• Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 

• 1 Corinthians 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

• Galatians 3:26ff So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

It is election season again. Is it me or are these things coming around way too frequently these years? It seems like only yesterday, or last year anyway that we just had a provincial election, and I am sure that next year we are having another municipal election and now we are in the middle of the second federal election since we have lived in this riding, and we have only been here for three years. That seems like a lot of elections. 

 

There are some very positive things about elections. We do get to see and chat with our Members of Parliament and interview their rivals. Both our incumbent MP, and his most competitive challenger, have helped on the Salvation Army food truck in the previous two weeks. This is great because they have an opportunity to meet those in most need in their prospective riding and those of us on the truck are able to have their ear and speak to the issues that matter most to the people the Salvation Army serves. 

 

Susan, the kids and I have lived across the country. We have lived on NDP Orange Vancouver Island, the Tory Blue Prairies, and in Liberal Red Toronto and here we are again back on the ‘left coast’. I have learned some very important things from this. One thing I have learned is that not every Liberal/ Tory/ Green /NDP (pick your least favourite party) is evil. It is true. There was a time when I thought that if you supported a particular political party, you must be either an idiot or a very bad person. I was wrong.

  

In Swift Current, I had the opportunity to get to know our Conservative MP a bit – he was, I believe, a good solid Christian. He came to speak at the Swift Current Salvation Army’s Centennial celebrations, and I had a lot of respect for him.  

 

In Toronto we worked very closely with the staff of the Liberal Cabinet Minister who represented our 'work' riding – I didn’t get to know him well, but we did work with his office and his assistants. One of his key people, Roz, I believe, even worked for the Salvation Army before she worked for his office. She and his other staff were a great help with some immigration issues that faced a number of our people, as well as various other things.  

 

Since we have been back on Vancouver Island, our NDP MP has been a great advocate for some of our initiatives. And, of course, he and I went to high school together in Victoria many years ago and this riding is also Susan’s dad’s old riding; so, we have a few points of connection. 

 

Honestly, it has been a much greater revelation than it should have been that there are great people who are members of all the political parties - even whatever party you may dislike the most. There are many great people in politics who we have gotten to know over the years. In Swift Current, the mayor’s grandma was part of our corps. And, of course, here the mayor’s husband is part of our team. There are many great people running for each of the parties. And I don’t think that God (or conversely the devil) has more influence over one party than the next so please don’t let the devil trick you into thinking he does and thus gain some measure of control over you. 

 

Christians, people who honestly serve Jesus, people who regularly read their Bibles, people who pray every day – even more than we or you do, they will vote for a member of that political party that you cannot stand or even understand! And they may even be a member of said party.

 

On election day, you are of course able to vote for whomever you want, for whatever reason you want to vote for them – but please don’t become a victim of the present campaign. Don’t become collateral damage. Don’t let yourself be manipulated by being worked up into a rage or worked down into helplessness. Don’t let the devil mess with your mind and your emotions. He wants to mess you up. MLK jr said, “don’t let any man drag you so low as to make you hate him.”  The devil wants to make you hate Trudeau, O’Toole, Singh, or your local MP. Don’t do it! Genesis 4:7b “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Once we are divided by hating others, the devil can make us do all kinds of things that drag us into self-destruction and the destruction of others. Ephesians 4:27, “do not let the devil get a foothold.” He can divide us and destroy us.  

Therefore, we need to remember that in the Christian Church, Colossians 3:11 paraphrased: there is no Liberal or Conservative, NDP or Green, Libertarian, People’s Party, Bloc, separatist or nationalist but Christ is all, and is in all. 

 

Paul wrote in the 1st Century:

• To the Colossians, 3:11, “...there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” and,  

• To the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” and, 

• To the Galatians, 3:26, 28,29, So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ...There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 

Why did Paul write this same thing to different people in different congregations in different cities? Paul wrote this because among his friends and colleagues, there were divisions that were threatening to tear them and the whole church apart. People in Paul’s group, Paul’s friends, were letting the devil into their churches. 

 

How were they letting the devil into their churches? They were holding the door open by identifying first as Jews or Gentiles, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, men or women and only later as Christians – and then they would inevitably wind up fighting amongst themselves about these important things. So, you would have people who were previously united in the purpose of telling others the Good News of how Jesus can save them in and from their struggles who were now focusing INSTEAD on the election type issues that were important in the first century.  That is not to say that the issues aren’t important; it is to say that we need to solve the issues as members of the same team, God’s team. And God’s team is unified in loving Him and others and trying to serve Him and others – even if we have different ideas about how to do that, we need to work together as a team united under His leadership. That is what the Church is.

 

People invited the devil into the churches in the First Century by caring more about the issues that divide them than about the only real solution, which unites them – the love of God and Jesus Christ. This division threatened to destroy the whole First Century Church before it even had its footing. As Jesus said, recorded in Mark, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark 3:25; also Matthew 12:25, and cf. Luke 11:17) and Matthew, “no one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13). This is what the devil was trying to do – he was trying to make them care more about an issue (as important as it may be) than about God and their neighbour so as to divide them. Divide and conquer. 

 

The devil is doing the same thing today. You can actually see him prey upon good, solid people, trapping them in their own hatred for others who hold opposing ideas. We Christians invite the devil into our lives and our churches by fighting with each other instead of praying for each other and serving together. And friends this is a tragedy.

 

God has used you who are here in this room and others who are part of our group (as we are part of His Church) to do some great things for others and for the Kingdom during Covid; and friends God has used you and those who have come before you to do some amazing things in this community for over 70 years. Don’t let the devil mess things up by dividing us! 

 

• 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” 

• Galatians 3:26, 28,29, So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ...28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise

• Colossians, 3:11, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” 

 

So Friends I implore us today to put our differences aside. If the devil has got a hold of our lives in anyway by making us hate one another, we can pray now and God will deliver us from that hate.  The Enemy is trying to divide us. For when we are divided we will fall but when we are united in Christ we will stand firm and we will stand forever. So rather than hate the world into destruction, let us love the world into salvation. And then the world will know we are Christians by our love. 

 

Let us pray.

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[1] Martin Luther King Jr, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr (Ed. James M. Washington (HaperCollins: New York, NY, 1986)

[2] Cf. NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters (Louisville, Kentucky, USA.: John Knox Press, 2004), 179.

[3] Samuel Ngewa, Galatians 3:26-4:11: Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya:Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1448: All categories have become one because they are united in Christ.

 

1 Peter 3:7-13: The Earth is on Fire

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 August 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

The earth is on fire. Rena and Tim’s son’s family and some friends of Mary Anne and others are in and around Vernon. There is a massive fire burning between Vernon and Kamloops (more than 557 km2 have been on fire there at one time this week alone). Susan, Sarah-Grace, Heather and I were just up there during our furlough. We saw helicopters carrying buckets almost every day, dropping chemicals on the ground (while the water bombers sit quietly by the Lake here). Roads were blocked due to the fire.

 

There were places we couldn’t go. We checked the news every day to see if we would need to be evacuated (like we needed to flee while on our previous holiday; when the plague of coronavirus hit the world, we scrambled to try to get safely home). This recent trip we stayed in Salmon Arm for a week.

 

There was smoke everywhere. We went kayaking, as well as tourist-ing: sometimes you couldn’t even see across the lake it was so smoky and the sun was a strange orange-y-red ball of fire, itself covered by the haze of the smoke. It looked like the heavens were on fire - just like the earth.

 

The earth is on fire. We just finished the Olympics. All around Athens is on fire. The home of the original Olympics is on fire. California is on fire. Australia is on fire. BC is on fire. Lytton burned to the ground. I have some great memories around Lytton. I have gone there with great friends. I have met close friends on trips there. More than once we went white-water rafting there. We have camped there. We have played paintball there. When I was a young adult, maybe about the ages of my oldest two daughters, I had a lot of fun making memories there. Now Lytton itself is just a memory. It has been burned to the ground.

 

There is talk about global warming and talk of climate change. Some climate scientists and others are saying that this is the consequence of our sin of not taking care of the earth – which was one of the very first commands God gave humanity (Gen 1:26-28). The earth is right now cursed because of our sin (Gen 3:17). Many are calling for us to repent of our sins and to take care of the earth.

 

The earth was first cursed because of the sins of Adam and Eve and they fled Eden. The earth was later cursed (different word in Hebrew) with a flood because of the sins of humanity leading up to the time of Noah. God created the earth from water, through water; and then, Genesis 6-9, it was drowned in water and destroyed by water.[1]   

 

2 Peter 3 tells of a time when the heavens and the earth will both be on fire and the earth will be destroyed by fire. Today the earth is on fire. The fire that is consuming the earth at the present time may not be the ultimate fire or even the penultimate fire. It should ultimately however be a reminder of warnings of 2 Peter 3, Genesis 6-9, and so much more.

 

Peter tells us that there are scoffers and mockers; people who just do what they want with no mind to others. Peter (2:3) says that they follow their own evil desires. How many of us in our world today are scoffers and mockers; people who just do what they want with no mind to others? How many of us are following our own desires and scoffing; denying, ignoring God, others, and our responsibilities or pretending that we can do nothing? How many of us are ignoring the warning of the burning fires?

 

The environmental aspect of this passage cannot be ignored. As Genesis (15) and Leviticus (25) tell us, if humanity declines its responsibility to tend for the earth, we will be removed from it just as Adam and Eve, the Amorites and the Israelites were (cf. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21). [2]  We cannot ignore God’s commission to care for the earth and expect the earth to be cared for all at the same time.

 

There is more. Peter knows that every day since the resurrection of the Christ is the last days. Peter was in the last days. We are in the last days. Peter warns us that the end is coming soon– today’s fires should be a reminder of that – and Peter explains how he hopes we will respond to this warning.

 

Peter exhorts us to, 2 Peter 1:5-8, make every effort to supplement our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with perseverance or steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with kinship or brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For when these qualities are in our lives, we will not be ineffective and we will fulfil our responsibilities to God, our neighbour, the earth, and our world.

 

Peter warns us that there will always be temptations, Chapter 2, to sensuality, greed, much more - and even blasphemy. Peter warns us that even when we get free, the many terrible things in our lives that interfere with our wholeness, holiness, happiness and peace; they will try to grab us and pull us back to misery and enslavement.

 

Even just judging by Facebook and other social media, some of us here have probably struggled with hate in one form or another: either of a person, a political party, an idea, a movement, a pet peeve, or something else. Judging even just by Facebook and other social media, the sins of self-righteous anger, un-forgiveness, and hatred are reaching out like smoke from a fire to choke the life and love out of many people. Greed and self-indulgence also try pull us away from peace, healing, holiness, and wholeness as well. Sin can be like an addiction: just when we think we are free of it, it reaches out to try to pull us into a self-destruction that is accompanied by as much collateral damage as possible. When we are captured by a sin that we had previously escaped, Peter says, Chapter 2:22, we are like a sow which, having just been washed clean, heads directly to the pig sty – rejecting that cleansing that is so freely offered and so effectively applied.

 

But this letter that we call 2 Peter isn’t a lecture telling us that we must be good and we mustn’t be bad. That will come.[3]  This letter is a promise. This letter promises that we can be delivered from the things that are trying to separate us from our peace and our sanity. This letter tells us that we can be delivered from our addictions, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, and greed. We can be restored to wholeness and holiness and God will not give up on us until we all have had our chance. [4]  God is patient. He is perseverance personified.

 

If there is some sin or addiction trying to drag your life away from you, don’t give up. Keep keeping on. God wants you to succeed and to be free from it. He is patient with you (3:9). He does not wish that any of us should perish in our struggles. He desires that we should all turn away from and be free of that which is trying to destroy us.

 

God won’t destroy the earth by fire prematurely. Just like the Amorites were given four hundred years grace before He eventually removed them from His land; and just like the Israelites were given the same warnings in the same land, generation after generation, before He eventually removed them from His land; and just like the people of Noah’s generation were not removed from the land until every inclination of their heart was only towards evil all the time, so too in these last times. When everything else had been done, God finally cleansed the earth with floodwaters. [5] Only when everything else has been done, will He cleanse the earth with fire. The Lord is not slow in bringing this concluding fire and resulting renewal. He will give us every opportunity to be free of all that tries to enslave us before He scrunches up, like a paper, this world of sin that tries to ensnare us, and tosses it in the bin, into the fireplace. God will not end any of our time here before we have all the time and every opportunity to experience the freedom that only comes from serving God. He doesn’t want any of us to miss out on His peace, His love and forgiveness.

 

Peter encourages all of us. As sure as the fires are burning across our world today, people are perishing in many ways – help them. People are struggling with many things – help them.

 

When the world does eventually get so bad that there is nothing left in it but only evil inclinations all the time and God does cleanse it with fire, He promises that even then He will create the world anew: new heavens and a new earth. He promises that in these new heavens and on this new earth there will be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more suffering, and no more death (Rev 24:4). This is something to look forward to - but don’t worry. The Lord is not being slow in bringing these new heavens and the new earth; He loves us all so much that He wants to make sure that everyone who wants to be present in the new heavens and on the new earth, He wants to make sure that everyone who desires to be a part of His eternal kingdom of love and forgiveness can and will be a part of His eternal kingdom of love and forgiveness. All the same, He is not slow to come. He is coming soon.

 

It is to this end that I really encourage each of us today: if you know someone who is struggling, reach out to them. If you see someone who is suffering, reach out to them. If you are struggling, as it is possible, reach out to someone; if you are suffering, reach out to the Lord. For as we come to Lord and as we bring each other to the Lord, He will transform us, making each of us anew, even before He makes the whole world anew, so that even now - in the midst of the very real challenges of our lives - we can start to live new whole, holy and peaceful lives that will continue on in love and peace for now and eternity - even unto the new heavens and the new earth.

 

Let us pray.

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[1] Doug Oss and Thomas R. Schreiner, 2 Peter3:4-6, in ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Illinois: Good News Publishers, 2008), 2422.

[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, The Nipawin Journal, "What is My Responsibility to the Environment?" (September 2008) Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#environment And cf. Laird Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IX. Laws of Land Use (25:1-55), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Tokunboh Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1554: By the Yoruba of Western Nigeria, “Faith is regarded as a gift that brings salvation. But accepting this gift has consequences...We do not receive faith without it taking something away from us. It will take away sorcery, idolatry, adultery, witchcraft, and the like.”

[4] Cf. Duane F. Watson, 2 Peter, (NIB XII: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1998), p. 353

[5] The story of Noah demonstrates God’s ability and desire to deliver the righteous even in the most extreme circumstances. Cf. Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995), 183.

A MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION ON CANADA DAY TO OUR VETERANS AND OTHERS IN LIGHT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL REVELATIONS

 PRESENTED AT THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION, 01 JULY 2021.[1]

 

In the Alberni Valley today we would like to acknowledge Winston Joseph, who has passed on since the previous Canada Day. He was the driving force behind our community's Canada Day activities for many years.

 

Canada Day is very important to our veterans as they offered up their lives and many of them laid down their lives for Canada and for all of us.

 

Today we are gathering to remember Canada and, as always at the Legion, those who have lived, fought and died for Canada and for our future. One of the many brave people from this area who offered their lives up for the future of others was Edward John Clutesi of the Tseshaht Nation. (Our community is on the un-ceded territories of the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations)

 

Today, heavy on our hearts is the tragedy of the horrors of the residential schools and those who suffered and even lost their lives, across this country and even in our community. This is why I am wearing this pin in the shape of the orange ribbon on my uniform today. Every child matters.

 

Our veterans fought for a brave new world. It was hoped that the First World War would be the war to end all wars. It wasn’t. After the Second World War one amazing thing did happen though and that was we were reconciled with old foes: Germany, Japan, and Italy are now some of our closest allies, trading partners and friends. 

 

Many people passed before they could see the culmination of those wars and that reconciliation. Today in Canada we do have heavy hearts remembering the residential schools and today we have grateful hearts for all of those who died for us – including Edward John Clutesi.

 

Reading from Hebrews 11:16, the verse on the Order of Canada: "But they now desire a better country, that is an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared for them."

 

Today We are hoping now that we will all commit to and be a part of the inauguration of a new era of reconciliation and healing in our nation and in our community in our people and in ourselves. May there be peace in our time and may there be peace in our hearts. 

 

Let us pray:

 

Eternal God, we thank you for the peace we enjoy and for the opportunity that is ours of building a better order of society in this Canada for the generations still to come. Amen. 

 

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[1] This was presented after conversations with the current and previous Chief Councillor of the Tseshaht First Nation. The current Chief Councilor was unable to attend as he was out of town but committed to send a member of the council to be present.

Romans 12 and the New Normal

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 13 June 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Romans 12 has been on my mind a little bit this past week as we are hopefully coming out of this pandemic very soon. The Apostle Paul  is speaking about the 'new normal' of the Kingdom of God and thus he gives us some great words of wisdom that we can keep in mind in as we enter our ‘new normal’ of the post-covid world.[1] Paul tells us to offer up our lives to God and not conform to society but instead to renew our minds so that we can do what God would like us to do. He then goes on to explain what it is that God wants us to do with our lives as part of the "new normal". Paul says that, as opposed to what society says, we are to:

 

·        Not think of ourselves as the greatest at whatever we do, or the smartest person in the room.[2] You and I can be wrong about something. Be thankful for that! That is how we learn and get better and smarter!

 

·        Work together as a team. Not everyone has the same job, skills and abilities. Work together. Someone bring the sandwich supplies, someone set up the room, someone clean up the room, someone bring things out on the truck, someone teach kids club, someone teach Bible study, someone lead worship, someone else call everyone to let them know what’s going on, someone else make Birthday cards for people, someone else schedule the helpers and pay the bills – serve, teach, give, encourage! Do what it is your good at – but do something! And do it as part of a team!

 

And team when we continue to do all that we do, remember to love it! Don’t resent it! Love God, love the people here, the people we are helping, and love what you are doing! When we love God and others and are part of God’s Kingdom, this is what it will look like. He encourages us as citizens of heaven to:

 

·        not think of yourself as better, smarter, superior to anyone;

 

·        not lack in zeal – be really energetic! But remember when you get all worked up about something, keep all that energy focused on the Lord and His work. Don’t get worked up over things that God isn’t giving you to do! Keep your fervour for serving the Lord as part of the team.

 

·        The Covid-19 pandemic is probably coming to an end. God and Paul tell us to keep joyful while we are hoping for something. Let us try to maintain the joy of the Lord even now as we hope for the pandemic to end;

 

·        Be patient in affliction. We will get through the pandemic and whatever else we are dealing with today. One thing I have learned in my life is that no matter how bad my day has been (due to circumstance, my own actions, or something else), every day is a new day. As we are patient and persevere, we will come out the other end. We will.

 

·        As a team we are also supposed to share with those in need – well done team! You have been doing great at this -and practice hospitality: thank you to all those who have called others, written notes, dropped by, and extended hospitality in so many different ways over the last year.

 

And next in our passage today, God and Paul tell us some more things to do while we are taking care of others in our community. He says:

 

·        Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them! This is difficult but this is important. There will always be someone who complains and calls you out and puts you down when you are just trying your best. Do not get drawn into a fight with them or get sucked into talking bad about them. This will only make you unforgiving, harden your heart, and mess up your life. The only way we can be free of poison emotions is to actually seek blessings for those who wish us ill.

 

·        There are many ups and downs in life – some brutal stuff: like those 215 children who were found, the fires, overdoses and deaths in our community and some very important good things too: graduations, birthdays (Reinhart just had his 90th and Sarah-Grace her 19th), and many other things. Let us celebrate with those who are celebrating and let us mourn right alongside those who mourn, offering support in that way.

 

·        Let us live in harmony with one another. We are not going to agree on everything. But we don’t need to fight with one another. Make sure you don’t think of anyone as not worth your time. Like we said previously, don’t be conceited. We should respect everyone and remember – I and you might be able to learn something as we love another.

 

·        Now people are going to be mean to you. People are going to say bad things about you and to you. People are going to yell at you to your face and talk about you behind your back. People are going to do bad and evil things to you. They are. Make sure that you don’t do the same thing to them. As miserable as it is when someone attacks you, it is also sometimes just as awful, sometimes even more awful when you respond by talking poorly to or about them!  Never take revenge (1 Thess 5:15, 1 Pt 3:9)! Let God deal with all that kind of stuff (Dt 32:35). What we need to do – for our own soul, our own salvation, our own peace and peace of mind, as well as theirs - for those who are rough to us and around us, 

 

o       if they are hungry, we need to feed them

o       if they are thirsty, we need to give them something to drink (cf. Prov 25:21-22)

 

Evil cannot be overcome with evil. That only produces evil. Evil can only be overcome with good.

 

So, as we conclude this part of our time today, and as we are even now beginning to live in the ‘new normal’  I encourage us to do just that - as part of our ‘new normal’, let us continue to make food for those in need, let us continue to use our gifts to work as a team, let us encourage one another and let us resolve to overcome evil with good in our community here for both now and forevermore. Let this be our ‘new normal’!

 

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[1] Cf. NT Wright, Romans for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 9-16 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004), 69

[2] F.F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the Romans. Tyndale NTC (Leicester, UK: IV Press, 1985), 216: Outdo one another in showing honour.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:18-20: In Remembrance.

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries of The Salvation Army, 15 November 2020 by Captain Michael Ramsay, Padre Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-25: “…the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

 

Remembrance: Wednesday was Remembrance Day in Canada: a day to remember the ‘great’ and subsequent wars. As I have been privileged to do many times before, I was invited to address our community as the Legion Padre. It was very different this year than past Remembrance Day ceremonies. There were only 50 of us allowed instead of the typical nearly one thousand and we had to be outside, masked and social distanced, of course.

 

Covid-19 has affected every aspect of our lives – separating us from friends and family. People have not been able to be with loved ones as they passed on from this life to the next one. People are dying. We hear of outbreaks in different cities and other places where our family is and we worry and we wonder. Rebecca is on the mainland working with vulnerable people and so we follow reports closely. This I think can be a small reminder, a real life object lesson of the large sense of worry and loss and grief and fear that gripped our world, our country, our Island and even our Valley here more than 100 years ago and more than 75 years ago in the world wars. The Second World War ended 75 years ago this year.

 

Lest we Forget. We will remember. Why do we have Remembrance Day? What are we supposed to remember? We remember the people who served. When World War One broke out Canada was a country of just over 7 million people. 619 000 Canadians served in WWI and 66 976 never returned. That was almost 1-out-of-every-5 boys aged 16-24. There were 1 million Canadians who served and the 45 000 lost their lives in the Second World War. We are to remember the people who served and the people who died; why?

 

We are to remember this so that we do not repeat it. We are to remember this so that our children and grandchildren don’t go marching into foreign lands risking both losing their lives and risking taking someone else’s life.

 

I have spoken to veterans who served during D-Day. I remember one fellow when asked if he ever killed anyone, answered, “I don’t know”. He just ran when they said “run” and when he was in a trench or a hole he would just fire his gun without sticking his head up. (Apparently most people just wind up shooting into the air. We seem to have this instinct not to take life but rather to save it). I remember hearing stories of this same person ducking in his trench as a tank passed safely over his head – it was an American tank that almost killed him.

 

I have spoken to veterans, even of our more recent wars, who still have horrible flashbacks and PTSD directly related to not only what they saw and had done to them but also from what they have done. I can’t tell you the number of times people have asked me whether they can be forgiven for what they have done. They can. There are no good guys and bad guys in the trenches, for the most part, just people trying to stay alive.

 

Reinhardt’s father was a prisoner –of-war in England in WW1. I heard stories from American veterans of how they were told to bayonet people rather than take them prisoner. My grandmother’s brother never spoke of what happened the day that he and his comrades were surrounded by the enemy. War is terrible. War is terrifying.

 

If we forget the horrors of war we are more likely to repeat them.[1] If hate is stronger than a desire for peace than we will walk down this road again and again and again... If the population of a country cannot forgive, it is easy for their politicians to throw their people into a position where they either kill someone else’s children or they send their own children to be killed.

 

This is important. In the Legion Chaplain’s manual of which I have become quite familiar over the years are prayers such as this:

O God our Father, we thank you for those valiant hearts, who at the call of Sovereign and country laid down their lives for our cause. We pray that we may uphold the torch entrusted to us. So that their sacrifice may not have been in vain, unite all the peace loving peoples of our world in one holy purpose to defend the peace won and the comradery for which these valiant hearts lived and died. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. In the Name of the great Prince of peace we pray. Amen.[2]

·         God of peace, may the memory of wars strengthen our efforts for peace.

·         Father of souls, may the memory of those who died inspire our service to the living.

·         Builder of the Kingdom of Love, may the memory of past destruction move us to build for the future.[3]

We are to remember the horrors of war so that we do not need to repeat them.

 

Susan, the girls and I have been reading Exodus lately as a family. In the Bible the Israelites and Judeans are called frequently to remember the Passover. There is quite a lot of symbolism – which we won’t look at today – that they are supposed to return to once a year in remembrance how God kept His promise – which he made hundreds of years earlier -  to bring His people out of Egypt (Genesis 15).

 

As the Israelite families were sitting in their houses awaiting the impending visit by the Angel of Death, God told Moses that they were never to forget this day.[4] They are to remember it forever. God told them, Exodus 12:24-27:

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

 

They are supposed to remember this terrible cost. Moses later put Aaron’s staff and some manna into the Ark of the Covenant with the stone tablets so that people wouldn’t forget, not only how God brought the people from Egypt but also how He sustained them in the desert (Hebrews 9:4). But you know what the Israelites and the Judeans did? Just like we have done with war in many cases – at various times in their history – they seemed to forget.

 

The British Empire, of which Canada was an integral part, instituted Remembrance Day to remember WW1 but we then added a remembrance of WW2 and subsequently applied it to our own peacekeeping efforts and continuing military engagements. Jesus, in the Gospels is shown to open up the Passover (and in 1 Corinthians possibly even every meal that the saints have together[5]) to not only remember how God, through the Angel of Death and the fire-y pillar of cloud, delivered His people into the Promised Land; but to also remember how God through Jesus’ death and resurrection delivered us, His people from our sins into eternal life.[6]

 

Jesus at the Passover Meal uttered the very important words, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Mark 14:22-25,Luke 22:18-20,1 Corinthians 11:23-25).[7] This is, I think, a big reason why God wanted the Passover ceremony etched so deeply in the minds of humanity for so long because just as when the Egyptians gave up their firstborn sons, God saved His people through the blood of the Passover lamb; so when God gave up His firstborn son –Jesus Christ – He also saved us; His people, all His people, He saves through the Blood of the Lamb.[8]

 

This is the most important event in the whole history of the world: the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God, through the giving of His only begotten son has made it – just like with Exodus and the Angel of Death – so that none of us need to perish but all of us can have Salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is important to remember.

 

In the Christian Church we have Good Friday and Easter where we are supposed to remember how Jesus through his death and resurrection provided for us to be a part of His Kingdom of Forgiveness and Peace both for now and forever more. And each Sunday we are supposed to remember Jesus’ resurrection celebrating the fact that now we can all pass from the darkness of hate, sin, and death into the light of forgiveness and eternal life. Even during Lent, when some Christians still fast, did you know that traditionally you are not supposed to fast on Sundays? It is because Sunday is a feast day! Sundays are a celebration! Sundays we remember Jesus’ resurrection and our opportunity to be a part of His Kingdom of Peace!

 

This is why we come to church, this is why we go to Bible studies, this is why we pray and this is why we read our Bibles; this is why we have our Mercy Seat at the corps and this is why we commemorate Good Friday and Easter Sunday/Monday every year. That is why we are here today: because just as God offered salvation to all His children from the passing over of the Angel of Death and the preceding plagues; so too He offers salvation to all of us, this very day, from Sin and Death and from everything that is plaguing us.

 

We remember our service people on Remembrance Day by wearing poppies and we are thankful that people loved us so much that they were willing, as called upon, to lay down their lives for us – as the Chaplain's manual says, not for war but for Peace.

 

Today, a few days after Remembrance Day, and a few days before we enter into the Advent Season, I implore us to remember not only our service people but also let us not forget what our Saviour has done for us. Let us not forget how he delivered us from our sins. Let us not forget – as we said the other week – that He has declared us to be holy saints and let us not forget that He has forgiven us so we now have the ability to be released from the power of hate, sin, and death by forgiving others. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He lived, died and rose from the grave so that we can live in Peace with Him, each other, ourselves, and the whole world forever more.

 

It is my hope that if there are any of us who have not yet entered His peace yet that we will do so today and -that as we do- we will always remember what He has done for us.

 

Lest we forget.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

https://salvogesis.blogspot.com/

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[1] George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense, (The Life of Reason, Vol. 1: 1905). “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

[2] Rev Norman McMillan, Padre Legion Br 514 Caledonia ON, in Chaplain's Manuel of The Royal Canadian Legion

[3] Bishop George Appleton, General Editor, The Oxford Book of Prayer, (Oxford, Oxford UP, 1985), p. 367 in Chaplain's Manuel of The Royal Canadian Legion

[4] Thomas W. Mann, “Passover: The Time of Our Lives.” Interpretation 50, no. 3 (July 1, 1996): 240-250. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed June 28, 2012), 241-242: The Passover narrative is arguably the most important section of the entire book because it is primarily here that the experience of exodus is communicated not simply as a moment in historical time (in the past) but as a perennially recurring moment in the present life of those for whom the story is sacred.

[5] W. Harold Mare, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Corinthians/Exposition of 1 Corinthians/VII. Paul's Answers to Questions Raised by the Church (7:1-14:40)/C. Worship in the Church (11:2-14:40)/2. The Lord's Supper (11:17-34), Book Version: 4.0.2

[6] Cf. NT Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Kentucky, USA:WJK, 2004), 128 and Simon J. Kistemaker, 1 Corinthians (NTC: Grad Raoids Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 149: 1 Corinthians is probably the oldest record of the observance of this memorial

[7] cf. J. Paul Sampley, 1 Corinthians, (NIB: Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002), 935 for a very good discussion of the intentionality of the use of the phrase,' do this in remembrance of me."

[8] Norman Theiss, "The Passover Feast of the New Covenant." Interpretation 48, no. 1 (January 1, 1994): 17-35. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed June 28, 2012), 17: In the eyes of the first three evangelists and Paul, Jesus construed his last supper with the twelve disciples as the fulfillment of God's plan to inaugurate a new Passover meal. In this new meal, Jesus interpreted his death as a new Exodus in which the new people of God were liberated from all that enslaves them and freed to serve God in holy living.