Remembrance Sunday carries an even more poignant significance this November.
This year we mark the centenary of the outbreak of what is rightly called the Great War. Its causes were complex, still argued over by historians, and its results were profound, still experienced in the development of world alliances and patterns of power in its aftermath. But where should our focus be, as Christians, in the avalanche of books, articles and TV programmes reaching us this year?
First, it must be right to recall that conflict is inevitable in a fallen world of sinful human beings. While we long for peace and pray for it, we have to recognise that sin always produces division and with it conflict and hostility, which can easily escalate into all-out war between power groupings and nations. That is as true at the individual level of our personal relationships as it is at the level of international interactions. This neither excuses nor glorifies conflict – quite the opposite – but it is realistic about the terrifying capacities of our sinful human hearts.
