REMEMBRANCE REFLECTION

Sunday 9th November 2025 at St John the Baptist Church, Granborough

By Rev Petra Elsmore

 

Bible Reading

Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said:

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,
   for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,
   for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
   for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,
   for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
   for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
   for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

Reflection

Why do we gather on the second Sunday of November for this service of Remembrance?
The simplest answer is this: to remember those who gave their lives in past wars—
to remember families who never fully recovered their loss, and communities reshaped by grief.

But we know that Remembrance Sunday is not only about history.
Conflict is not behind us—it is around us.
We see it on our screens, in our news, in stories of families displaced, cities shattered, and lives diminished by war, even now.

 

When we look at the world today, it can feel at times as if remembering has changed nothing. And so we remind ourselves that remembrance is not nostalgia.

It is intentional resistance against forgetting:

Forgetting the human cost of war.

Forgetting how violence begins long before the battlefield, reshaping families, communities, and nations.

Forgetting that unchecked nationalism becomes dangerous.

And forgetting that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, dignity, humility and dialogue— a willingness to listen, to understand, and to honour the humanity of the other.

 

Today’s reading was the Beatitudes from Matthew’s Gospel:

Humility, gentleness, tender-heartedness, a hunger for justice, mercy and compassion, sincerity, peacemaking, moral courage, and resilience in the face of hardship.

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These are the qualities we recognise in those who bravely gave their lives in the past,
and in those who continue to stand against violence and evil in our world today.

They are also the qualities Jesus calls us to nurture—in ourselves, and in our communities.
Qualities that plant seeds of reconciliation, sustain hope, and make peace possible.

 

Because peace does not happen by itself.
We have to work for peace.
We have to seek justice.
We have to choose mercy.

​

In the Beatitudes, Jesus shows us a different kind of kingdom— a kingdom where the strong protect the vulnerable,
where mercy breaks cycles of revenge, and where every person is honoured as a bearer of God’s image.

 

And this is the kingdom we hold on to in our remembering—
as we give thanks for those who gave their lives for peace,
as we pray for those who still long for peace,
and as we ask God for courage to be people who make peace in our time. Amen.