Why do we remember?

Remember, remember the month of November

The month of November is deeply symbolic and filled with traditions of remembrance. Trees begin to shed their leaves, daylight begins its escape from our lives and the cold makes its presence known as summer’s warmth fades. The echoes of remembrance and death ripple through the month and none more so than this week.

For traditional Christians, it began with the liturgical feast of All Saints and All Souls; a time when the Church militant (Christians physically living) remembers its connection to those who, having lived their lives here on earth, have gone on ahead of us. We recall their holy lives of sacrifice and charity in various circumstances and situations. We remember our connection to them; that this time is not just about us but is connected to all the faithful known and unknown throughout history who surround us as “a great cloud of witnesses” (the letter to the Hebrews) as we continue to run the race of faith.

This is closely followed by Bonfire night, a remembrance of the gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes and his fellow Catholic revolutionists in 1605, who failed in their attempt to blow up the House of Lords and the King. This was made a day of thanksgiving in the British calendar by parliament and although initially very anti-Catholic (effigies of the Pope were burnt alongside Guy Fawkes on bonfires) it has evolved into a secular communal celebration, with fireworks the only remaining symbol of the revolutionary explosion that never happened.

The week ends this year with Remembrance Sunday, the national remembrance of those who have served in wars and conflicts in recent history with a deep focus on WW1 & WW2. The sacrifices of the war dead are honoured and their stories retold, with the poem Flanders Field holding a particular national significance. One line that stands out this year is; “If ye break faith with us who die… We shall not sleep, though poppies grow… in Flanders fields.” Broken faith seems to be the mood of the nation, with veteran Mr Alec Penstone summing up the collective groans of the British people: 100 year veteran remembers.

Eternity, failed revolutions and war is a lot to get through in a week, but such is the great drama of life. Why do we remember? Remembering helps us orientate ourselves correctly in the midst of the story. It helps us know who we are, where we are and where we are going. It helps us accept the lives we have been given; we did not choose this time to be born or the families and nations we were born into, but we can, like many saints before us, embrace them. Each of us is a note, great or small, in our creator’s great symphony. In the midst of our broken generation, it is good to remember.

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16