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Hi everyone, and happy Thursday!

This time of year, we talk a lot about fall colors. I’m noticing that with the arrival of November, the color red (as in red poppies) is now springing up all around us. Between the poppies on people’s jackets and the commemorative articles and pics in the news, I’m reminded that we’re coming up on Remembrance Day this coming week.

Remembrance Day always makes me think of my dad. Dad was one of the many young men who joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a teen and spent the next half-decade in Europe and North Africa, building bridges, sweeping mines, developing a soldier’s bad habits, and getting a very good first-hand sense of what war is about. He wasn’t a big “military guy.” He didn’t talk much about the war, apart from a couple fairly sanitized stories that reminded him of God’s protection. He told us enough to know that WWII was awful, that all wars are awful, and that sometimes God graciously does miracles in the middle of all the mess (which is how he got home again). He kept the rest to himself. But he always dressed up, pinned on his medal rack, and went to the local cenotaph to commemorate Remembrance Day with other kindred souls.

Dad taught me to appreciate the sacrifice of others who gave of themselves to protect our country and other allied countries from a real and evil threat. It’s good that he did. I’m part of a very blessed generation of people who have lived a lifetime without my country being embroiled in a war. I’m grateful for the peace I’ve always enjoyed; but also conscious that it’s easy to take peace for granted. It’s good to have special days where I’m prompted to pause and reflect and remember.

It's good to remember just how evil war actually is. Perhaps it’s necessary sometimes when threatened by the likes of Hitler, but it’s never a good thing, and it leaves deep scars on everyone. 

It’s good to remember in a fresh way that there are people caught in wars right now, today, who need our prayers and whatever help we can offer. It’s too easy to downplay their suffering because it isn’t my suffering. Remembrance Day should remind me that they are living in the same kind of horror my dad experienced, and I need to think about them with compassion.

It’s good to remember the importance of promoting what is right and good and true: in how we vote, in the causes we support, in the way we speak and live. In our interactions with others, both locally and globally. Wars happen because people and regimes embrace what is not right, not good, and not true. Anything we can do to encourage goodness is a step to reduce the chance of wars to come.

It's good to remember our desperate need for Jesus’ Kingdom to grow and expand. Our natural, fallen human tendency is to fight for what we want. We need Jesus to teach us how to serve, to give, to be humble and gracious and forgiving and kind. We need His heart, and our world needs His message. Ultimately, there will never be peace unless Jesus sits at the conference table, and on the throne. May Your Kingdom come, Lord!

Of course, it’s good to remember and respect those who have set aside their own comfort to do what they thought right for their family, friends, and fellow-citizens. Whatever we may think of their choices and actions in going to war, they took a selfless path for the sake of others. That attitude deserves our respect.

The Bible says a lot about remembering. It doesn’t tell us to have a “Remembrance Day” each November. That’s a custom our culture has developed. But it urges us to be thankful to others who have done things for us, to remember our tendency to wander astray and our need for God’s grace, and to remember how very gracious He is in loving and saving and walking with us. Remembering is a good habit.

We’ll do some other remembering this coming Sunday that has nothing to do with red poppies. It’s communion Sunday, so once again we will share the symbols that speak of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. We’ll reflect on just what an amazing thing He has done. We’ll confess our desperate need, and praise Him for His wonderful grace. That form of remembering is also a very good habit.

We’ll be back in Colossians 1 and 2 this Sunday as well. If you weren’t with us last week, I felt a need to cut the message on Colossians 1:23-2:5 a bit short, in order to give enough time to some really important things that Paul raises there. We’ll be finishing that passage this time around. By all means have a look at it between now and Sunday in preparation.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful week. May it be filled with good memories of good things, and with the blessing of our Lord. See you soon!

—Pastor Ken