Pew Sheet, Sunday 9th November, 2025. 2nd Sunday of Kingdom Season Remembrance Sunday

War tests not only nations, but the soul of humanity itself, as we see in the works of so many of the great war poets who fought on all sides in the First World War. In their works, and particularly in the pages of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic work ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ we see that soul laid bare - trembling, bewildered, and yearning for meaning amidst the thunder of the guns, and in the eerie silence which brought death in the wake of clouds of toxic mustard gas.

The German poet Ernst Stadler, who was due to leave Europe for a new career as associate professor of literature in the University of Toronto on the very day that war broke out, initially went to war eagerly, intoxicated by the excitement of what was to come. But this quickly changed after seeing the aftermath of a massacre in the village of Hohwalsch on the 22^nd of August 1914. From there on, the rhythmic power of his verse is suddenly haunted by a sense of impending ruin, and his poems begin to express disillusionment as the tension between youthful idealism and the darkness it meets on the battlefield are illuminated by piercing arc lights, and the flash of a thousand big guns, one of which took his life on the 30^th of October in that first year of the war, sparing him from many of the horrors still yet to come.

And yet, in both Stadler’s and Remarque’s work, there remains a flicker of the divine. Not triumph, but compassion, for in the midst of the mud and the mutilation, they show how one human spirit can reach out to another. When Remarque’s central character Paul Bäumer cradles the body of a dying French soldier in a shell crater, we see what it means to ‘love our neighbour’ - even when that person has been called an ‘enemy’ by those responsible for sending millions to their deaths. Stadler’s last few poems too, though haunted by violence and the evil he saw, still seek a higher beauty, intuiting that even in the destruction and chaos of war, the image of God in humanity cannot completely be erased.

Their works, like those of our own war poets, remind us that war is not merely a political failure, but a spiritual tragedy. It shows us how hate, and fear, and suspicion of ‘the other’ when coupled with unbridled pride, ambition, and a lack of humility can eclipse the Gospel’s command to love our neighbour as ourselves, and make us forget the truth that every uniform – no matter its colour, covers a human heart which is fragile, sacred, and beloved of God, because it is God who made that person, and breathed life into them, no matter where they were born.

So today, as we remember those who suffered in wars past, and those suffering in many wars still, let us not allow our commemoration to be mawkish or sentimental, or fuelled by mere ‘patriotism’. For each of us is called to be a witness, to see as Stadler saw, and to feel as Remarque’s writing makes us feel, so that we might react as Christ calls us to react: by seeking peace for all, defending the dignity of every human being, and by refusing to let hatred and enmity have the final word. In each and every generation, the battle of good against evil begins in the human heart, and only love: fierce, forgiving, fearless, and steadfast love can bring that battle, and every other battle to an end, so that we might enjoy lasting peace and live with the firm hope of that eternal promise in our hearts.

Collect

Almighty God, our refuge and strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end, that the earth may know the peace of heaven through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.

Psalm 17:1-8

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.
If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O saviour of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-end

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

…But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Luke 20:27-38

Then Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to himand asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage;but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Post Communion Prayer

God of peace, whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom and restored the broken to wholeness of life: look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

This week’s events

Monday (Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher of the Faith, 461)

Bell ringing at 7.30pm in St Laurence. Contact Jan on 07835 461361.

Zoom Julian Group at 8pm, Group ID: 996 4332 0665 password: Julian

Tuesday (Martin, Bishop of Tours, c397)

Zoom Morning Prayer at 9am. Meeting ID: 539 3978774 Password: TuaR0T (The 0 in R0T is a zero not an ‘O’) or email: [email protected]

Evening Home Groups, contact Jo on 07803 942 687.

Wednesday

Morning Coffee from 10.00 am in the St Laurence Rooms/Great Horwood Village Hall followed by Midweek Holy Communion at 12.00 noon in St Laurence’s.

Thursday (Charles Simeon, Priest, Evangelical Divine, 1836)

Daytime Home Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687.

Friday (Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796)

Junior Choir, 6.30pm in St Laurence, followed by full Choir Practice at 7.30pm.

Saturday

St Laurence Quiz Night, The Scout Hut, Picadilly, 6.45pm for a 7pm start.

Advance Notice of November Events

Saturday 22^ndAdvent Clean-up in St Laurence Church from 10.00am