Change did come

This blog entry is slightly different, in that I am going to direct you to the website of a charity that is very dear to me heart and for whom I have guest blogged an article.
Change did come!

Christmas messages

Christmas Reflection – Christmas messages

Luke 2:1-20

2In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!” ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Dear Santa Claus,

For Christmas this year, I would like it if you could stop all the wars and keep the children in Syria, Iraq and other countries at war safe. I would also like a pink, purple or YUU bag. I am going to make and leave you a present this year. A Texter Puppy or cat would be nice. I don’t want anything else.

From Hannah

Out of the mouths of children is a phrase often used. The letter to Santa was written by a young lady whose parents have both served in the military, in areas of the world that are a hop skip and jump away from the Biblical lands that we heard in the passage today. She is a little younger than the betrothed Mary yet her understanding of events around  the world are beyond her years, whilst her childhood is apparent in the letter to Santa and the present requests.

I was deeply moved when I first read Hannah’s letter for a variety of reasons.

First of all you cannot help notice Syria appears in both her letter and the gospel reading set for Christmas day. So often we can feel the bible is obsolete almost a history, history book; yet here it is flashing up to us today some 2000 years on, a place of conflict, turmoil, insurrection and the chaos of war. There 2000 years ago people were on the move, commanded to register, which involved hazardous journeys and for one now famous couple trying to find shelter so that their baby could be born and nursed. Today people in Syria are on the move, fleeing from war and unimaginable cruelty, they too are registering and trying to find somewhere safe for their children and babies.

At this time of year in the Christian tradition we are (have, if you are reading this on the 25^th December) observing (observed)  Advent, that period of waiting, waiting for the arrival of Christ. For many people we have simply been waiting to open the Lego or chocolate advent calendar whilst waiting for the big guy to drop down the chimney with a sack of presents. 2000 years ago Mary and Joseph were waiting, waiting for a small baby who would change their lives for ever. We know how the story unfolds for that baby and how his mother will be told  ‘and a sword will pierce your own soul too’ . Mary will spend the next 30 years waiting for this to happen. Waiting at the gates of the refugee’s camps across the middle east and Europe today are families for whom a sword will pierce their own souls too.  Yet despite this they continue to journey on, waiting in the hope that they will find safety and a place for their children to grow.

Some will make it, others will not, the journey is perilous and 2000 years ago similarly children fell victim to the evil of those in power when Herod ordered the hunting down of all baby boys in a bid to stop the survival of the Messiah, whose presence was announced by wise men from afar. Joseph and Mary, again journey on, taking the child to safety in a land far from home, as refugees.

I made mention of the young mother Mary and of Hannah our letter writer earlier on. Mary we know is carrying a gift to the world, she and Joseph are both aware that what they are doing is outside of the ‘norm’, they risk being cast out, and Mary could even have been put to death if Joseph had chosen to. Yet they continue to nurture and protect the small bundle entrusted to them, a swaddling wrapped present to the world. Hannah’s gift to the world is wrapped in grace, it is tied together with love and has a big sticky bow of hope on the outside of it, with a gift label that reads ‘for the world’. Her generous nature bought this gift, her altruism shares it with the world via Santa Claus. Its not often we get to see letters such as this; it outside of the norm and actually Hannah risks losing out on a huge pile of presents by not issuing a missive of a list.

But what we gain from both these young women is immense and immeasurable. Mary’s story is still heard and known 2000 years on and from Hannah we receive the good news that grace, compassion and care for the other is still intrinsic in the next generation. This hope in a world such as ours today is as invaluable to us as the proclamation “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people”.

So today, we thank God for Mary and Joseph, some 2000 years ago but we are also thankful for the Hannah’s of today, who remind us of the goodness and good news in the world.

Amen.

PS Mr Claus, if you’re reading this, I think a Yuu bag wouldn’t go amiss for this one.

Hope stems from a little red flower

I am posting this today instead of on Friday because it feels like today (for a variety of reasons) we all need a little hope reminder.
What follows is my notes for a primary school assembly which will then lead into an act of remembrance. It is my belief that children have a huge part to play in remembrance, remembering and in being channels for hope, peace and change. So I offer this tonight for all who have been affected by war and for those children who I met back in 1994, that if you are alive and where ever you may now be, you now know peace.

What I wanted to talk to you about today was children, children not just like you but you as well.

You see when I was in the army serving in a war, I met lots of children, here are some of them

They were not unlike you guys, if you look at the photo they were holding cans of pop that we had managed to get hold of for them. Some of them are also holding pencils, shall I tell you why? Because these children had had to leave their homes and schools very suddenly because the war literally arrived in their towns. They had to run with their families to somewhere safer. Once they got somewhere they could be safe they wanted to be normal children again, and for them normal meant going to school, learning and playing with new friends. They were very nervous about being in a new school, because for some of them it meant being in a new town and even a new country. You see these children became people we call refugees.

Now the war I am talking about was in a place called Bosnia and it was 21 years ago. Children though have been refugees for a long time before that, every war causes people to run away to safer places, or refuges, which is where the word refugees comes from. Refugees trust and hope that when they get somewhere safer, the people who live there will care for them, love  them and be friends with them. The pencils that the children are holding in the photograph were sent to me by my old primary school from when I was your age. The children there collected them and notebooks and sent them to me, so that  I could give them to the children I met who were refugees.

Why? It seems like a silly thing doesn’t it, but it was super important; the pencils and notebooks meant that the refugee children in Bosnia could go to school and have lessons; it gave them hope at a time when they were scared and frightened. It let them know that other children cared about them and it meant that the children sending the pencils could feel that they were helping out those refugee children.

Today there are sadly still wars going on across the world. Children are still having to leave everything they know and set off on journeys to places where they can be safe. They are filled with hope that when they get there they will be met and loved.

So what has this got to do with today, remembrance day, armistice day or as we sometimes call it Poppy day.

Well these poppies that we wear are a symbol of remembrance, you all know that. We remember those people who fought in wars to defend us from great evil. But what you might not know is that these poppies are also a symbol of hope. You see in the war 100 years ago, the battlefields were being bombed so much that nothing could grow, no wheat, no grass, nothing except for these teeny tiny little red flowers that despite the bombs and the guns, grew across the battlefields. They gave the soldiers hope that things could survive and grow.

There is a famous poem that starts:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

 That poem was written after World War One. In the fields where the war was fought the only thing that would grow was the poppy. The poppy as a flower reminded people of the importance of life, it became a symbol of hope on the battlefield.

The poem was written by a Canadian doctor, John McCrae, who was in World War One and saw the poppies growing. He worked in an Army field hospital and tried to save the lives of those who were injured. But he also saw a lot of soldiers die. He wrote the poem to tell people not to forget those that had been killed. The poppy inspired people who believed that those who had fought should not be forgotten and they started to wear a poppy at the time of the anniversary of when the fighting in the war had stopped.

But remember what the poppy also signifies, it means hope, the importance of life.

This is where you guys come in, each one of you. For each one of you is a symbol of hope, you remind us of the importance of life. Each one of you has the potential to be a poppy all year round. To be a living breathing symbol of hope. Whenever you welcome a new person to your class, you give them hope. Whenever you do your amazing displays, your class and achievement assemblies, you are a reminder to all of us that you are the hope for each of us. I am pretty certain that each of the 66 boys whose names are on our school war memorial, were each a symbol of hope when they were here as pupils. We remember them today, their families and all of those for whom war has meant loss and pain. But we also look to the poppy symbol as one of hope, and to you as our unique and individual poppies.

I’ll let you into a secret, sometimes us grown-ups lose sight of hope, we forget that things can grow in even the roughest of times. So, how about we remind them!

Hold up Poppy grenade

This is a grenade, a sort of bomb that was used in war. But this grenade is very different! It is full of poppy seeds, I’m going to give it to Mr Thompson and ask him with his team to find a space in the front garden of the school and let it explode. So that in the months ahead not just we here in the school are thinking of the symbol of remembrance and hope but so we can remind all those in Heaton about it as well.

When we go outside today to hold our act of remembrance, we will also be reminding the people who live amongst us, that remembrance and hope go hand in hand, but are led by you, our very own unique poppies.

One last thing, 21 years ago I left Bosnia for the last time, I don’t have the faintest idea what happened to those children in the photo. Sometimes when I am remembering them, I get sad. What helps me, is coming here into the school and helping out with you. All of you. Your kindness and care for each other and one another is inspiring, it gives hope. So from this old soldier to this field of growing poppies, thank you, and may you always be the hope for us all.

Commissioning reflections and wisdom

I have just watched the video of our Commissioning Course, Sovereign’s Parade which took place 19 years ago. As well as the inevitable spine tingling, goose-bump rising from the military music and occasion, I was moved by the words of the inspecting officer. We commissioned in 1997, who would have known that his words would come back to us with the commencement of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think especially of those brothers and sisters of the Academy, who didn't come home and those who came home changed for ever.

Here is an excerpt of that speech:

“Even with the ending of the cold war this is a complex, dangerous and uncertain world. The British Army is what it is because of those who have gone before. The standards they have set, the performance they’ve turned in and in many cases the sacrifice in blood they have made. Never forget that because soon it will be up to you to build on that excellence.

I am quite sure and speak to each of you here, that with the world as volatile as it is, it wont be too long before your ability to command and lead will be tested somewhere in the world, in situations which wont be easy, indeed which invariably will be complicated, sensitive and dangerous, and will require intellectual skill as well as stamina and courage, both physical and moral.

Do your duty.

You’ll make mistakes, we all do.

Always be yourself, if you didn't have what it takes you wouldn't have got this far and you certainly wouldn't have been granted the Queen’s Commission, not to think for yourself or to suppress your personality.

Always be positive in everything in you do. boldness as a study of military history will show, is nearly always the right answer and is certainly the hallmark of a good leader.

Do your duty as your training, your conscience told you, with honour and decency and ensure that others do so too and always carry out the task or command that you've been given at the time with all your heart and the best of your ability without undue fussing or fretting.

Never lose your sense of humour. You’ll often need it, humour is something the British soldier is famed for.”

So, today for me 19 years on from that day, I hear these words, I smile at the memories of friendship, loyalty and honour. I leak a little from the eyes for friends who have gone before me, including Mattie Bacon another former soldier, who commissioned with me. But I do not stop there, for in my own journey which at this time is bumpy and not without it’s challenges, I re-read those words of wisdom and commit myself to continuing to try my very best to live by them. After all if the Queen believed in me enough to grant me her commission, then I must have something going for me.

and lastly,

God knows, we all need a sense of humour, and a military one at that.

Exemplo Ducemus.