November 2014
At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will
remember them. We will remember them
because they gave their own lives for the sake of others. We will teach our children to remember them
because generations are inextricably linked; even though our children were not
alive in either World War they can truly say these people died for me.
When we say ‘we will remember them’ we intend that they will
be remembered long after we have gone; we place an obligation on our
grandchildren and great grandchildren, even on those yet to be born, not to
forget.
We remember too God’s kindness to us as a nation. We make no claim for our own innocence when
we say that God brought down some
nations and raised up others. We take
nothing away from the bravery and sacrifice of our fathers and mothers when we
say that it was the Father of the Lord Jesus who gave us victory and peace and
prosperity.
The people of Israel were commanded to keep alive, down
through the generations, the memory of all that God had done for them. “I will utter hidden things, things from of old – what we have heard and
known, what our fathers have told us. We
will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the
praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done” (Psalm 78:2-4). They placed an obligation on their children to teach those yet to be
born about the Lord. They feared the
rise of “a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to
God, whose spirits were not faithful to him” (Psalm 78:8).
It is a
tragedy when a nation forgets its heroes and a greater tragedy when a nation
forgets its God.
Sincerely
Graham
Burrows
