In November I start to think about Christmas but it is also the month when we have Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day in the UK is always the 11th of November; it reminds us that in 1918 this is when the guns fell silent in Europe during World War 1. I say ‘during’ because that was not the end of the matter. The treaty that was meant to settle the terms of lasting peace was not signed until June 1919 at Versailles.
What happened in 1918 was the signing of an Armistice agreement, which means ‘stopping fighting’, a formal ceasefire, pending the negotiation of a peace agreement. The signing between the fighting powers happened not long after 5 am in a railway carriage at Compiègne, France. It was not
an admission of surrender nor a recognition of victory. Some fighting with deaths and injuries continued at least until the official armistice start time of 11 am. The day became known as Armistice Day, and still is in France and Belgium. Although we do use that name in the UK, we also call it Remembrance Day, and hold ceremonies both on that day and on the nearest Sunday, which since 1946 has been called Remembrance Sunday, this year the 13th. Furthermore, the day came to include remembering the casualties of both World Wars, and then other wars since.
When we honour that 1918 armistice, we are remembering a successful step in a peacebuilding process by both sides in a war that created more problems for people than it could ever solve. Further steps were needed to secure the peace, and to bring about any chance of reconciliation.
Sadly, the Treaty of Versailles did not bring about lasting peace.
Armistices are sometimes tried in other conflicts. For example, in the Korean War, the 1953 armistice has held, despite some violations, but it has never led to a final peace treaty. More recently, the April 2022 armistice, signed by warring parties in Yemen, was not renewed in early October and fighting restarted.
When I remember someone I knew or know, I can see and perhaps hear them in my mind. It might be a friend I have not seen for a while, or a deceased relative, or even someone with whom I had an argument. Memories can be happy or painful. They can also be communal. Many of us must still remember watching on tv the destruction when planes were deliberately crashed into the twin towers in New York in 2001, or seeing the funeral of the late Queen, even if we were not there. Such communal memories are brought alive and can be handed on to future generations.
When we think of armed forces and civilians who died in war by holding a 2-minute silence, erecting monuments, performing ceremonies, laying wreaths, wearing poppies (red, black, white, purple see footnote), we are remembering in a concrete way. As long as people do this, humanity will not
forget, even after all those who lived through the wars have died.
A hymn written in 2018 contains the line ‘We shall not forget the steps that lead to war’ (see footnote). It reminded me that we should learn from those steps and plan to avoid them, just as we also remember all the suffering that wars have brought. The hymn continues:
‘We shall not forget the woundedness of all of us;
We shall not forget what only love can restore’.
In Biblical times, people sometimes worried that they would not be remembered in future. For example, Joshua worried that enemies ‘will wipe out our name from the earth’ (chapter 7, verse 9). More often, people wanted God to remember them in practical ways, such as Hannah who asked to
be remembered and given a son (1Samuel 1, verse 11). When Jesus Christ asked his disciples to share the broken bread and the wine in remembrance of him (1Corinthians 11 verses 24-26), it meant they would be recalling him in a very concrete way, bringing the past memory back into the present, visualising him again, crucified and risen victoriously from the dead. That memory has been handed down in churches to the present day.
Painful memories are the worst. When something has happened between ourselves and somebody else, a big argument or even violence, then we rarely forget but we can hope for healing. It is the same in war. We remember the injury and loss of life and perhaps trauma too. We hope and work
for justice and peace.
By the end of this month, many of us will be thinking about Christmas, when we remember the birth of Jesus in a Bethlehem stable and his promise to return again. Christians will be bringing the memory alive starting on Advent Sunday on November 27th. Jesus is our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9, verse 6).
David Pybus
Footnotes
(1) different coloured poppies: see https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/voices/remembrance-day-what-do-different-coloured-poppies-mean.html
(2) We Shall Not Forget, a hymn by Andrew T Murphy and Matt Allen: https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/posts/we-shall-not-forget-website-only/.
By David Pybus
David Pybus is a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and belongs to a community church in Peterborough. His article was written for the November edition of Orton Oracle, whose website is at: www.abigjay.com/
Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.
To continue our peacemaking work, APF relies on regular donations from members and supporters.