大象传媒

Good morning.
One of the stained glass windows in York Minster is dedicated to the officers and men, and their wives and children of the 51st Regiment who died of cholera in1861.聽 It says, 鈥淭hey also died for their country.聽 Forget them not鈥�.
Today we will remember those who died in the fighting that ended in 1918, and in wars and conflicts ever since.聽 We will think of the men and women in uniform, in the trenches of Flanders, the hedgerows of Normandy, the roads and villages of Afghanistan.聽 And that is right and proper.聽 It is vital that we remember the true cost of war, and that we should聽 continue to pray, no matter how na茂ve or optimistic it seems, that humanity will yet learn to live in peace, and so truly honour those who died.
But it would be no bad thing if, for a moment or two across this Remembrance weekend, we let our focus slip.聽 To think about those who didn鈥檛 die, but whose lives have been changed by injuries to body or mind.聽 The families of those who never came home, and the families who lived 鈥� and live today 鈥� with people who have changed.聽 And the people 鈥� the women, children and men 鈥� killed or maimed in what we call today 鈥渃ollateral damage鈥�.聽 Recent events around the world remind us that anyone may find themselves in the front line, just as the civilians of London or Dresden did when the bombers flew over.
Lord God, as we remember those who have died in the service of their country,
may we also keep in mind those not in the front line who were killed or injured,
by accident or design, when people forgot that you created us as brothers and sisters, to live in peace with one another.
Amen