Revd Graham’s weekly message:
As we approach Armistice Day and our Act of Remembrance on Sunday, we have much for which we have to give thanks. We can look back on past conflicts and realise the sacrifice that many gave in order that we might have a ‘free society’. However, we also need to be aware of the current conflicts that blight our world. I’m sure you don’t need me to remind you where they are, but we do know that they create many other tensions; the last thing we need is for these current situations to escalate.
I know from my own experience that it is sometimes difficult to understand the reasons behind the conflicts, but there are those who know because it directly affects them, either through families being caught up in it or they perhaps they have friends who are involved. I wish I understood, but usually there is a historical reason why they occur or that some find it difficult to live side by side with people of differing beliefs.
It is sometimes a struggle to understand other people’s beliefs, and to accept that they might be different to our own, but if we are to have a world at peace then that is what we need to achieve. In these difficult times I find myself returning to two particular verses from scripture; first, where we read in the gospel of Matthew that, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” and secondly, in the gospel of John where Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives”. The first points us to a peace that should exist between us here on earth, and the second to an inner peace that can only exist through a faith in God through a belief in our Lord Jesus Christ. My hope is that we can work towards the first and obtain the second through our beliefs.
With God’s peace and blessing
Revd Graham
