Earlier this Autumn in the Parish of Wickford and Runwell, we studied a course called the Difference Course. Difference is a course about the power of faith in a complex and divided world, enabling us to see transformation through everyday encounters.
In the first session of the course, we were discussing Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount – ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’ I was in a group with people who could recall the Second World War and the work of rebuilding the country that everyone, including their parents, was involved in once the War was over. Their memories helped me realise that winning the First and Second World Wars in order to bring peace as those that we remember today were doing is only the first stage in bringing peace.
The second stage, which involves all of us, is the task of maintaining peace and of actively living in peace. The peacemakers are not just those who bring peace by ending war but also those who live peacefully in the peace that others have won for them. If we do not do so then we risk, as is the risk currently with a war in Ukraine on European soil and the escalation of war in the Middle East, of slipping back into war, rather than maintaining peace.
Those we remember today who served to bring about peace or have served in maintaining peace, received training before they went to serve. They were training for war, but it is also possible to train for peace. That is what we were seeking to do earlier this Autumn when we studied the Difference Course.
The Course taught us three habits. First, to be curious by listening to others’ and seeing the world through their eyes. Second, to be present and to encounter others with authenticity and confidence. Third, to re-imagine finding hope and opportunity in places where we long to see change. These are helpful habits to learn and practice so that they genuinely become habitual for us in the ways we relate to other people. Because they are peaceful habits, they are also similar to the values that children continue to learn and practice in the uniformed organisations that are represented here today in such numbers.
Learning and practising habits such as those taught in the Difference Course will help us to be active peacemakers in our homes, our community, our nation, and our world. That is the best way in which we can honour those who laid down their lives in war to win peace for us and, as Jesus taught, we will experience God’s blessing and become his children when we live and act as peacemakers. Amen.
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