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St Andrew's Church, Taunton

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Sunday 11 November 2007

Re-membering

A sermon preached by Tricia Anderson, Reader at St. Andrew's

I love words - words like Popocatapetl. (It's a volcano in Mexico, if you were wondering.) Words that roll around my mouth and tongue. But I also love thinking about words and their meaning.

Words like re-membering. A 'member' is a distinct part of the whole, especially our limbs and our organs apart from the rest of our bodies. So

re-membering would be to put our bodies back together if, for some reason they had been separated.

Like Ezekiel's valley of dry bones:

            The toe bone connected to the foot bone.

            The foot bone connected to the heel bone.

            The heel bone connected to the ankle bone.

That was what was happening there - RE-MEMBERING.

And there are many ways of remembering - war memorials, war graves, poppies.

But, 10 years ago, the National Memorial Arboretum was established within the National Forest of Staffordshire, not far from Lichfield. 150 acres of trees, gardens and stone memorials have been established on former gravel and sand pits given by Lafarge Aggregates. It has rapidly become a focal point for commemoration and celebration, and it's a haven of peace on the bank of the river Trent. On the opposite bank, there is a nature reserve, so it seems to me to be almost like the Garden of Eden re-membered.

Now the new Armed Forces Memorial is there, right in the centre. Opened a month ago by the Queen, this pays tribute to those who have lost their lives whilst on duty or as a result of terrorism since WW2, and acknowledges the enduring sacrifice of those who mourn their loss.

It took 6 years to plan, but work didn't start until after our first visit in May 2006. When we returned, this May, we were horrified to see this mountain of earth in the centre of what we had found to be a beautiful, peaceful space - that was until we discovered exactly what was happening.

The memorial is a bit like a gigantic wedding cake, and on the top is the Roll of Honour - 2 curved walls of Portland stone. The 16,000 names carved on the stones represent equality.  There is no differentiation by rank, religion or sex - just the surname and initials are carved on the stone, though they are grouped by location as to where they were serving at the time of their deaths, so that it is easier to find the name you are looking for.

Within this circular area are 14 larger than life figures, ordinary everyday people - such as men lifting a stretcher on which lies the body of another, a mother with her child clinging to her and a man consoling a woman who has fallen in the mud. Looking on the internet for more information about the 14 figures, I found an interview with the sculptor, and it's interesting that he says:

"I want to put the guys back whole. They died in the peak of physical perfection. I want to put them back together remembering the whole."

There is also an obelisk which provides a focal point of the memorial. If the calculations are correct, the stones correctly aligned, and the sun shines on Alrewas at 11 o'clock this morning, a beam of light will shine through the monument and alight on the obelisk. Maybe a bit like Job when he cried, "I know that my Redeemer Liveth"? His darkness was pierced by a shaft of bright light.

The obelisk forces people to look up to where heaven and earth meet.

Where heaven and earth meet may be where Job recognised that God lives, and that one day he would see him with his own eyes.

And Job's words may not be written in a book, or "chiselled in stone" (The Message), but the names of those remembered by this memorial are chiselled in stone for their loved ones to see now in this lifetime.

As we remember all those who have died, we remember that each is special to God, and their names are chiselled on his heart.

In the new heaven and earth, God will dwell among us, and "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be an end to death, and to mourning and crying and pain, for the old order has passed away!" (Rev. 21.4)

But also carved on the memorial is "In Living Memory" and, as Jesus said, ''God is not God of the dead, but of the living; in his sight all are alive''.

Tricia Anderson is a Reader at St. Andrew's Church.  This sermon was preached at 8am on Sunday 11 November 2007.

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