Sermon
for the 6th Sunday after Trinity
Sunday 3rd July 2005
Preached
by Rev Brian Parker
“Thanks”
Captain Charlie Upham was a Second World War hero. He was described
as a born leader, a fearsome fighting soldier and the only combatant
ever to win a bar to the VC. The other two holders of the double VC
were doctors.
He never aspired to become a hero. He was modest and had the ability
to focus on the job in hand with the greatest intensity. He rose through
the ranks.
When he was asked about the actions for which he had been decorated,
he replied: “The military honours bestowed on me are the property
of the men of my unit.”
As a schoolboy he hated bullying and would give courageous support
to any boy he found suffering at the hands of classmates.
He developed a firm belief in what he saw as the difference between
right and wrong. His word was his bond. He could be relied on implicitly.
He led from the front. When danger or risk was involved, Charlie was
always to the fore. His favourite battle tactic was to get out in
front of his platoon with a bag of grenades over his shoulder, get
close to the enemy and then hurl his grenades with deadly accuracy.
They said he was a ‘human grenade launcher.’
When he went to the formal parade in 1941 to be presented with his
VC ribbon, he turned up with bright yellow socks clearly visible beneath
his puttees.
And they remember too how in the heat of the desert he gave a wounded
prisoner his last cup of water.
Charlie survived the war, went to farm in his native New Zealand and
died in 1994 in his 86th year.
When we consider the service record of Charlie and thousands like
him, not all winners of the VC but people who served and who went
to war in a worthy cause, the Installing of the Royal British Legion
Craigavad and Helens Bay Branch Standard is highly appropriate and
right.
It is also timely in that the 60th Anniversary of VE/VJ
Day is being marked today to says ‘Thanks’ – thanks
to the fighting forces for all that they did then and since in protecting
us from tyranny, terror and oppression, not least here at home over
the past 30 years.
“Thanks” and “Thank God” for people like Charlie.
Max Hastings said: “Today, we can be grateful that we need warriors
less than once we did, in the days when the United Kingdom had to
fight terrible wars for national survival. But we should never forget
the value of our warriors, because when we need them, that need is
very great indeed.”
The Standard installed today is not so much a memorial but more a
vindication of a just cause. It is an affirmation and thanksgiving
for courage and self-sacrifice that was strong enough to recognise
and confront evil forces.
As boys growing up after the war we enjoyed the comics and films,
the model planes and the toy soldiers. War was “Angels One Five”
and “Above us the waves”. It was “The Red Beret”
and later “The Longest Day”. It was war in the imagination
– a war without cost and sacrifice, just full of adventure and
make-believe bullets.
Charlie knew it wasn’t like that and along with thousands of
his comrades and their families he had to count the cost and to keep
going.
Why? He knew right from wrong. There are times when it is right to
go to war. Christians are called to war as citizens of a secular order,
under the authority of the Sovereign, to fight a just cause and to
advance the good of society.
St Augustine said ‘the end of war is peace.’
St Paul very clearly recognised that evil forces in the world were
not just a threat to our physical well being and way of life but to
our very humanity.
We dare not play down the reality of evil. If we do and become lackadaisical
or lose our sense of preparedness to confront evil and to work for
peace then, as we say, we will be up the creek without a paddle.
Look at what is happening in Zimbabwe. Apparently when Mugabe’s
motorcade approaches you stop your car, get out and stand to attention.
If you don’t you are flagged down and the traffic cops give you
a good beating, or worse, shoot you!
Mrs Mugabe has the use of a specially converted Jumbo Jet that carries
her off around the world on multi-million pound shopping trips. Recently
she and her friends returned home with goods worth £30 million
– including a top of the range, specially designed Mercedes car!
Meanwhile horrors continue in that tragic country – once so vibrant
and successful – now in ruins.
A courageous Zimbabwean churchman has said: “The power grazed
President Mugabe is perpetrating evil and wickedness on an almost
unbelievable scale. It is a man made tsunami with talk of a need to
‘cleanse’ the country.”
Charlie Upham and his colleagues recognised just such evil in their
day. St Paul did also when he said: “Evil is right there with
me.”
And when we face this shocking truth and the threat it presents to
humanity we do well to recognise our limitations.
When forces conspired against Jesus they were out to ‘cleanse’
and get rid of someone who challenged their greed and exploitation
of the people. They crucified him.
But by the power of God, He rose again from the dead and now His Spirit
calls us to be partners with Him in working for peace and justice
and truth, overcoming evil with good.
We are not out to make pretentious claims of “God on our side”
but rather to be open to the power of God: that power that instils
and stirs us to see right from wrong.
“Learn of me” said Jesus. In doing that we accept His authority.
There is no dodging our responsibilities, including our responsibilities
towards the state.
So the discipleship of service to Queen and Country; the discipleship
that faces up to the forces of evil, that works for peace and justice,
that goes to war in a just cause – such discipleship underpins
the significance of having the Royal British Legion Craigavad and
Helens Bay Branch Standard installed here in this place of worship.
Let’s pray that future generations will recognise its significance.
May they see valour and sacrifice woven into its fabric.
May it stir them to do what is right whatever the cost.
For faith is not merely praying
Upon our knees at night;
Faith is not merely straying
Through darkness into light;
Faith is not merely waiting
For glory that may be.
Faith is the brave endeavour,
The splendid enterprise,
The strength to serve, whatever
Conditions may arise.(Anon)
Amen
