By Canon Deborah Parsons
November seems an unusual month to mark the enthronement of the 72nd Bishop of Exeter but perhaps it’s also an appropriate one. It’s traditionally the month in which we remember.
The feasts of All Saints and All Souls encourage us to give thanks for the saints throughout the ages, who’ve modelled what it is to love in a selfless, sacrificial way and to remember our ancestors.
On Bonfire Night, we remember Guy Fawkes’ foiled attempt to blow up Parliament in the childhood nursery rhyme:
“Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”
The rhyme is a stark warning of the dangers which can follow when those in power seek to eliminate their opponents and when those who are disempowered become so obsessed with their cause that they lose touch with reality.
On Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day, we will remember servicemen, women and civilians who’ve lost their lives in war, recently or in previous conflicts and the toll that war continues to take on all of creation.
As the tectonic plates continue to shift and chafe in our social, economic, religious and political landscapes, in this country and internationally, we hope that by remembering, we can learn from the lessons of the past, value the present more dearly and look to the future with the hope that we are creating a world which is more loving, more peaceful, more truthful and more just.
The Prophet Micah gives a vision of peace in which weapons of war are transformed into tools that will till the ground, creating new life rather than destroying it. The Prophet Isaiah shares a vision of a peaceable world in which the lion might sit down with the lamb, and at the very heart of the Christian faith is the call to remember the transformative power of love.
Perhaps too there is another meaning to remembering. To “re-member,” to put back together. We pray for that time when we will re-member.
May +Mike be a figure of unity and love as he fashions his life on Christ’s self-giving love and encourages us to do the same.