NOVEMBER 10
“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
In Flanders Fields' is a poem written by the Canadian army physician and poet John McCrae. He wrote it in early May 1915 in his medical aid station near Essex farm, 2 km to the north of the centre of Ypres. This is probably the most famous of poems written about the First World War.
Personally I came to this poem late, in my early 20’s, through a composer friend, Frank J Harrington, who used it as a stimulus to write a song cycle. On the way to a meeting yesterday, I saw more men than usual dressed in smart sombre suits making their way to churches, to remember fallen and recent heroes caught up in the crisis of war.
We too are still victims of war, caught up unawares in a battle for our lives. The battle though is against an unseen foe,
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12
We sometimes may not recognise the fight, even so it goes on. Christ is battling on our behalf and all we need to do is accept him
“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14
At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month a two minute silence is observed on Armistice Day, the day which marks the end of the First World War. Alas there is no such ceremony to acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to Him who laid down his life for us.
The poppy is not a cross, it is a symbol, a visual reminder of an occasion that though tragic needs not to be forgotten.
For a moment today, let us pause and reflect, once more upon what Jesus means to us.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
