This is my first time leading a Remembrance Sunday service, 

although I’ve participated in many in Montreal. 

Growing up in the Anglican Cathedral, 

we were the regimental church of the Grenadier Guards 

(You know the ones with the crimson outfit 

and the tall bearskin hats), 

and we celebrated every Remembrance Sunday 

with the presentation of the colours, 

bagpipes and much pomp and traditional ceremony.

While Anglicans have a different history as being associated 

with the British crown, and more likely to celebrate Remembrance Day,

I’m assuming Lutherans have a little more complicated history, 

as being mostly non-British, 

or German considered enemy alien stock.

The pastor of the German Bethel Lutheran Church (here in Kitchener) 

has traditionally said the prayers at the Volkstrauertag ceremony 

at Woodland cemetery. 

The German Remembrance Day 

celebrated the week after November 11th, 

commemorates the dead of the two World Wars 

as well as the victims of tyranny.

In 2025 we remember 80 years since the end of WWII. 

My mother’s side of the family had first-hand experience of that war. 

My grandfather served in the German army, 

as a short man with flat feet he was assigned kitchen duty. 

There is one picture of him in uniform in Greece. 

He never shared his experiences of war.

My mother, as a a young child, 

lived through the Allied bombings in the late stages of the war. 

Since her family lived in a smaller town, 

the risk was not as great as in the bigger cities of Reutlingen and Stuttgart (which experienced near-total destruction), however she experienced air raid sirens, 

cowering in fear in the cellar, 

and some bombs that were dropped nearby.

More recently, my brother-in-law is a logistics officer 

with the Canadian Infantry, and has served in Poland and Lebanon.

These are my personal remembrances.

-

In our Gospel text today, 

we hear from Jesus’s last words of comfort and encouragement 

to his disciples before his arrest.

“This is my commandment 

that you love one another as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than this, 

to lay down one’s life 

for one’s friends.”

Jesus demonstrated his love for not only his friends, 

but also for the whole world, 

in how he lived and ultimately died. 

His sacrifice saved us all from eternal death, 

and his resurrection showed that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Jesus is the model for our living and our dying, 

and he explains to us that “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” demonstrates the greatest love. 

It is the ultimate sacrifice, to save someone else’s life 

by giving up one’s own. 

Not all of us are called to a heroic death like Jesus, 

or even like the many soldiers who have died in battle.

But we are all called on this Remembrance Sunday to do our own part,

At the very least to remember those who did, 

“lest we forget”.

—

Remembering those who paid the ultimate price 

should make us feel grateful,

That their bravery should not go unnoticed.

I can’t ever imagine taking up arms in a war, 

but 267 members of St. Matthews did so 80 years ago.

And we all can carry on their cause today, 

by doing our part to promote peace in our own spheres of influence.

We also have a responsibility to carry on the fight against authoritarianism, extremism and bigotry,

So that the heavenly vision of swords beaten into ploughshares 

may become reality.

May we always remember, and never forget.

*Hymn of the Day 713 “O God of Every Nation”