‘To our wounds, only God’s wounds can speak’

This line from a poem ‘Jesus of the Scars’ written by Edward Shillito (1919), a British Chaplain deeply affected by the horrors and carnage experienced by his men in WW1. He remembers that ours is a wounded God who dies for humanity and bears the scars of love. Of all the gods in the world Jesus alone has wounds.  

On this Remembrance Sunday we do not to forget the countless lives that were cut short by two world wars and in recent conflicts. We remember those who died, the wounded and families who lost loved ones. We remember the tragic loss of human life, the hopes and dreams dashed and smashed in the anguish of war. We stand in awe at the courage, duty and the ultimate sacrifice of those, who left, giving and losing their lives, never to return.

You will have your own memories and stories of the people you loved, lost and were affected by war.

We also remember mothers, war widows and the women who have recently found their voices to tell their stories of love, loss, grief and hope. Women who found it hard to come to terms with the death of their partners, in the absence of a body, and those who brought the names of their loved ones to the attention of the authorities when they found they had not been recognised, named or acknowledged anywhere. Their stories do not fit well with hero narratives and how people have been treated and forgotten after loss. At the Queens House in Greenwich there is a quilt of stitched remembrance made by the war widows and those who have cared for husbands for decades, from the injuries sustained through war. Often, they faced poverty as their war widow pensions were small, taxed and removed if they married again. Yet these women remain the widows of the men they loved and lost despite some marrying again and their sacrifice is often invisible in remembrance.

We remember too people who still carry wounds and scars physically and emotionally and the many refugees displaced by conflict.

Ours is a wounded God who dies for humanity and bears the scars of love. Our great High Priest that our first reading from Hebrews speaks of, shed his own blood to enter into heaven, not the blood of animals that can never take sin away. The High Priests who stand daily to offer sacrifices are contrasted with Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father.  He has no need to stand, his work is completed. He has offered the perfect sacrifice, his own body and blood, once and for all and ushers in a new covenant of grace. He sits enthroned, waiting for his harvest so the full effects of his victory will be gathered from all the corners of the earth, when He comes again with his angels in glory.

What comfort Jesus of the Scars gives us in our broken unsettled and hurting world.  He is the balm that is ever present he suffers with us leading us to a new kingdom of peace that he promises, despite the tribulations at the end of the age. We know that his wounds give us hope that evil, suffering and pain are not final.  They are overcome in triumph at the end of the age when He will come again and every eye will see him.  Even in our darkest hour, He does not abandon us. We need to be awake in him staying close and live every day as if he is coming back. God’s power is the power of love in the Risen Christ and all it embraces. Peace and non- violence as a distinctive part of God’s Kingdom.  We are invited and encouraged to be awake, be present, to Christ every day. The time of his return is a mystery only the Father knows.  If we can do this, it won’t matter when or if Christ comes again in our lifetime because we will be united with the Christ within us already.

After many tribulations. He will guide and lead us to His father’s house where He is seated at God’s right hand, our great High priest who gave his life so we might have peace eternally.