My reflection today draws heavily upon the work of Fergal Keane, war correspondent, journalist and humanitarian. Like many of you I have never been in a warzone, my impressions of war rely on the work and courage of journalists like Fergal Keane. When the words and images get too much I can turn away, they and those caught up in war cannot.

On Remembrance Sunday we name all those from this community who could not turn away, who signed up or were conscripted, and endured and suffered the horrors of war.

Hard though it is, I believe that in the face of war, we should not look away; the least we can do from the peace and quiet of life in Chaldon, is bear witness to those who do not share our armchair privilege.

Journalists like Fergal Keane put their lives, their mental health and family life at risk so that we can hear the truth about war.

As of today, 146 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza, in Lebanon 8 and in Israel 4. In Ukraine so far 17 journalists have died.

They each put their lives on the line so that the world can see; the least we can do is listen and learn.

Even if you survive as a war correspondent you do not survive unscathed, what you have witnessed takes its toll, Fergal Keane’s autobiography: ‘The Madness: A memoir of war, fear and PTSD’ describes the aftermath of his career as a journalist and unpacks the processes of warmongering by the nations of the world.

Brought up in an Irish Roman Catholic family, Fergal Keane’s started his reporting career in Northern Ireland, but he rejects what he calls, ‘the lazy assumption that the roots of so many conflicts lie in religion’ and instead he poses a question:

“Is the issue with faith itself, or those who manipulate it?”

Too easily we blame religions for war but the founders of the world religions, Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha), the Prophet Mohammed, Abraham, Jesus and those such as Hinduism without singular founding figures, were all bringers of peace.

It is when religion becomes allied with secular power that things start to fall apart.

The gospel message is clear, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

The Hebrew bible message from the Prophet Micah is also clear – the kingdom of God (not of kings, emperors, multinationals, billionaires or presidents) will come when we follow God’s laws.

As well as swords into ploughshares Micah is the origin of this:

‘what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’ He also rebuked Israel because of dishonesty in the marketplace and corruption in government.

Prophets we should note (including Jesus) are usually at odds with their kings! And kings or their equivalents are very good at fuelling wickedness…………….

Fergal Keane comes to this conclusion:

“It’s human beings, not faith, that keeps alive hatred and keeps resentments going.”

It takes human beings to inflict injustice, pain, and cruelty on others. And it is too much of a cop-out to say, ‘I blame it all on religion.’

That allows us, people with freedom of choice, off the hook.

There are many places where faith has been manipulated, used as a banner, a suit of armour, as something to drive people on to hate their neighbours.”

 What has this got to do with our Remembrance today of lives lost in two world wars?

Well, I believe that a day like today calls those of us who were not there in the 1930’s to consider – what would we have done?

Would we have been prophetic, would we, could we have stood against the prevailing powers?

History does not show the church in a good light.

The majority of churches in Germany supported the Nazi regime, only the confessing church, whose most famous pastor was Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted the regime.

The church in Germany which was made up of people like you and me, did not resist fascism, and as a result, other Christians from Chaldon were sent to horrible deaths in the trenches and those who refused to fight were imprisoned.

Today as images of war challenge us on a daily basis, and journalists challenge us not to look away, we must consider, what would we have done?

And, more importantly perhaps, what are we doing now in the face of war?

 No longer a regular church goer, Fergal Keane draws on a number of spiritual practises including some from the Christian tradition to help him navigate life as a recovering alcoholic with PTSD and he gives us this message:

“When I talk to my children about Christianity, I stress the message ‘Love one another.’ That’s what all the years in war zones have taught me: it’s the central message by which we must live. I’ve earned the right to say that: I’ve seen enough cruelty and barbarism to see that that is the essential truth.”

 Those who returned from the cruelty and barbarism of two world wars endured the long aftermath of a war which stayed with them all their lives. Many of them turned away from the church because in the horrors of war they had lost faith in anything that suggested there was a supernatural interventionist God, because God had not intervened.

If your faith lies in a God who fixes everything, then you are going to come a cropper, because it is through humanity, through us, that God now works. Jesus showed us the way, a way that lives out that truth ‘love one another’. If we allow our faith to become a religion that is commandeered and manipulated by those in power in ways that are in direct opposition to the command to ‘love one another’ and we have seen this happen in the USA, then we have state religion not faith.

Faith manipulated by power is no longer faith, it is propaganda.

So as we  remember those who died in a war that saw Christians hating their  neighbours in the  Jewish, Romany, disabled, and queer communities we  must  be alert to the ways in which  our faith can be manipulated  to promote nationalism and  remember that  we are called to be the hands  and feet  on earth of the Prince  of Peace and to  walk always  in the name  of the  lord  our God for  ever and ever.

At this time of worldwide conflict, it’s ever more important to do the painstaking work of building peace so that “Never again” is not just a throw away phrase but something we live out in all that we do. In our conversations, our actions, our family lives, our work lives, that we are prophetic and do not succumb to propaganda.