Remembrance Sunday (November 8, 2026)

Psalm 70

1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; * O Lord, make haste to help me.

2 Let those who seek my life be ashamed and altogether dismayed;

* let those who take pleasure in my misfortune draw back and be disgraced.

3 Let those who say to me “Aha!” and gloat over me turn back,

* because they are ashamed.

4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; * let those who love your salvation say for ever, “Great is the Lord!”

5 But as for me, I am poor and needy; * come to me speedily, O God.

6 You are my helper and my deliverer; * O Lord, do not tarry.

All: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

Before we left England, our Chaplain preached several sermons on the effect of danger and suffering on men out here. He said that being constantly in danger of losing one’s life made men think of the serious side of life and fly to religion as the only source of comfort. My own experience is quite the contrary. In the bombing raid I was on recently the language was so bad that even the men themselves commented upon it. Men go to their deaths with curses on their lips and religion is never mentioned or thought of. In fact, being killed is spoken of as being ‘Jerked to Jesus’. Why is it? I can only put it down to the fact that life out here is one of continual hardship and suffering, that in war there is no place for a God of Love, no time for the softer emotions, and no inclination to worry about a future when the present is a hell that the devil himself would be proud to reign over.

These are the words of Private J. Bowles, who fought during the First World War. Bowles speaks about how the chaplain would say that people turn to religion when faced with danger or suffering. However, Bowles’ own experience was quite different...he saw that soldiers found it difficult to have faith amidst the atrocities of war. The battlefield was not a place for religion, because there was too much violence, too much suffering, and too much death. As Bowles says, in war there is no place for a God of Love, no time for the softer emotions, and no inclination to worry about a future when the present is a hell that the devil himself would be proud to reign over.

In contrast to what Bowles describes, are the words of Psalm 70. In this psalm, someone who is suffering cries out to God: "Come, O God, to deliver me; come quickly, Lord, to help me!"

The Psalmist is suffering, there are people around him who want to take his life, who want to bring about his ruin. And, unlike the soldiers Bowles describes, the Psalmist calls out to God in his pain: "Let them who seek my life be put to shame and confusion."

Then the psalmist shifts the tone and says, "Let all who seek God rejoice and be glad in you." And then, almost immediately, he returns to his own situation: "But I am poor and needy; come to me speedily, O God. You are my help and my deliverer."

The psalmist recognizes that God is good, that there is reason to rejoice and praise God. But he is still poor and needy, still waiting for help, still suffering. We don't know what happened next. We don't know whether his circumstances changed or whether the help he was asking for ever came. All we have is his cry to God.

What Bowles’ words and the Psalmist shows us are two very different responses to suffering. Bowles describes people who are surrounded by violence, hardship and death, and who find no comfort in religion. The psalmist is someone who, as he suffers, cries out to God for help.

And I think both are important for us to hear, because both resonate with our own experiences. There are times when we cry out to God, when our faith is a source of comfort and strength. And there are other times when the suffering around us, or the suffering we experience ourselves, makes it difficult to believe that a God of love could possibly exist. Sometimes we have words to pray. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we can hold onto our faith, and sometimes we struggle to see how faith and the reality of the world can possibly fit together.

And what I think these two different ways of approaching suffering are calling us to remember is that whether we turn to God or not, believe in God or not, curse God or not...it never impacts how God responds to us.

Every soldier on that battlefield, no matter how alone they felt, was still held by God. Every time we cannot bring ourselves to speak to God because life feels too hard, we are still held by God.

As Christians, we believe in a God who comes towards us. God does not wait for the world to become a better place, for people to find their faith, or for suffering to come to an end. God does not wait for all of us to turn to God before God acts. Instead, God comes into the world as it is: a broken world, a world filled with violence and war, a world in desperate need of love. God comes to us, as we will see in a few weeks, in the form of a baby, not because the world has become ready to receive him, but because the world needs him.

Bowles describes a world where there seemed to be no place for a God of Love. The psalmist cries out to that God in the midst of his suffering. The truth of our faith is that God's love is not dependent on which of these responses we have. God doesn't require that we turn towards him in order to be present with us. God comes towards us, holds us, and loves us, even when we cannot see or feel it. The hope of our faith is that in our deepest, darkest moments, no matter what, God is always there.

Amen.