Push Christmas thoughts aside; time to focus on veterans

Over the years I have noticed a lot more people have been decorating more for Halloween. Growing up on my street in the 1970s most houses put out a jack o’lantern and we had great fun roaming the neighbourhood, singing for our candy. These days with my kids it is a lot different, with zombies and jumping spiders. Some houses go with cute inflatable decorations; it has been truly wonderful to see Hatters getting into the Halloween spirit.

I know now a lot of attention is going to turn to Christmas, and there will be some truly magical houses again done up in a holiday theme. All I have to do is plug my lights in; yes I am that neighbour who never finds the time to take the lights off the house. It is such a treat to live in a city that embraces holidays and we all help each other make memories for our children together.

However as we pack away the Halloween decorations let us hold off on pulling out the Christmas ones for just a little bit. You see this coming week is Veterans Week. This ends, of course, with Remembrance Day on Sunday, Nov. 11. In our church we will be marking Remembrance Day and we will be ending early to allow folks time to gather at the cenotaph. Instead of fretting about Christmas two months away we should focus this week on praying for our veterans and thanking them for their service. I am grateful and thankful for my United Church colleagues who are called to serve in the Chaplains Service, both active duty and reserve. These special people along with their ecumenical and interfaith team offer all branches of our military spiritual direction and counsel; they accompany our forces in exercises at home, and in some of the most dangerous places in the world. Our city benefits greatly from CFB Suffield so my hope is that we all would decorate our hearts with a poppy before we decorate our houses with lights, especially since this year we are 100 years on from the end of the First World War.

The church sometimes has a fraught relationship with Remembrance Day. Some say it glorifies war. As the son of a Second World War veteran and former Legion padre I can assure you that the tears you see are not shed because some are too old to stand a post; they come from people who know what happens when we forget our humanity and our decency and that we are all Children of God. Seeing what is happening in our world perhaps we should spend more time listening to them. Lord God of Hosts be with us yet. Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

Rev. Dave Pollard is minister at Fifth Avenue Memorial United Church.