Thought for the Week

As a minister in the United Reformed Church I am fortunate to be given the gift of a sabbatical after each 10 years of service.

As part of my sabbatical, which I took from mid-July to Mid-October, I decided that, as we were approaching the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I would visit the Imperial War Museum in London and spend a day wandering around the WWI exhibition.

It was both a very disturbing experience as I sat and listened to recordings of those who had fought in that horrific war – as I heard people speak of the brutality, senselessness and futility of the battles they had fought in – and it was, of course, also a very humbling experience as I listened to and read the stories of very ordinary people who in the face of such adversity acted with humanity and, at times, great bravery time and time again.

At the end of that conflict over 16 million people lay dead – nearly seven million of them civilians.

In the face of such a death toll the words ‘Never again’ were on the lips of many as they looked forward with hope to a new age of peace within the world.

Sadly within weeks of the armistice having been declared conflicts were to break out across Europe and beyond and have continued to this day.

As we mark the centenary of the end of World War I, as we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, may we also reflect on the words of a song written in 1955 – a song of hope. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Let there be peace on earth the peace that was meant to be.” Rev John Sanderson Rutherglen United Reformed Church