From Remembrance to Peace: a Pastor's Perspective

November 11, 2025

Micah 4:3 

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.


Remembrance is not only about looking back, it is about shaping the future. When we pause to remember those who have served, suffered, and sacrificed in times of war, we are invited to imagine a different tomorrow: one where swords become plowshares, and tools of destruction are transformed into instruments of life.

Veterans hold stories that reveal both the courage and the cost of conflict. Their lived experience reminds us that war is never glorious, it is a costly reminder of our shared humanity and the need for peace. Certainly, we witness this in our world presently, Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Somalia, Nigeria just to name a few conflicts. Veterans in my family and the many I have met over the years, have been shaped by what they have seen, and have become advocates for reconciliation and healing. They teach that true strength lies not in power or revenge, but in compassion, forgiveness, and understanding. Today, to honor them properly and meaningfully, is to listen to their wisdom and join them in the work of building a more peaceful world. 

Daniel Graves in an article from November 2012 wrote, "a dear friend gave me a button. The words on the button are: “to remember is to work for peace.” I choose to wear that button alongside my poppy to help me understand and interpret what it is that we are called to remember each year, and what it is we are called to do as the result of that remembrance."

Remembrance Day is more than a solemn pause in the year, it is a sacred call to peacemaking. To remember is not only to honor the sacrifices of those who served, but also to learn from the past so that we do not repeat its sorrows. True remembrance invites reflection on the cost of conflict and the fragile gift of peace. Remembrance,  becomes a moral safeguard, a light that exposes the dark patterns of fear, hatred, and division that too easily return if not guarded against.

For Christians, remembrance goes even deeper. It moves beyond passive nostalgia or quiet sentiment. It becomes an act of faithful participation in God’s ongoing story of reconciliation. When we remember in Christ, we are drawn into God’s vision of peace, a peace that heals, restores, and rebuilds. To remember, then, is to commit ourselves anew to the work of peacemaking in our homes, our communities, and our world. It is to let the memory of suffering shape us into people who choose love over violence, hope over despair, and peace over indifference.

Jesus blesses the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), declaring them “children of God.” Peacemaking, then, is not merely an ethical or moral choice but a reflection of God’s very nature. When we work for peace, we mirror the heart of the Father who desires wholeness and reconciliation for all creation.

At the center of our faith stands the Cross, the ultimate act of divine peacemaking. In Jesus, God lovingly takes what was broken and estranged and brings it back into fellowship. The cross turns animosity into friendship, hostility into grace, and separation into communion. It shows that peace is not achieved through force or domination, but through self-giving love.

True peace then, is far deeper than the absence of conflict; it is the presence of justice, compassion, and restored relationship. Where honor is defended, fairness upheld, and love practiced, peace begins to take root. Peacemaking, then, is not passive, it is active, courageous, and redemptive. It calls us to confront what divides and to embody the reconciling love of Christ in our communities and our world.

There is a burning question for us today. What does it mean to be a peacemaker in a world still at war?

To be a peacemaker in a world still at war is to live as a sign of God’s alternative kingdom, one where mercy triumphs over vengeance, and love overcomes hate. It means refusing to let violence or fear have the final word, even when those forces dominate the media headlines.

Being a peacemaker does not mean ignoring conflict or pretending all is well. It means stepping into broken places with courage and compassion, seeking to mend what is torn. Peacemakers listen before they speak, build bridges where walls stand, and pursue justice where people are silenced or forgotten. They believe that peace is not simply the absence of war but the presence of right relationships, with God, with others, and with creation itself.

In a world still at war, whether between nations, within communities, or inside the human heart, peacemakers embody the costly grace of Christ. They carry the "cross-shaped conviction" that reconciliation is possible, that enemies can become friends, and that hope can rise even from the ruins. To be a peacemaker is to trust that God’s vision of peace is not a dream deferred, but a reality already being born through every act of forgiveness, courage, and love.

This is the way that we can embody Micah's vision, and I would say honor our veterans too, as we little by little "beat (our) swords into plowshares and (our) spears into pruning hooks, and build a world that ceases to "train for war."

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

When you go home, tell them of us,

and say For your tomorrow we gave our today.

(Words taken from the Kohima Epitaph)

Let's Pray

God of peace, we reflect today on those who have endured the burden of war. We honor their sacrifices and heed their wisdom. Help us transform our remembrance into action, our gratitude into dedication, and our hope into peacemaking. Guide us to be agents of reconciliation, until swords are reshaped into plowshares and Your kingdom of peace is fully realized. Amen.