Readings: Romans 6.19-23; Mark 8.1-9
Today is the one hundredth anniversary of Germany’s invasion of Belgium in order to attack and dispose swiftly of France before then looking east to deal with Russia who was supporting Serbia against Germany’s ally Austria. A whirlpool of countries drawn into a maelstrom of violence. The British government demanded German troops leave Belgium. At 11.00 pm on the fourth of August, midnight in Germany, – the Foreign Secretary’s ultimatum to Berlin still disregarded, Britain declared war on Germany – honouring her 1839 commitment to defend the neutrality of Belgium. Our government has made 2014 a year to commemorate this defence of freedom. Tonight here in our church, we have a deanery service commemorating the enormous sacrifice this commitment entailed.
I have to admit I wondered at first, why on earth we and our country should be marking this anniversary! For surely what evolved on that battlefield and the aftermath of both the war and the peacemaking, were the greatest disaster to befall humanity? Our memory down the years is one of appalling – and possibly needless – sacrifice. Was it really a war we should have joined? As Christian nations should we have been fighting each other? Could it not be said, this war was a profound witness to Paul’s declaration ‘the wages of sin is death’? Questions which are perhaps, precisely why we do need to remember, reflect deeply and learn from all that happened, all that went so wrong! On television there have been two programmes exploring the ethics of this horrific war: two of our best known historians presenting the different sides. Max Hastings calls it ‘the necessary war’. Much as is happening today, there was gross violation of accepted international law. Indeed, Hastings suggests that German ideology in the First World War was not that far removed from that of the Second. In the first few months of conflict thousands of civilians were deported in cattle trucks from Belgium and France to work in prisoner munitions factories in Germany. Anti-semitism was widespread across Europe, including Britain. The Kaiser was already dreaming of getting rid of the Jews using gas. Other European nations had great empires, a united Germany was a hungry and fast emerging new power in Europe. The best education in the world supported her burgeoning industries, economically Germany would soon be the leading nation in Europe. She was also vastly expanding her armies, in particular, her navy. Germany wanted an empire too, and her gathering naval strength was of grave concern to the British government. War with an expansionist Germany seemed at some point inevitable.
Niall Ferguson in ‘The Pity of War’ is of the view that it was unnecessary for Britain to join the defence of Belgium – this being an excuse for the power-hungry elite to flex their muscles and add to their power and wealth at the expense of the ordinary man in the street. Germany was not the expansionist monster of propaganda, and could have come to perfectly acceptable arrangements with Britain.
Indeed a European Common Market with Germany its most powerful member – as we have today! could have begun in 1914! Instead, the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, in cavalier fashion, allowed a regional conflict to escalate into an intercontinental war. It has to be said, not many of the historians in his audience agreed with him.
Of course we must remember that we reflect with hindsight. It’s impossible to truly know the intentions of others in the past, or what the outcome of non-intervention would have been. However, some things have struck me as common to much conflict which we would be well advised to address. Kaiser Wilhem II was an insecure man, his withered right arm the result of birth trauma, and the vigorous, insistent, and painful regimes inflicted upon him to rectify this ‘major defect’ in a future emperor, significantly raised his sensitivity to apparent lack of due respect and honour. As ever in such situations, he and his chosen military leaders, dug their heels in, would show Europe just how great Germany was! The Kaiser was driven by a sense of not being taken seriously by those he considered his peers. Perhaps reminiscent of Putin today? And perhaps too, a component in the rise of militant Islam?
Considering the events that led up to the First World War I couldn’t help feeling how vital on-going, long-term, diplomacy and sacrificial relationship building were and are.
We do need to be firm in challenging oppression, but maybe we should also approach the oppressor seeking a way forward which allows a withdrawal with honour. Find ways of making justice the more attractive option. In a world which followed the wisdom of Jesus: do not take revenge, rather love your enemy, do good for those who persecute you. In a world where we have built just trading agreements, created opportunity for the development of far greater equality across the nations, the impetus for war might wither away.
The Church came to birth in a violent age, as violent, if not more violent than our own age. Yet the Church for three hundred years, until it was made the state religion by the Roman emperor Constantine, was totally pacifist, and many Christians died horrific deaths refusing to compromise their faith. Despite this, their life together remained profoundly attractive to ever increasing numbers from all strata of society. It was the greatest joy of the Christians rather than grasping for themselves, to share and to give with an incredible generosity of heart.
I’m not a total pacifist, there are times when we may need to defend ourselves, the weak and oppressed with force. But the new slogan based on the popular song, going around the Internet, is surely right: ‘Anything war can do, peace can do better’! As we remember the outbreak of the First World War, could we choose to be proactive in the sharing of our well- being, proactive in building bridges of respect and dignity across the divides of race and creed such that dictators and extremists find no foothold. Amen.