ANZAC Day Address 2015

ANZAC DAY ADDRESS 2015

“He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” (Psalm 9:12) The Holy Scripture says God does not forget. Neither should we. “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” One hundred years on, and their memory still lives. One hundred years on, and their sacrifice is still honoured. Gallipoli is the rallying point that galvanised the collective consciousness of two nations. It rightly has prominent place in our memories. But there were other campaigns that suffered terrible loss. The fields of Flanders in France received the blood of more than 5500 ANZACS, killed or wounded, in a single day. Honoured too are those whose lives were forfeit in forgotten corners of the globe. All can bathe in the glow of Gallipoli’s fame, but their specific acts of heroism are not thereby diminished. More than 100,000 service personnel in total have made the supreme sacrifice, including our Aboriginal brothers who often suffered greatly.

No one is left untouched by war. Survivors bear scars and by them they are transformed. The wounds of the body are seldom as deep as the wounds of the heart. Many who fought uttered not a word about the atrocities they witnessed. Often more is said with silence than the multiplication of many words. The memories are too vivid, the hurt is too painful; the grief is too profound. But their stories are still told. They may live and breathe and walk in the normalcy of civilian life but they bear on their individual frames, with the victorious dead, the weight of freedom for the masses.

First light or dusk was often embraced as the opportunity for attack. Soldiers were, accordingly, ordered to be ready, manning their posts as the dawn broke or the sun set. This came to be known as the ‘stand to’, short for ‘stand-to-arms’. It often marked the hour of peril; the moment of truth. Would courage falter? Would strength fail? Who can value life as it should be valued save for God alone? At the moment of truth God does not abandon us to the ‘stand to’. He does not forget. Christ stood in solidarity with sinful humanity and allowed Himself to be hung from a cross. In the gathering light of Easter dawn He stood forth from the grave; the battle completed, peace secured. Only in Christ can the grieving have hope. Only in Christ can the wounded find healing. Only in Christ has the promise of the resurrection of the dead been secured. Time and place are not barriers to Christ, who is immortal. To us, they are the parameters which define our reality.

One hundred years on and the world is still marred by conflict. Some will say the Great War was never ours to fight. We are not here to judge the motivations of diplomacy or duty. We are here to honour those who were faithful in their service. One hundred years on and the appreciation still grows. The ANZACS are not forgotten. We will honour their sacrifice. We will cherish their legacy. We will defend their cause. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. The Almighty will not forget.

Pastor Darrin Kohrt Concordia & Outlying Lutheran Churches, Loxton