It’s the view of World War 1 from from the perspective of an insignificant shell-shocked trooper in the trenches.
It's Anzac Day again, and many of us will rise early to recall the Great War and the millions of lives that were lost.
The human cost of World War 1 was enormous. More than 9 million soldiers and an estimated 12 million civilians died in the four-year-long conflict, which also left 21 million military men wounded.
There was also a human cost in a larger sense. The war remade the world for the worse in every conceivable way. It ignited the Russian Revolution, it laid the ground for Nazism. It made World War II pretty certain. It’s hard to imagine the second world war without the first. What is unmeasurable, is the huge personal and emotional toll on a generation in terms of ongoing grief and trauma.
Each generation — and each of us personally will in some way — experience grief and trauma. Whether its the loss of a loved one; or surviving a natural calamity like a massive bushfire or flood, or a life- threatening illness — or maybe by having the rhythms and hopes and dreams of our lives derailed by some unexpected and inescapable shock or crisis — the great depression or nine-eleven for some, the repercussions of the COVID:19 crisis for others, the war in Ukraine or the Gaza crisis or grinding poverty or oppression.
Each generation — and each of us personally will in some way — experience grief and trauma. Whether its the loss of a loved one; or surviving a natural calamity like a massive bushfire or flood, or a life- threatening illness — or maybe by having the rhythms and hopes and dreams of our lives derailed by some unexpected and inescapable shock or crisis — the great depression or nine-eleven for some, the repercussions of the COVID:19 crisis for others, the war in Ukraine or the Gaza crisis or grinding poverty or oppression.
The soldiers of World War 1 could be literally ‘shell-shocked’ — That is stunned, disoriented and unable to function by the exploding of a bomb or a shell nearby. Grief will ‘shell-shock’ us too. Maybe not with the physical injuries of a soldier and maybe not all in one split-second. But as what’s happened dawns, on us (sometimes slowly), it impacts our head and hearts and hands — it disorients us, it incapacitates us, at least for a while.
For many, this world becomes just a valley of tears and pain. Hope is sought beyond the World. That’s why the soldier in the film 1917 sings:
“I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger;
Traveling through this world below;
There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger;
In that bright land to which I go...”
Traveling through this world below;
There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger;
In that bright land to which I go...”
So how do we understand such disappointment?
Often we think that if there is a God whom we worship and try to obey, then we will be spared from grief. I remember talking to an angry older man, one Easter at a shopping centre, as we were handing out invites to some church function, many years ago, when I was young and impetuous.
Often we think that if there is a God whom we worship and try to obey, then we will be spared from grief. I remember talking to an angry older man, one Easter at a shopping centre, as we were handing out invites to some church function, many years ago, when I was young and impetuous.
“Ha!” he said bitterly. “I don’t believe in God. I’m an atheist, I don’t believe all that blankety-blank rubbish.” He was very angry.
“How come?” I asked him. “Because my friends died in the war and because I’ve still got pain after all this time - and if there was a God - why did he let it all happen? So I’m very angry at him, and I’m an atheist now. So there!”
Rather foolishly I replied: “So if you’re an atheist, you don’t believe there is a God, right?”
“You bet!” he said. “There’s no God, this is just the way it is!”
“So,” I replied, “If there’s no God and this is just the way the universe is all the time — why are you so angry? This is just the normal way things are and will always be?”
“You bet!” he said. “There’s no God, this is just the way it is!”
“So,” I replied, “If there’s no God and this is just the way the universe is all the time — why are you so angry? This is just the normal way things are and will always be?”
Of course my flippant answer just made him fume even more. And it wasn’t a helpful or kind thing to say. BUT, the truth is, that whether you are a Christian, an atheist or hold some other worldview or relgious-view, we all discover that bad things do happen, really painful things, and often to good people. And there will be overwhelming grief and ongoing trauma — and often no simple answer to the question: “Why?”
The common misunderstanding is that to commit to God, means a good life — butterflies and rainbows! Actually, the scriptures paint the picture of a world where things often go wrong and where good people find themselves enduring bitter suffering and grief.
In Old Testament wisdom literature, Job is the quintessential good guy yet he ends up baffled and broken crying out: “... If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales, they would outweigh all the sands of the sea.” (Job 6: 1-3)
Psalm 137 tells the story of the shell-shocked refugees re-living the nightmare of their precious city Jerusalem going up in smoke; the temple pillaged; and the people marched off as slaves to live the rest of their lives as lowly captives in far-off Babylon.
And they weep: “ ... Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn. ‘Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!’ But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?”
And they weep: “ ... Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn. ‘Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!’ But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?”
Grief feels like day the music died!
Can you See Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers? Noah gazing in silence at a fierce-some flood that washes away the only world that he’s ever known? The mothers of Bethlehem wailing for babies butchered by the tyrant King Herod. Jesus shouting to the silent heavens: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”
This is a broken world. I believe there will be a new heaven and new earth, and one day, the very last tear will be wiped away. But in the meantime, like the Sheep in Psalm 23, with faint heart: “... we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”
ButI believe that God has entered into this broken world and taken on its pain and suffering. Jesus is the Good shepherd who goes looking for the sheep. Our God is symbolised by a servant suffering on a crucifix.
This is the One who never leaves us or forsakes us, we assert with St Paul — “... Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love…” There is Hope!
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor4:16-18, NIV).
Bishop Desmond Tutu who served through the darkest days of apartheid says: “... Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
The distinctive of the Judeo-Christian faith is this idea of HOPE — And often hope against all the odds.
“...For despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not....” J. R. R. Tolkien. LOTR1 p.193.
"I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley
shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
