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          The custom of observing a day to remember the sacrifices made by Canadians in the service of their country is now more important than ever as Canadian soldiers give their lives to bring peace to Afghanistan. 
            Recent polls suggest that the collective memory of Canadian military valor has not been passed down to the younger generation.  Today, with the tragic prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, we are well aware of what happens when people lose their memory.  They are no longer the same persons, even though they may look the same.  Far greater than the tragedy of an individual’s loss of memory is the loss of memory by a society, which no longer knows where it has come from and no longer remembers the sacrifices which have contributed to the “good life” which it presently enjoys. 
            The loss of the collective memory of Canadian military valor is paralleled by the loss of collective memory within our Anglican church.  When I was conducting Bernice Welch’s funeral last August, I thought of how few Anglican parishes in our diocese would still be using the traditional Anglican burial service.
            The extraordinarily moving collection of Biblical passages contained in this service provided the text for the third part of Handel’s Messiah.  Has something new come along which so obviously surpasses this service as to make it obselete. or has our church forgotten the precious legacy which has been entrusted to its care? 
            There are some who think it pointless, in the current ecumenical environment, to try to preserve Anglicanism’s special identity, and they proclaim the end of denominationalism.  Now it is perfectly true that Christian identity is more important, theologically, than confessional identity.  What makes a person a Christian is more important than what makes a person an Anglican, a Roman Cathollic, or a Presbyterian.  However, it is also true that the Christian church, as such, does not exist.  Christianity takes on reality only in the particular Christian churches which do exist. 
            One can only be a Christian by being a Roman Catholic, a Presbyterian, a Greek Orthodox, an Anglican, or a member of some other denomination.  Therefore, in the existential order, confessional identity is a prior condition for Christian identity. 
            Forgetting our history, whether as a nation or as a church, means to lose our identity. Religious sensibility, on the other hand, is dependent, in large measure, on historical associations built up over a lifetime, associations which are hallowed by those whom we have come to love and respect, and from whom we have received our faith. 
            Radical change severs the historical connections on which religion is based, and particularly in our present culture, where religion is already on the periphery, such change can have a devastating effect. 
            Here at the Good Shepherd memory appears to be intact.  Since joining this parish in 1996 I have marveled at how faithfully history is remembered and tradition preserved. And this is how it should be, for without tradition, there can be no civilization, and without an attachment to our history, religious culture is impossible. 
            My prayer on this Remembrance Sunday is that we may keep faith with our national and religious past and preserve its memory, before it passes irretrievably into oblivion.   

November 9, 2008

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