Remembrance Day
Ralph Banks
President
Royal Canadian Legion
Cobden Branch 550
Good morning Veterans, ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls and distinguished guests. Thank you for taking part in our Remembrance Day Ceremony.
Unfortunately, 427 Squadron from Garrison Petawawa will not be able to join us for this year’s ceremony due to deployment commitments. They will however be joining us again next year.
This year we do have Veterans UN-Nato Canada Upper Ottawa Valley marching with us along with the Cobden Cub Pack.
The first Canadian Remembrance Day ceremony was Nov. 11, 1921 as Armistice Day. The symbolism of Remembrance Day is the poppy. The poppy is not to be bought but to be worn as a symbol of respect and remembrance of the brave men and women who have served to protect our freedoms, and, in many cases, never came home.
Your donations through the poppy fund continues to help those we acknowledge through remembrance. The Legion provides financial assistance to serving and former Canadian Armed Forces members and their families and comforts for Veterans and their surviving spouses who are in need.
Here at Cobden and District Branch 550 we host a Veterans Support Group where we provide speakers and connect Veterans to an online support network and physical and mental health workers.
We provide information on programs about rehabilitation and training which is available to all veterans.
So, we thank you for your gracious donations and community support.
Four things support the world: The learning of the wise; The justice of the great; The prayers of the good; And the valour of the brave.
Remembrance Day 2015
by Rev. Patricia Van Gelder
It is an honour to be with you today. I want to share two memories with you.
One of the ribbons of thought found in the Bible is the promise that, all evidence to the contrary, the day will come when God will have His way and the world will be different than it is now.
One of my favourite examples is from the Old Testament book of Micah. And Micah speaks of the time when swords will be turned into plows and spears into farm tools because they won’t be needed for warfare anymore.
People will live in peace and harmony and, I love this part, no one will make them afraid.
Last November, when I was leading worship, the Remembrance Service at an area retirement home, I read that passage from Micah. I spoke about God’s promise that, someday, this will be a world of peace.
And, when I said that, one of the residents called out ‘But Not Today!’
And she was right — Not today.
Some days we may wonder if people will ever learn to live without war. Which is one of the reasons I think it’s so important to remember that promise, that dream of peace.
My second memory, comes from a few years ago. One of our local historical societies hosted a presentation about the shift in farm machinery — from horsepower to tractor power, which took place about a hundred years ago.
Some of the early tractors had serious flaws, but there were new and improved models being developed all the time. And, gradually, on most farms, the change took place.
It was a very interesting presentation, but what I’ve been thinking about, in connection with today, is how one of the people in the audience asked the speaker why there are so few pieces of that old, old farm machinery around. With all the rapid changes and upgrades, he said I would have thought there would have been more.
And the speaker said there probably would have been except for war. When metal was in short supply, Canadians were asked to donate any metal they could to support the war effort.
We have no idea how many old farm relics were pulled out of sheds or back fields and were reduced to scrap metal to build trucks and guns. Plows into guns. The stuff of life — turned into the stuff of death. Isn’t that a grim thought?
I couldn’t help but think of Micah — the #1 passage in the Bible about farming equipment and weapons.
Not about collecting scrap metal for guns and ammunition in order to support the war effort. Noble as that may have been at the time, but about what will happen, when God fulfills his promise — when there won’t be any need for swords or tanks or bombs; when there will be no more wars in which to use them; nd they will become scrap metal, recycled into plows and tractors.
Now, I have to tell you, I find that hard to believe. More like a fairy tale then a promise. But I hold onto Micah’s words. Because they tell us something crucial about God, which means we should pay attention.
As far as God’s concerned, war…and hunger… and fear… have no place in this world.
And someday they won’t. When, we don’t know. Like she said — Not today!
Until then, we stop and remember, because it’s important that we do. Not just for memory’s sake, but so that we will appreciate the peace we enjoy and cling to the promise of peace for all people.
We remember the men and women who have served our country, in different, places, different times, different wars.
We remember those who died, and those who were wounded, mentally, physically, emotionally, by battles most of us can’t even imagine.
We the remember. And acknowledge the sad truth of our present — Not today!
