Chester Street Uniting Earth Ministry Lacuna Group


Miles: ANZAC Day service - an afterthought

Posted: 12/05/2008


On last Sunday's service we had a discussion about the significance of ANZAC Day: militarism, pacifism, patriotism, humanitarianism. As the discussion went on, I gazed at the Rolls of Honour on the wall of the church. Then I remembered the words of one of my favorite hymns, "I vow to thee, my country". In case you didn't know, it is a British patriotic song / Anglican hymn sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; basically it is about how Christians were (are?) expected to be loyal to both their kingdom in heaven and their nation on earth, and be willing to sacrifice their own lives for their compatriots' sake, just as Christ sacrificed himself on the cross for humanity.

Okay, I make no bones about being an (over-)patriotic Australian. yet I must say that ANZAC Day is an unusual manifestation of patriotism, in that it commemorates a military defeat. More importantly, it seems, is to remember the courage and sacrifices from both sides in the face of adversities. Most of us would have heard of the tale about Simpson and the donkey; what is less well known was a tribute to the ANZACs by (Mustafa) Kemal Atatürk, victor of Gallipoli and later president of Turkey, which has gone down in history as one of the most gracious addresses ever written from a winning side:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours... you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons as well."

Love your enemies indeed.

Fast forward to the 1990s, and here were two cases of peacekeeping, with very different endings. One was Australia's involvement in East Timor. I cannot remember a time when Australians had been so proud of its troops; it was a "warlike action" (to borrow an Australian Defence Force terminology), but a humanitarian action nonetheless, and everyone in Australia seemed to agree that it was the right thing to do.

The other involved a group of Dutch peacekeepers in Bosnia, guarding the UN "safehaven" of Sebrenica. The Serbs came in, whom the Dutch thought were unstoppable, took thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys away, never to be seen alive again.

I believe that although Christianity believes in peace, God is not a pacifist himself. God in the Old Testament presided over numerous bloodbaths; St Paul in the New Testament allured to martial symbolisms when talking about the Armour of God in Ephesians. While Jesus Christ might not have killed anyone, he certainly did not shy away from confrontations, as in overturning the money chargers' tables at the Temple.

Therefore to me at least, upholding social justice is more important than keeping the peace at all costs.

"Greater love has no one than this,
 that he lay down his life for his friends"
 - John 15:13

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