Remembering in hope

Did you know that on Sunday 9 November, for the fifth time during his reign, King Charles III led the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Westminster Cenotaph in England? His Majesty has maintained this tradition of the Royal Family, passed on to him by Queen Elizabeth II, by laying the first wreath.

Our tradition of Remembrance Day is not simply a cultural commemoration of loss in times of war. Rather, as Christians, we pause and reflect on what has gone before us, including all the suffering and grief of war. However, we especially consider how to confront wars and violence as people of the Prince of Peace-making: ‘Jesus Christ our Lord.’

King Charles and Queen Elizabeth have reminded us of the deep Christian conviction behind their service in the world, including their role in Remembrance Day commemorations. In her first ever Easter message in 2020, during COVID, Queen Elizabeth said, ‘As dark as death can be – particularly for those suffering with grief – light and life are greater. May the living flame of the Easter hope be a steady guide as we face the future.’

Her son, Charles, echoed this faithfulness in his first Christmas greeting following Elizabeth’s death in 2022, saying:

In the much-loved carol ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, we sing of how ‘in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light’. My mother’s belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people, and it is one which I share with my whole heart.

So, the service rendered to the public in commemorating Remembrance Day is the witness of King Charles and his mother Queen Elizabeth to the hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, of life conquering death, of the promise of the life of the world to come and Peter’s faithful declaration to Jesus in John 6:68: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’

On Remembrance Day, Christians dwell on the word and promise of the Lord with prayer, silent reflection, Scripture and song. We call on the Lord to come amongst us and give courage to all who would work as peacemakers in our world, turning our ‘swords into ploughshares’ to the glory of God.

In Christ,

Pastor Paul Smith
Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
Remembrance Day 2026

A guide for prayer and meditation (from the English Cenotaph Service)

We remember those who made the great sacrifice during the two World Wars;
We remember those who have given their lives in the service of their country in other conflicts;
We pray for those who suffer at this time;
We pray for those who have been bereaved;
We pray for peace;
We pray that we may be worthy of the sacrifice made on our behalf.

LHS 556 ‘O God, our help in ages past’

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home:

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

Isaac Watts (1674–1748), alt.

A Scripture reading for Remembrance Day – Micah 4:1–4

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

(At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns fell silent, bringing an end to the Great War we know as ‘World War I’. Each year, many people in New Zealand and Australia pause in silence to remember and to pay respect for the courage of those who served, to mourn the lives lost and to renew our prayerful commitment to strive for peace throughout the nations and peoples of our world.)