Alive in God: Remembering with Hope:
Sermon delivered on Remembrance Sunday 2025
We gather today, in remembrance of lives lost, sacrifices made, and the enduring hope of life eternal, that is our anchor, even in grief.
We remember in particular, within our churchyard walls lie Commonwealth War Graves.
They remain a silent witness to a time when our community became the final home for Commonwealth service personnel, from Britain to the far corners of the world, such as Australia and New Zealand.
As we pause to honor those who gave their lives in war and conflict today, we turn to Scripture for comfort and clarity.
Remembrance Through Resurrection
But Remembrance Sunday is not only about looking back—it’s about looking forward too.
Because Jesus reframed death not as an end, but as a transformation.
Although resurrection life is not a continuation of earthly systems—it is a new age, a new reality, where true love, justice, and peace reign.
A New Heaven, A New Earth
Revelation 21:1–4 offers a glimpse of this future:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;… he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’…” Revelation 21:1-4 NRSVA
This passage reminds us that the sorrow of loss (natural death, or untimely death) is not the final word.
Because in Christ, death is not an end but a doorway to eternal life.
So today, we believe that the fallen are not lost and forgotten—rather, they are gathered into God’s presence, where suffering is no more, and peace reigns forever.
And as we remember all those who gave their lives in past wars and conflicts – we hold on to the promise of God’s ultimate renewal.
Luke 20:27–38
In this reading, the Sadducees—who denied the resurrection—approached Jesus with an imaginary scenario about marriage in the afterlife.
Their intent was not genuine curiosity, but to trap Him in a discrepancy.
They asked: if a woman married multiple brothers in succession (as the law of Moses required when a brother died childless), whose wife would she be in the resurrection?
But Jesus’ response cut through their legalistic thinking. He explained that resurrection life is not bound by earthly institutions like marriage.
Instead, those who share in the age to come will be like angels—children of God, children of the resurrection.
This is why Christian wedding vows say “till death us do part”—because marriage belongs to this present age, not the eternal one.
But Jesus Goes Further
He assured the Sadducees then, and us today, that the faithful departed’s existence;
Does not end at the grave.
Because He brought to their attention the encounter between Moses and God, at the Burning Bush, scripture well known to them. Exodus 3
Then, God told Moses, I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Not I was, but I am, in the present tense, and so meaning their souls live on with God, still thousands of years after their bodies gave up.
Jesus then reinforced this by telling the Sadducees, “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20 30 NVSVA
He is affirming that those who have died are not lost. They live on in God’s presence.
Jesus was telling the Sadducees that the grave does not have the last word; God does.
Hope in Life Everlasting
So today, for families who grieve for those who have passed on, there is comfort in knowing that their wisdom and love are not lost.
For those who mourn friends or children taken too soon, there is hope in knowing that they are held in God’s eternal care.
And for those who remember the fallen on Remembrance Sunday, there is assurance that their sacrifice is not forgotten,
but gathered into God’s kingdom of peace.
And in His presence, suffering ceases, tears are wiped away, and peace reigns.
Resurrection Hope
This is the Heart of Christian Faith, the hope of ultimate resurrection into a new age where heaven and earth are renewed;
and where God dwells among His people in perfect harmony.
It is a vision of restoration, where every tear is wiped away, and every brokenness is healed.
Today, this promise is not a distant or abstract ideal, but a living reality that shapes how we walk in faith in modern times;
with courage in trials, joy in worship, and love that reflects Christ’s own sacrifice.
For in Him, we have the assurance that death does not have the final word;
but life everlasting, radiant and unending, is our true inheritance.
