Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Bluebells@Westwoods near Marlborough, UK

'Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.' Micah 4:3b

The Westwoods Forest near Marlborough, UK is verdant with bluebells in the Spring from mid-May onwards. But these fields of bluebells are short-lived and the flowers dropped off in a fortnight. By June if one returns to the Westwoods one will wonder 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?'

The sad song with the same question  was written by Pete Seeger in 1955 using an old Irish melody. In May 1960, Joe Hickerson added two additional verses and made it into its familiar circular song. 

The evolution of the song from 1955 to becoming popular in 1963 patterned the development of the Vietnam War as well as the Hippie movement of the 1960s. With the ever-growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War in the US in the 1960s, this song became an anti-war song used in many a anti-war protests throughout the USA.

There is a melancholy tone to it. The music and lyrics circular style with the repetitious 'When will they ever learn?' gives it a kind of forlorn feeling of hopelessness. 

Where have all the flowers gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the flowers gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the flowers gone?

Girls have picked them every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the young girls gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the young girls gone?

Taken husbands every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the young men gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the young men gone?

Gone for soldiers every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Gone to graveyards every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Covered with flowers every one

When will we ever learn?

When will we ever learn?

It has been 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and 70 years since Seeger wrote this song. Yet, the world has still not learned from the devastations and untold sufferings wars wrought. The aspiration expressed by the Prophet Micah continues to remain just that, a hope that has not seen reality.

'He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.' Micah 4:3

The sadness of wars is not so much the destruction of property but the loss of lives. Visit any military cemetery, scan the white headstones and marble crosses, lament at the young ages attached to countless names and grief for the lost opportunities, hopes and dreams.

Kranji War Memorial, Singapore

Recently I read in an obituary to a young soldier, these poignant words,

 

'There is a sacredness in tears. 

They are not a mark of weakness but of power. 

They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. 

They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and unspeakable love.' 

Who will weep for the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers who died in the current Ukraine war? If only we obey the words of Jesus Christ,

'But love your enemies, do good to them' Luke 6:35

 

'You have heard the law that says, "Love your neighbour and hate your enemy." But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. If you love those who love you, what reward is there for that? If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?' Matthew 5:43,44 and 46,47 (NLT)

Lionel

The Futility Of War: Destruction, Devastation, Death

The War In Ukraine

 

On the 24 Feb 2022, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, war began in Ukraine. This war is billed as the biggest military operations in Europe since WWII. Tanks rolled in, missiles struck, untold human suffering and property devastation began.  

The war in Ukraine reverberates throughout the world, affecting everything and impacts the lives of everyone on the planet. Today, 20 Mar 2022, the war ravages on for the 25th day. The Chinese philosopher wrote in the Tao Te Ching, 

"Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed. Lean years follow in the wake of a great war."  

Why wage war? No one can see the rationale for going to war in the midst of a pandemic. The only explanation is the sinful nature of humankind, which leads to egocentricity and selfishness causing man's inhumanity to man. 

Humanism is an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Rev(Dr) Daniel Koh Kah Soon wrote, "Since the dawn of the Enlightenment, humanity tried to declare independence from God. The assumption is that we do not need God to help us make sense of the world or to help us find solutions to the complex challenges we face in our time. What we need we are told, is to depend on human ingenuity and with the help of human reasoning, we can progress without having to look to God for guidance and wisdom." (Ref 1)

Humanism centres on the idea of the supremacy of man, the notion of the rational, autonomous self and ignoring the conditioned sinful nature of the individual. Remember the temptation of Eve and Adam?

"You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." Genesis 3:4

The prophet Jeremiah also spoke out against humanism in Jeremiah 17:5-6

Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert,

and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land." Jeremiah 17:5-6

Rev Koh went on, "Sadly,....the world is a mess. Many wars have been fought, nations against nations, tribes against tribes. Millions of people are homeless as victims of war and famine. More money have been ploughed into producing sophisticated weapons to destroy life and property than money spent in alleviating poverty." 

There is no end to wars. In 1918, the International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement on the Global Trends of War and their Humanitarian Impact:

• Wars are lasting much longer than they used to 20 years ago. 

• Wars are more often fought in highly populated urban areas, and when high powered explosive weapons are used, large numbers of civilians are at risk of death, injury, but also of losing their infrastructure – water systems, electricity, and jobs. These protracted, urban conflicts impact the basic health, water and sanitation systems, causing long-term, systemic impacts.

• Increasingly, the root causes of violence are unclear and difficult to address – they are often a tangled web of politically–motivated violence, terrorism and disproportionate reaction by states, inter-community and social violence, which often go hand-in-hand with economic crime. This also defies traditional legal concepts and challenges us with complex overlap between the legal frameworks.

• Armed warriors are more numerous, more radical but also less political and less structured. 

• Wars often involve partners, allies and coalitions – leading to a dilution of responsibility, fragmentation of chains of command and an unchecked flow of weapons. There is also a trend of denying responsibility or of passing responsibility to someone else down the line. This only increases the climate of impunity and ultimately causes yet more suffering.

In these times, human beings have become narcissistic self-lovers resulting quarrels and the fragmentation of human societies. The Apostle Paul warned,

'But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.' 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Against this back drop, Is there any hope for mankind? The Lord beckons us to repudiate humanism, sin and evil and return to Him. The Lord God promises blessings to all who trust in Him. The man who trust in God is secure, safe and need not seek any quarrel with his neighbour. 

'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.'  Jeremiah 17:7-8

Remember the American Civil War Negro Spiritual 'Ain't Gonna Study War No More'? Those who trust in the Lord and lay down beside the riverside, will not go to war. 

I’m gonna lay down my heavy load, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside
I’m gonna lay down my heavy load, down by the riverside,
I ain't gonna study war no more

I ain’t a gonna study war no more…….

Well, I’m gonna put on my long white robe,
 down by the riverside 
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside
I’m gonna put on my long white robe,
 down by the riverside
I ain't gonna study war no more

I ain’t a gonna study war no more….

Well, I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield,
 down by the riverside
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside
I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield,
 m; down by the riverside
I ain't gonna study war no more

President John F Kennedy noted,

"Mankind must put an end to war before war put an end to mankind."

Lionel

Ref 1: Daniel Koh Kah Soon, My Thoughts Are Not Your Thought. Up From The Ashes Hope Will Arise - Daily Devotions For Lent, 2022. Sower Publishers.

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Church Bells, Corfu

'You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills will burst forth into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.' Isaiah 55:12

This will be the second Christmas we will have under Covid-19 restrictions. The shops bravely open and Orchard Road is lighted up. But I doubt that there will be much festivities this Christmas. The number of tourists will be almost negligible, there will be no singing of carols in the churches nor in the shops.

It will be quite a dismal celebration of Christmas. But these two years are not without precedence. Christmas was hardly celebrated in the two World Wars and during world crises throughout history.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, America's celebrated poet lived through a tragic Christmas season during the American Civil War, when he wrote the Christmas carol, 'I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.' in 1863. Bishop Gordon Wong introduced me to this carol in a recent sermon. 

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men

I thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along th' unbroken song

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; 

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, goodwill to men."

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men

When we peruse the lyrics of the carol, we will probably conclude that this carol is most appropriate for this Covid-19 Christmas, although we are not sure how many church bells will be pealing on the 25 Dec 2021. The carol started with despair but ended in hope. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Longfellow had fallen into a depression in 1861 when his wife Frances died in a fire. She had been sealing envelopes with hot wax when her clothes caught fire. The death marked a low point in Longfellow’s life. His physical appearance changed dramatically as he began growing his beard because the burns disfigured his face.

In 1863, Longfellow suffered another blow. His son Charley ran off to enlist in the 1st Massachusetts Artillery. In November, Charley was wounded in battle. Henry Longfellow was full of grief and started questioning the promise of peace announced at the first and every Christmas. In despair he wrote, 'There is no peace on earth, for hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men. 

But in the pealing of the bells, he found a message that peace would come to the troubled nation as well as to Longfellow's troubled mind. He started a follow on stanza with the conclusion, 'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With peace on earth, the right prevail.' 

Longfellow's message was penned in the poem Christmas Bells. The Christian group Casting Crowns provided an updated version of the old carol.  

   

Christmas cards featuring the manger scene, with angels, shepherds and barn animals well positioned around the Holy Family give us the wrong impression that at the time of Jesus' birth it was a peaceful. In reality, Jesus lived through a time that was a powder keg for rebellion and terrorist activities. The Romans occupied Israel and with it came oppressive rule. The Judeans were subjected to tyrannical governors and puppet kings such as Pontius Pilate and Herod. Those times were anything but peaceful. Nevertheless Jesus' birth brought the hope for peace,

'For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be on His shoulders. And He shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end.' Isaiah 9:6-7 

How can we find peace despite dismal circumstances with every Christmas? Peace during turmoil? Perhaps it should first be found in a person. After having inner peace, we can be at peace with others. Father John Main (Ref 1) stated, 'Peace is a noble objective and a unifying one. In many of the sacred scriptures of both the eastern and western traditions this goal is described as the state of blessedness, of glory, of salvation or simply of life. The sense of being fully, humanly alive.' 

It takes courage to express a time for peace in the midst turmoil, crisis, disaster and war. Even so, every Christmas before, during and after wars and pandemics continues to express the message: Peace on earth, goodwill towards men. The Christmas bells rang out in the last stanza of the carol,

 

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men

Shalom!

Lionel

Ref 1. Paul Tharris and Laurence Freeman (editors), Silence and Stillness in Every Season, Daily Readings with John Main.