This coming weekend, churches across the nation will pause to remember. For many believers in nonconformist traditions — those who historically have maintained a careful separation between church and state — Remembrance Sunday can feel like unfamiliar territory. Yet this moment in the national calendar need not, and should not, be left solely to civic religion or the established church.
Remembrance Sunday is not about endorsing every decision of government, nor about glorifying war. It is about acknowledging sacrifice — the high price paid by those who laid down their lives in the service of others. That principle, of self-giving love, resonates deeply with the gospel we proclaim. “Greater love hath no man than this,” said our Lord, “that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
