This Sunday will be Remembrance Day and the 90th anniversary of the first Great War. What Archbishop Rowan Williams has done is to write a book - Dostoevsky - Language Faith and Fiction (2008). This is neither pithy nor media friendly. Most people will not have read Dostoevsky, let alone want to read a commentary on his works. New Atheism (as in Richard Dawkins (2006) The God Delusion) puts the boot into religion saying that the question on which faith stands or falls is whether or not God exists. The Archbishop tells us that this is the wrong question. The key question for religion is not 'Does God exist?' but what might it be to live a life of faith? What does it mean to be a Christian believer on Remembrance Sunday when we remember the millions of people who died during the two great wars (1914-18 & 1939-45)? The short answer is that it leaves us with a form of suspended disbelief as we try to understand how this slaughter might have happened. The memorial inscription at Auschwitz says it all 'O Earth Cover not their blood'. A faith in God does not sometimes mean that we have everything sorted out in our minds - faith and uncertainty can run closely together. Sometimes it is more honest to live with the questions and Remembrance Sunday is one such day.

Weekly reflections on the Gospel for the coming Sunday are available on request. They will come once a week and will never be more than 200 words. If you would like to receive these emails then please email the Parish Secretary