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ANZAC Service Reflections

It was so important to acknowledge the sacrifice our Defence Force personnel have made during our remembrances over the last week. Many of us gathered either for the Dawn Service at Greenwell Point or for the Commemorative Service in Nowra. I was present at the dawn service with many members of our school community. The service was very well attended and quite moving.

Anzac Day is one of the few times when Australians meet as a community, and it is right that they should do so. It is a time when we can show our appreciation for those who perform an often-thankless task. And yet, the security of our nation is something we must not take for granted. I am proud that so many in our community are involved in this task, and I think it right that our civilian community takes the time to honour our service men and women.

At our school’s Anzac service last Friday, RAN Chaplain, Reverend Todd Galvin, directed us to John 15:12-14 which says: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

The enactment of this command - to lay down one’s life for others on the battlefields of Gallipoli and elsewhere - has given birth to an image of nobility in service and a desire for our community to declare that these are the values we aspire to as a nation. But Jesus's command to love each other as he has loved us is a very real reminder of how he conducted himself. Romans 5:8 reminds us: God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He did this as atonement for all the times we have rejected God’s direction on how we should live and our failure to acknowledge God as our maker and our Lord. As we reflect upon the nobility of the ANZACs, I cannot help but consider that what we are longing for is a world with people who are like Jesus. After we have given due homage to the service men and women of Australia and New Zealand - without detracting from that important time - I encourage us to consider our Lord Jesus, the author and perfecter of that self-sacrificial spirit, and consider what is an appropriate response to that death that was for you and for me.