Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

‘In war, truth is the first casualty’ – the Greek poet Aeschylus already knew this in the 5th century BC. At the beginning of the First World War in 1914, the American politician Hiram Johnson formulated it in a similar way: ‘The first casualty in war is the truth’. Johnson was right again 110 years ago. This becomes clear when you look at the war propaganda on all sides at the time. Not only in this respect was the Great War unfortunately a sad climax in modern history. War propaganda was used by all sides as an effective weapon to ultimately motivate their own population to go to war or even, as in Germany, to enthuse them. It goes without saying that the truth was not always told accurately. Sometimes, in fact, echoes of this can still be found today, which have become embedded in the collective consciousness, so to speak, when the terrible wars of the last century are remembered.

This makes it all the more significant and important that we can commemorate the millions of war dead together today and remember the catastrophic killing and mass deaths in which our nations were involved. We can do this because, on the one hand, we face the truth together that war means terrible suffering, death and horrific destruction. And we can do this together because, as Germans, we recognise our great responsibility for these terrible wars. Because we also collectively acknowledge our own guilt.

But this painful truth is the first step towards a new beginning and reconciliation. Only in this way can we ultimately avoid falling back into old ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour. Only with sincere truth can we open our hearts and minds to the wisdom from above that will save us from catastrophic human mistakes. Because if we as humans are not honest and refuse to accept the truth, God will also find it difficult to give us his wisdom.

Do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

‘The first casualty in war is the truth’ – but even after a war, it is not so easy to tell the truth. How quickly people forget and repress the truth. Immediately after the catastrophe of a war, most people agree on how terrible and cruel it was. But how quickly other narratives creep into our memories. In later memories, completely different perspectives and narratives sometimes come to the fore again: heroism and willingness to make sacrifices and, of course, downplaying one’s own guilt. Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing something similar in Germany. In a country that has gained the attention of the world since 1945 by honestly coming to terms with the past.

Now, in Germany too, there are increasingly publicly recognisable voices that would like to draw a line under the fact that we acknowledge our own war guilt. Can this not be relativised in the meantime? Weren’t the others just as bad? they say, for example. The consequences of distorting or denying the truth can be seen time and again at the moment. For example, people like to ask whether Putin’s Russia does not have the right to defend itself against the NATO threat? But who is threatening whom and in what way? And if the war is only remembered as a great heroic deed and liberation, then unfortunately history seems to be repeating itself. Then violence as a solution to conflicts once again becomes a clear option. The small plant of truth is once again suffocated and buried and the wisdom from above finds no access.

As Britons and Germans, we have the chance and the good fortune to stick to the truth and thus open ourselves to the wisdom from above, namely that reconciliation is a heavenly gift of grace.

Do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore. Amen.