In the 12th of a series of articles, Revd James Gilder of Wanstead Parish reflects on the unexpected connection he found between last month’s Easter celebrations and this month’s VE Day anniversary gatherings
For the last month, my life seems to have been largely consumed by preparing either for our Holy Week and Easter celebrations in the church or for our VE Day 80th anniversary events in the town. Aside from a lot of administration, it wouldn’t initially appear that these two events have much in common. Yet, as I have come to think about them both, I have started to appreciate that in fact, they both might embody a sense of joy despite a previous experience of pain.
It is very difficult, 80 years on, to really have a sense of what the war must have been like for people day-to-day. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know, of course, that the Allies eventually were victorious – and every picture we see of the Blitz, of rationing, of D-Day etc, is experienced through the lens that ‘eventually everything was OK’, that there was a kind of happy ending and that good triumphed over evil (although naturally, the historians of Wanstead would probably say it was much more complicated than that).
Yet, at the time, such an ending was far from guaranteed. The Blitz was experienced, not as something merely to be endured, but as a very present danger that might have ended not only in homes destroyed and loss of life but also in the loss of our entire nation to a foreign power.
We also see the Easter story in the same way – ultimately, despite the pain and loss of Good Friday, we know how the story ends, and it ends well: with redemption for humanity in the Resurrection – although I very much doubt that those who were there on Good Friday itself were able to see it the same way as we do now. It must have been a desolate and painful experience.
Whether one is a person of faith or not, it is a dismal life indeed if we cannot believe that there is something of the good in this world which ultimately has the capacity to triumph over the bad. Christians believe this is the hope for us all, and that in effect it has already happened – that despite the presence of evil, the good does win out. No doubt this is a feeling shared in one way or another with other faiths and those who do not believe in God.
For many years, it has been the fashion to question whether such notions of good and evil are not antiquated. We learn so much about different places and cultures in the world and this has led many in the West to question whether everything is in fact relative. Who are we to say what is good or not, some ask? Isn’t that just being judgmental? Yet, I think that to go down that kind of relativistic route ultimately gets us nowhere other than to a place of pain. Indeed, in a world where much can be bad, we need to know there is also something that is objectively good. We need to celebrate the joy despite experiencing the pain.
For more information on local VE Day anniversary events, visit wnstd.com/ve80
