By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
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Recently my wife Janice and I had the privilege of attending a dance at a Legion. For many years, we have worn a poppy each November 11th. It helps us remember and reflect on the great sacrifices by so many that we might be free. It is so easy to take freedom and security for granted. Freedom and democracy are a precious gift from God that must never be treated lightly. We wear a poppy ‘lest we forget’.
Each November 11th, we have the privilege of remembering and giving thanks for those who served in the Armed Services. My 93-year-old father served for four years during World War II in the Air Force. My Uncle Reg served in the Army. My other Uncle, Don, served in the Navy. Service is a great privilege. Service breaks through our selfishness. It is so easy to let life become all about ourselves. Service expresses the truth that other-centeredness keeps us healthy. When my great uncle Harry died while serving in World War I, a kind chaplain sent the following note to my grandmother:
“Dear Miss Williams, I dare say you have heard the sad news of the death of your brother Private H.C.W. Williams who was killed in action on the morning of November 6th. He did not suffer as death was instantaneous. No doubt you will feel the loss of your dear brother very much as it is hard to part with those we love; but it is a consolation to know he did his duty faithfully and died in a righteous cause. He gave his life for others. And ‘greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ I pray that God will comfort you in your sad bereavement and may you find his grace sufficient in your hour of need. Cast your cares on the Lord and he shall sustain you. With Deepest Sympathy, Yours sincerely, Alex Ketterson, Chaplain 29th Canadians, B.E.F.”
My Grandmother (whom we called Nana) held on to this deeply comforting note. She sadly lost both of her brothers within one year during WW1. For my grandmother, doing one’s duty was deeply important. Each of us have the duty to serve one another, not just on Remembrance Day but every day of the year. Serving one another is at the heart of true love. As Chaplain Ketterson said, quoting Jesus, there is no greater love than laying down your life for others.
Martin Luther King memorably said: “Anyone can be great because anyone can serve.” King laid down his life for the sake of racial reconciliation and equality. One of my heroes, E. Stanley Jones, taught that the future belongs to those who belong to others in loving service. What if our lives became known for loving service? My prayer for those reading this article is that we might joyfully commit ourselves to the duty of serving one another, of laying down our lives that others might thrive.
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Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in Canada
-an article for the November 2017 Deep Cove Crier
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind 
and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback andebook form. In Canada, Amazon.ca has the book available in paperback and ebook. It is also posted on Amazon UK (paperback and ebook), Amazon France (paperback and ebook), and Amazon Germany (paperback and ebook).
Restoring Health is also available online on Barnes and Noble in both paperback and Nook/ebook form. Nook gives a sample of the book to read online.
Indigo also offers the paperback and the Kobo ebook version. You can also obtain it through ITunes as an IBook.
To receive a signed copy within North America, just send a $20 cheque (USD/CAN) to ED HIRD, 1008- 555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC, V7N 2J7, Canada.
– In order to obtain a signed copy of the prequel book Battle for the Soul of Canada, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West
28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
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Why do so many Greater Vancouver residents love to hang out at Whistler? For some, it is the skiing, others the bike riding, and some the water sports. There seems to be something for everyone’s interests. Since the building of the Sea to Sky Highway for the 2010 Olympics, Whistler has been transformed into a year-round recreational experience. We recently spent a week in Whistler that we were given for free as part of trading our car in two years ago at the local Auto Mall. All of our three adult children, their spouses, and grandchildren joined us for part of that relaxing week. We particularly enjoyed the peaceful walks through Whistler Village, the delicious restaurants, and the creative playgrounds for our grandchildren.
name ‘Whistler’ in the 1960s because of the whistling, chirping sounds of the local marmot squirrels. While at Whistler, I celebrated my sixty-third birthday. As a Whistler birthday present, my wife fittingly bought me John Grisham’s new book The Whistler. Ken Follett has called Grisham ‘the best thriller writer alive.’ His books have sold hundreds of millions of copies. Reading Grisham’s Whistler renewed my long-term enjoyment of Grisham’s twenty-nine legal thrillers. Whistler takes us into the life of a corrupt judge who is making a killing, literally, off casino corruption in Florida. The Whistler in this story is not a chirping marmot, but rather an undercover whistle-blower who forces a reluctant bureaucracy to finally do the right thing. Grisham, who has a strong 
Judeo-Christian faith, is passionate about the rule of law and the protection of justice, all which are key values for any healthy society. Without an impartial judiciary, everyone suffers. Without consequences for breaking the law, anarchy rules. Janet Maslin, in a New York Times review, commented that Grisham “is at heart an optimist who believes that wrongs can be ferreted out and righted.” Grisham, said Maslin, has fought harder for truth and justice than anyone this side of Superman. The most important event in his life, says Grisham, was when he accepted Jesus into his life: “I was eight years old. We lived in Arkansas at the time. Back then, my father often worked seven days a week. My mother had us bathed and scrubbed and in church every Sunday. She’s a devout Christian. I came under conviction when I was in the third grade, and I talked with my mother. I told her, ‘I don’t understand this, but I need to talk to you.’ We talked, and she led me to Jesus. The following Sunday I made a public confirmation of my faith. In one sense, it was not terribly eventful for an eight-year-old, but it was the most important event in my life. It did not readily change me, but it was very real nonetheless.” Grisham’s personal faith has led him to teach Sunday School and do mission service in Brazil to those who often suffer from injustice.
he preamble in our Canadian constitution expresses our commitment as Canadians to the rule of law and the supremacy of God. If anyone can function above the law, no one is safe. The supremacy of God reminds us that everyone of us needs to be accountable for our actions. Every one of us needs to do the right thing. The Ten Commandments were summarized by Jesus as essentially about loving God and loving our neighbour. Love is about doing the right thing, the Christ-like thing, even when it may be hard. The Whistler in Grisham’s novel paid a huge price to do the right thing. May we too as believers have the courage to do the right thing, no matter the cost.
Few of us like getting the ‘silent treatment’ from those that we care for. Silence can sometimes be a painful expression of relational tension and even cutoff. The flip side of silence and solitude is that it can be an important key to personal and spiritual growth. We live in a noisy cluttered hi-tech world where silence is often hard to find. Choosing silence can increase our ability to hear the still small voice that is trying to get our attention. Jesus was often going off into the silence of the wilderness to be alone.
The author explores the image of silence where the priests had been painfully silenced. The most painful silence seemed to be the silence of God in the midst of the great suffering. The priest Rodrigues prayed: “Lord, why are you silent? Why are you always silent?” As the persecution intensified, Rodrigues prayed again: “Lord, it is time that you should break the silence. You must not remain silent.” Near the end of the novel, Rodrigues confesses to Jesus: “Lord, I resented your silence”, to which Jesus replied: “I was not silent. I suffered along with you.” The crucified Jesus whispered to Rodrigues: “I am with you. You have nothing to fear.” Another time, the suffering Jesus said: “I will not abandon you.” Rodrigues could not take his eyes off what he called the beautiful face of the suffering Christ. As Rodrigues ended upon trampling upon the face of Jesus, he heard Jesus say: “You may trample. You may trample… It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men’s pain that I carried my cross.” Rodrigues learned that Jesus’ silence was not absence, but rather expressed the mystery of his suffering love for all humanity. Could God’s sometimes mysterious silence be a sign of how much he cares?
