Two years ago, I was deeply impacted by the consequences of war as I visited cemeteries of soldiers who had fought at Tobruk in North Africa. Most poignant was the German fortress-like mausoleum. It was here, before an anonymous pit of dead bodies, that it seemed memory was lost. No effort was made to remember these men, 'the enemy'. I could not help but feel profoundly saddened, as I read alien names in a place that seemed to want to forget.

These memories were brought back to me as I sat beside my German friend in church for last November's Remembrance Sunday. The children's talk was entertaining as an attempt was made to try and explain the day with military equipment and a machine gun, which ironically seemed to keep pointing at my companion. On that day, we agreed that we both struggled about whether it is appropriate to have a Remembrance service in church.

This day is sacrosanct for so many of us. My own family has a proud history of service, from the trenches in 1916, to Dunkirk, the Falklands and the first Gulf War. How could I question that we remember those who died for 'our freedom'? Yet I question whether a Christian can in any way imagine that violence, even for freedom, should be remembered as good. Jesus' message of loving one's enemies shows that violence has no place in the Kingdom of God. If we as Christians believe that God is judge, how can we imagine supporting those who take His judgement into their own hands?

We cannot look back in history and sneer at those who thought differently, and how a good Christian was also a loyal citizen, willing to die for their state. But we are now in a situation where a marginalised church has been removed from its patriotic role. As such, there is an opportunity to rethink how a Christian should respond to violence and its memory. This comes sharply into focus as British forces are involved in the conflict in Iraq, when many believe that Britain is on the wrong side. Yet we glorify the violent memory of those who have maintained nation and empire in the past. Will those who fight and die in Iraq now be part of Remembrance services in 50 years time?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing in 1936 as his Church began to be persecuted by the worst of nations, states, "In the face of the cross the disciples realised that they too were His enemies, and that he had overcome them with his love…The disciple can now perceive that even his enemy is the object of God's love, and that he stands like himself beneath the cross of Christ."

Should we hold Remembrance services this November? If so, let it not be remembrance just of those who died for our freedom, but also for those who sought to take it away, for the worst of our enemies, as well as the best. And for ourselves, who will also stand before the Great Judge.

Gordon Brown

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