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Good morning. ‘Crossing the Rubicon’, ‘Drawing a line in the sand’- there’s a whole collection of phrases which have made the transition from physical battles to metaphorical ones. The allied landings on the beaches of Normandy in World War Two have given us what may be the most familiar of them all: ‘D- Day’. 

It’s come to be used as a term marking a turning point- and D- Day 1944 was certainly that. But it was part of the much bigger picture of the war in Europe and the terrible human cost that it involved, for both armed forces and civilians. Whether it’s right or not to think of one single day when the war was won, D Day was when Britain and her allies came to believe that the war could and would be won.

The image of the battle between good and evil features large in many New Testament writings. St Paul speaks of death as the last enemy, to be swallowed up in victory. It’s a hope for the future but it’s signposted - more than that, for Christians it’s a guarantee – through the death and rising-to-life-again of Jesus Christ. That’s the turning point, and Paul insists that this isn’t just a dramatic reversal of fortunes for one person, but for all of us: Jesus’ death and resurrection marks a change in the course of human history.

All sorts of spiritual battles remain, and the experience of death will be endured by us all, but St Paul makes his great statement of faith in his letter to the Romans: ‘In all these things we are more than conquerors ... not anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

Jesus our Redeemer, in your living and your dying you opened for us the gate to eternal life; may the flame of your love burn so brightly in our hearts that we fear nothing in this life, but hope for all things in the life to come. Amen