International Rescue!

We didn’t have a T.V. when I was young (thanks for your sympathy), but whenever I got the chance I would watch my favourite programme: The Thunderbirds! Wasn’t it fantastic. It didn’t matter that you could see the strings, or that they were puppets. It was real to me. I just loved everything about them. I loved that they had really neat gadgets; I loved that they had different aircraft for different crisis situations: Thunderbirds One, Two, Three Four and Five (each so clever). I loved the pictures on the wall in dad’s office - the ones where the eyes did that thing when one of them was trying to contact base (so cool). I loved the way the pool moved out of the way so Thunderbird One could take off. I loved the way the sat on the couch which turned into their transport to the aircraft (I never understood why we couldn’t have one in our living room). I loved Thunderbird Two with all its pods. I had Thunderbird Two. Mine had Thunderbird 4 in the pod (the submarine). Actually, I think my mum still has Thunderbird Two in the tin of toys she kept for the grandchildren to play with! The Thunderbirds were International Rescue. They turned up whenever there was a disaster or a crisis and saved the world. I wanted to be a Thunderbird! Yesterday, as we remembered the 75th anniversary of VE Day, we were reminded that it was an international rescue. In his speech as he announced the end of the war in Europe, Churchill reflected on the truth of what had happened, that for the first year or so it was Britain fighting the war. Then the Russians joined with the Allies. And then, after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Americans joined the war effort. It was, as Churchill rightly pointed out, an International Rescue. An International Rescue against the forces of evil. And today, those of us who love in the peace and freedom won, rightly remember with thanks. Sadly, peace and freedom won by men fighting a war doesn’t last. It’s not the same war, but today there are more wars raging that at any time in history. There is only one war that has been won for eternity. That’s the war won by one man on a cross some two thousand years ago. That was, and is, an International Rescue on an eternal scale. That was, and is, an International Rescue that brings you and me peace and freedom. It is wonderfully true that when we turn our heart to the one who won the victory, we can know his peace and the freedom he brings. But we also know there are wars still raging in our lives and the lives of those we love. The International Rescue won on a cross means we can know his peace and his freedom even as we live in the midst of those wars. That’s why he came. But it’s not just for now. It is also wonderfully true that the International Rescue that lead one man to a cross, brings the hope of eternal peace and freedom. We can look forward to the day when all wars will cease, the ones that nation still fights against nation and the ones that still rage in our hearts and lives. At the end of WWII people gave thanks for the sacrifice others had given to win peace and freedom. We did again that yesterday. And it fills us with hope that things may be different. It fills us with hope for the future. As we look back at the International Rescue that led to the cross, we are reminded that self-sacrificial love really is at the centre of the universe and that not only can we have peace and freedom here and now, but we can look forward in hope to the day when all war will cease. Secretly I still want to be a Thunderbird. But that’s just a story. And I can’t save the world. So I’ll leave it to the one who can. No, he really can!