Today, this post is not going to be written in my words. Instead, I feel that the sermon written and delivered by my sister, Faye, this morning needed to be shared. She has kindly given me permission to use her words...They did it for us.
Remembrance Sunday
This year the 4th August marked 100 years since the beginning of the First World War. This coming Tuesday will be 96 years since the end. 96 years since the guns were finally silenced. 96 years of memories. How important it is that we remember what those men did for us.
Last year when studying in France I went to the City of Ypres. While there I visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, a place where 12,500 British soldiers are buried and 35,000 more are remembered by name on the walls. There is a postcard in the coffee bar of Tyne Cot that shows just how big it is. I found it difficult to see the rows upon rows of headstones. I felt sad to imagine such a horrible loss of life. And then this year when studying in France I went to Vimy Ridge where the Canadians fought. When I was there I had the opportunity to go in to some of the trenches and tunnels. I now had an idea of the conditions the men had to live in. The tunnels were dark and narrow, long, cold and very damp. There would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of men cramped in to the space. Those men did that for us.
What shocked me more were the trenches. I was standing at a Canadian trench and followed the guide across a short path, literally 20 or 30 meters. I thought we were just looking at more of the Canadian trenches, considering they went on for miles… but I was standing in German territory!! I could have thrown a stone from one and reached the other side, they were so close together. It must have been terrifying for soldiers to be so close to the enemy. So close to death. Those men did that for us.
As you will know the poppy is well recognized as the symbol of remembrance, they are sold each year in the weeks leading up to this day. The World War 1 veterans who founded the Royal British Legion adopted the poppy as their symbol of Remembrance and hope. It was this symbol, this blood red poppy, that inspired the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red around the Tower of London. Such a powerful way to mark this centenary year. I went to London last week and was amazed at the crowds of people at the Tower, 5 or 6 deep, trying to get a glimpse of the sea of red. It was truly humbling to imagine each of the 888,246 poppies as the life of one of our men. Each of them a life given and a life lost. Those men did that for us.
Our own local theatre group, Cast and Crew, are putting on a production this week. Canveys Great War. They will be remembering those soldiers who went to war from Canvey. They have put a serious amount of time and energy in to researching and remembering those who left their families in this Island and never came home. One man, Robert Monteith, was in fact a lay reader at our very own St Anne’s Church and they have a plaque in his memory on the wall there. Those men, men who walked the same streets we walk now, they went to war. They did that for us.
The Royal British Legion describes today by saying:
Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. On this day people across the nation pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave Service men and women.
A day to pause and reflect. There are no longer any living veterans of World War 1, but there are members of their families who know their story. These family members can pass the story on to their children so they wont be forgotten. Such an enormous act of bravery deserves to be remembered. So let us pause just for a moment, in the quietness of this place, let us take a moment to reflect on the bravery of those who have fought so that others may live more peacefully. Those men did that for us.
People will have memories of childhood during time of war, many here would have grown up hearing how their parents or grandparents fought in the First or Second World War. But for many more the thought of a war so vast was part of history. Yes, a history that affected our families not so many years ago, but the thought of living through it would have seemed impossible. But unfortunately war didn’t end there. There is conflict even now. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Israel, acts of terrorism all over the world… the list goes on.
Many people in our own community have had to send their loved ones off to war. Many of those men and women have returned scarred, damaged, grieving the loss of their fellow soldiers. They do that for us. They do that for the countries they serve in.
With so much happening all over the world and even in our own country, it can be difficult to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus commanded that we love one another. That we love our neighbours as ourselves. But who are our neighbours? Those who live close by to us? Those who we share our lives with? Or all of God’s people regardless of race, colour or understanding of God? It isn’t always easy to follow Jesus commandment. It isn’t always easy to open ourselves up when we have seen the devastation that can so easily be caused by the actions of people. But we are people too. And I pray that we can try to love our neighbours as ourselves. That we can love God’s people as he loves us. We can do that for them.
When we come to the Act of Remembrance today may we give thanks for those who fought in the World Wars, for those who have fought in wars since, for those who continue to fight now, for those who grieve the loss of someone they love who has died trying to resist some other evil. And may we pray that all of God’s people may be filled with love, or at least that we may fill our hearts with his love, his joy and share it with all those we meet.
I would like to finish with a few verses from a well known poem written by Robert Laurence Binyon in September 1914, just a few weeks after the war began.
For the Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Amen
Faye Bailey - Sunday 9th November 2014, St Nicholas' Church, Canvey Island
This year the 4th August marked 100 years since the beginning of the First World War. This coming Tuesday will be 96 years since the end. 96 years since the guns were finally silenced. 96 years of memories. How important it is that we remember what those men did for us.
Last year when studying in France I went to the City of Ypres. While there I visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, a place where 12,500 British soldiers are buried and 35,000 more are remembered by name on the walls. There is a postcard in the coffee bar of Tyne Cot that shows just how big it is. I found it difficult to see the rows upon rows of headstones. I felt sad to imagine such a horrible loss of life. And then this year when studying in France I went to Vimy Ridge where the Canadians fought. When I was there I had the opportunity to go in to some of the trenches and tunnels. I now had an idea of the conditions the men had to live in. The tunnels were dark and narrow, long, cold and very damp. There would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of men cramped in to the space. Those men did that for us.
What shocked me more were the trenches. I was standing at a Canadian trench and followed the guide across a short path, literally 20 or 30 meters. I thought we were just looking at more of the Canadian trenches, considering they went on for miles… but I was standing in German territory!! I could have thrown a stone from one and reached the other side, they were so close together. It must have been terrifying for soldiers to be so close to the enemy. So close to death. Those men did that for us.
As you will know the poppy is well recognized as the symbol of remembrance, they are sold each year in the weeks leading up to this day. The World War 1 veterans who founded the Royal British Legion adopted the poppy as their symbol of Remembrance and hope. It was this symbol, this blood red poppy, that inspired the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red around the Tower of London. Such a powerful way to mark this centenary year. I went to London last week and was amazed at the crowds of people at the Tower, 5 or 6 deep, trying to get a glimpse of the sea of red. It was truly humbling to imagine each of the 888,246 poppies as the life of one of our men. Each of them a life given and a life lost. Those men did that for us.
Our own local theatre group, Cast and Crew, are putting on a production this week. Canveys Great War. They will be remembering those soldiers who went to war from Canvey. They have put a serious amount of time and energy in to researching and remembering those who left their families in this Island and never came home. One man, Robert Monteith, was in fact a lay reader at our very own St Anne’s Church and they have a plaque in his memory on the wall there. Those men, men who walked the same streets we walk now, they went to war. They did that for us.
The Royal British Legion describes today by saying:
Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. On this day people across the nation pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave Service men and women.
A day to pause and reflect. There are no longer any living veterans of World War 1, but there are members of their families who know their story. These family members can pass the story on to their children so they wont be forgotten. Such an enormous act of bravery deserves to be remembered. So let us pause just for a moment, in the quietness of this place, let us take a moment to reflect on the bravery of those who have fought so that others may live more peacefully. Those men did that for us.
People will have memories of childhood during time of war, many here would have grown up hearing how their parents or grandparents fought in the First or Second World War. But for many more the thought of a war so vast was part of history. Yes, a history that affected our families not so many years ago, but the thought of living through it would have seemed impossible. But unfortunately war didn’t end there. There is conflict even now. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Israel, acts of terrorism all over the world… the list goes on.
Many people in our own community have had to send their loved ones off to war. Many of those men and women have returned scarred, damaged, grieving the loss of their fellow soldiers. They do that for us. They do that for the countries they serve in.
With so much happening all over the world and even in our own country, it can be difficult to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus commanded that we love one another. That we love our neighbours as ourselves. But who are our neighbours? Those who live close by to us? Those who we share our lives with? Or all of God’s people regardless of race, colour or understanding of God? It isn’t always easy to follow Jesus commandment. It isn’t always easy to open ourselves up when we have seen the devastation that can so easily be caused by the actions of people. But we are people too. And I pray that we can try to love our neighbours as ourselves. That we can love God’s people as he loves us. We can do that for them.
When we come to the Act of Remembrance today may we give thanks for those who fought in the World Wars, for those who have fought in wars since, for those who continue to fight now, for those who grieve the loss of someone they love who has died trying to resist some other evil. And may we pray that all of God’s people may be filled with love, or at least that we may fill our hearts with his love, his joy and share it with all those we meet.
I would like to finish with a few verses from a well known poem written by Robert Laurence Binyon in September 1914, just a few weeks after the war began.
For the Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Amen
Faye Bailey - Sunday 9th November 2014, St Nicholas' Church, Canvey Island