St Clement Church Community Remembrance Sunday Service
We join together in our church building or at home, to commemorate Remembrance Sunday. On Tuesday 11th at 11am a wreath laying service will take place at St Clement War Memorial.
May Christ’s love sustain you this day and always.
Much love and God Bless, Rev Di and family xx
The Greeting
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
We meet in the presence of God;
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hymn; ‘O God our Help in Ages Past’
We gather this morning in penitence and faith, to pray for reconciliation between nations, that all people may, together live in freedom, justice and peace.
We pray for all who in bereavement, disability and pain, continue to suffer the consequences of fighting and terror. We remember with thanksgiving and sorrow those whose lives in world wars and conflicts past and present, have been given and taken away.
Hymn; ‘O Valiant Hearts’
Act of Remembrance
As usual, today on Remembrance Sunday, The Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals will hold a special service at the Animals War Memorial in London at 3.00pm to honour the animals who ‘also served’ but ‘had no choice’. During the Battle of the Somme in WW1, 9 million horses, donkeys and mules died. Many of those not killed on the battlefields were slaughtered for food after the war – some reward for faithful service. The many service dogs and cats were either abandoned or shot, and the carrier pigeons were also despatched. War Dogs continue to serve in the military, and many lose their lives during their protection duties. The Royal British Legion now recognise the service of animals in war and support the laying of wreaths to commemorate those lives lost.
A picture of the wreath laid today in church will be sent to the head offices of both societies as a recognition that we at St Clement have remembered 'those who also served in human conflict’
Let us remember before God and commend to His safe keeping,
those who have died for their country in war; those whom we knew, and whose memory we treasure, and all who have lived and died
in the service of the peoples of the world.
The Laying of the Wreaths
(Red and Purple Poppy)
‘They shall not grow old as we who 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.’
We will remember them.
The Last Post
(Followed by 2 minutes silence)
The Reveille
Prayer of Commemoration
Let us pray; Ever living God, we remember all those whom you have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of your presence; may that same peace calm our fears, bring justice to all peoples and establish harmony among the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and Eternal God, from whose love in Christ we cannot be parted, either by death or life: hear our prayers and thanksgivings
for all whom we remember this day; fulfil in them the purpose of your love; and bring us all, with them, to your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“The Soldier” Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me:
that there’s some corner of a foreign field
that is forever England.
There shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
a dust whom England bore, shaped,
made aware, gave once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam.
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
a pulse in the eternal mind,
no less gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
and laughter, learnt of friends;
and gentleness, in hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
The National Anthem
God save our gracious King,
Long live our noble King,
God save the King.
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the King.
God bless our native land,
May heaven’s protective hand
Still guard our shore.
May peace his power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend
And Britain’s rights depend
On war no more.
Not in this land alone
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore.
Lord make the nations see
That men should brothers be;
And form one family
The wide world o’er.
Act of Penitence
Let us confess to God the sins and shortcomings of the world;
its pride, its selfishness, its greed; its evil divisions and hatreds.
Let us confess our share in what is wrong, and our failure to seek and establish that peace which God wills for all his children.
Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;
that we may do justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.
Absolution
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and keep us in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Collect
Let us pray: Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all;
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the family of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to His just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings
Micah 4. 1-5 Romans 8. 31-end
Gospel John 15. 9-17
Hear the Gospel of our Lord according to John
(Glory to you, O Lord)
Jesus said: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. (Praise to you, O Christ)
Reflection
I have told this story before, but I strongly believe that part of Remembrance Sunday is to keep the memory alive of those who served their country in wartime. So today I re-member the story of Badge.
It’s seven years now since I had the honour and privilege to officiate at the funeral of the late Mr Aubrey Breeds. He was aged 96, and all of his working life was spent in the army, which he joined at the age of 14 as a bugler in The Royal Horse Artillery, where he was given the nickname; ‘Badge.’
Eventually he answered to no other name, and it was by this name I commended him into the safe keeping of our loving God.
Unless they serve in the armed forces, my generation have no direct experience of war and have never felt the fear of knowing when the next moment might be their last.
Badge, however, was involved in the Second World War, and during this time he lived with this fear when in Singapore where he was captured by the Japanese and sent to the jungle prison camps.
He spent 4 years in horrendous circumstances, brutalised by the prison guards, starved of decent food and riddled with tropical illnesses.
With his family’s permission, I shall read part of his eulogy from his funeral, as written by his son, Clive.
My Dad joined the army was aged just 14 when he joined the army and became a bugler in the Royal Horse Artillery hence his nickname of ‘Badge.’
He was sent to war at the tender age of 19 and became the youngest Sergeant in the British Army at that time. During the war he was captured and spent 4 years in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp, where he was put to work building a railway for the Japanese.
There was a saying that for every railway sleeper there was one dead prisoner, such were the conditions, it was known as ‘The Railway of Death.’
If you have seen the film, or read the book entitled; ‘The Railway Man’ that is exactly what Badge went through.
He told us how he was tortured and said the guards used to make him stand with arms outstretched and a banana in his mouth under the heat of the tropical sun. If he got teeth marks on the banana, he would be beaten.
When Badge was finally rescued, he conducted Lord Louis Mountbatten around the camp, the reason he had to do this was because he was the only prisoner left with a half decent pair of shorts.
Later on, on the ship home, a Doctor told Badge that he wouldn’t live past 50, boy, did he prove that Doctor wrong.
When Badge told us about this a few years ago, he joked that he bet he’d outlived the Doctor. We think he may well have been the last of the British Prisoners of War to return home.
It is a very sobering thought that if it wasn’t for the sacrifices people like him made, none of us would likely be here today.
And Badge’s son continues;
While going through all Dad’s papers in the house, we came across a letter to my Dad signed by King George the 6th, thanking him for his sacrifice and service to the country.
We also found a letter from Tony Blair, who Dad disliked intensely, and one from the Queen congratulating him and my Mum on their 70th wedding anniversary. They were married for 73 years and were in their 74th together when Mum passed away.
Dad hadn’t been doing too well since my Mother died and had been in and out of hospital for one thing and another, but despite that, he was always in good humour.
Then he ended up in hospital yet again, this time having suffered a stroke. He lost the use of his left arm and leg, but was still cracking jokes. He was very unhappy in hospital and just wanted to go home. I said to him; ‘But Dad, how can you go home when you can’t even move your left arm?’
He made his right arm into a gun, pointed it at his left arm and said; ‘Move you bastard!
Dad lived in a lot of places in the UK, and in the latter part of his working lief he was in South Africa where he worked in Pyrotechnics, and when he finally retired from that post he returned to the UK.
As children, we lived in army camps and at one of them, when I was a small lad, I dug up a hand grenade in a sand pit. Luckily for me it was very rusty, because as I was walking home, I was swinging it around on the pin.
Mum decided she didn’t like the look of it and put it on the windowsill.
Well, when Dad came home and saw the grenade he nearly had a heart attack right there and then. He carefully put it into his hat on the back seat of the car and drove slowly to the army offices.
He told us afterwards that the people in the office instantly vanished, and he was left standing on his own with the grenade in his hat on the counter.
Then a head poked around the corner, and a voice said; ‘Put it in the fire bucket Sergeant Major’ and when he had done that, they came back in.
Dad laughed at that afterwards saying that the fire bucket wouldn’t have done a darn thing if the grenade had gone off.
Dad was a very gregarious person who made many friends wherever he went. He was still driving around at the age of 90, and if anyone ever had thoughts of becoming religious, a quick drive down narrow Cornish lanes with my Dad at the wheel would bring you to a quick decision!
And Badge’s Tribute ended with the framed poem which was presented to him when he retired in South Africa;
It’s entitled; ‘Bye Bye Badgie’ and the first letter of each line as you go down the verse spells his name; ‘Badgie Breeds’
Bloody fine chap,
And an expert indeed,
Does everything the job may need.
Good for a story, good for a joke,
Industrious workman, ino bloke.
But things must come to an end,
Rather sad to comprehend.
Everyone must reach the stage,
Expressed officially, as retirement age.
Duty done, no more to tell,
So long Badgie, we wish you well.
Badge is now gone, but hearing part of his eulogy has brought him to life again, and, along with our family members lost, we remember him. But this remembering, like our remembering today, is more than just a good thing to do; it is a crucial part of our humanity. Why do we remember? Why have we chosen to wear poppies, give money to the British Legion and to be here today?
The obvious reason is that we made a promise to do so. As a nation, we promised that we would never forget the sacrifices made by those who have fought on our behalf, and those who continue to do so today.
It’s a promise that we keep by being here today. And it’s a promise that we keep by telling the stories of those who died in war, and those who lived through it.
And even in an age which is fickle and wary of commitment, we remain true to this promise, which is now over a hundred years old.
Who we are today is shaped by the events of the past - in fact we can only understand our present by knowing the past.
The philosopher Soren Kierkergard said, "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
By researching and re-telling the stories of the past, we unpack the reasons why we are as we are today. And as we understand the present, so we can make choices for the future.
The men and women whose names are on War Memorials throughout the world aren’t there simply for information, they are there to remind us what it was like to serve and die in war. They remind us that real people, just like you and me, suffered terrible things in war, and continue to suffer today.
And as their names are read, we cannot but commit ourselves to building a world in which such lives need not be wasted.
We don’t look backwards to be maudlin, we look back in order to shape the future, and to avoid the mistakes of the past.
And another reason to remember lies in the word itself. We re-member.
All those millions of men and women who died, all those names on War Memorials up and down the country, they belong to us. Let alone the millions of service animals such as horses, dogs pigeons and even cats, who died alongside their comrades.
Their bodies are scattered across the fields of Europe, the deserts of North Africa, the jungles of Asia. But we remain ‘members’ together. So when we re-member, we bring back together something that has been torn apart.
When we re-member we put back together lives and bodies that were dis-membered. To re-member is to ensure that war and suffering do not have the final word.
I first met Badge on the death of his wife, and on one of my visits to him he lent me a book to read entitled; ‘The Miracle on the River Kwai.’ Written by Ernest Gordon, who was a prisoner with him.
It tells the story of what happened in those brutal jungles. Badge always hated the film; ‘Bridge over the River Kwai,’ which he considered Hollywood nonsense, but this book, he said, this was how it really was.
The book gives all the horrific details of life building the jungle railways; the casual beatings, the forced labour, the constant battle with infection and illness. The book tells the story of evil, but the miracle described in the book was one of faith.
The author, like Badge, arrived in Singapore without any real belief in God, but there, in those grim jungles, surrounded by death, he came to faith. But there, in the least likely of circumstances, he discovered that God was alive and at work, even in the worst of places and the most terrible of situations. There in the jungle God remembered him and found him.
And that was also Badge’s experience. Like so many of those who fought, he rarely spoke of his experiences, but he did talk often about God, and about love and faith. And he said that he learnt about them on the River Kwai.
Just after the camps were liberated, the book’s author wrote this;
‘I had seen at first hand the cruelty. I knew something of suffering and what it meant to look death in the face. I knew the depths to which men could sink and the heights to which they could rise. I could speak of despair, but also of hope; of hatred, but also of love; of man without God, but also of man sustained by God. I knew the power of the demonic, and I knew the greater power of the Holy Spirit’
We remember to keep our promise;
We remember to learn from the mistakes of the past and to build peace in the future;
We re-member, to make whole that which was broken;
We remember that in all things, all places and in all horrors, hope, faith and love are stronger than the powers of darkness and death;
We remember them, because God remembers us.
Amen.
Act of Commitment
Let us pledge ourselves anew to the service of God and our fellow men and women: that we may help, encourage and comfort others, and support those working for the relief of the needy and for the peace and welfare of the nations.
Lord God our Father, we pledge ourselves to serve you in the cause of peace, for the relief of want and suffering, and for the praise of your name. Guide us by your Spirit; give us wisdom; give us courage; give us hope; and keep us faithful now and always. Amen.
Hymn ‘Eternal Father Strong to Save’
Our Intercessions are written by Liz Davies
Ever-living God, we remember those whom you have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of your presence; may that same peace calm our fears, bring justice to all peoples, and establish harmony to all nations.
Father of all, remember your holy promise and look with love on all your people living and departed. On this day we especially ask that you hold forever all who have suffered during war, those who returned scarred by warfare, those who waited anxiously at home, and those who returned home wounded and disillusioned; those who mourned and those communities that were diminished and suffered loss. Remember too, those who acted with kindly compassion, those who bravely risked their own lives for their comrades, and those in the aftermath of war, who worked tirelessly for a more peaceful world. As you remember them, remember us, O Lord; grant us peace in our time and a longing for the day when people of every language, race and nation will be brought into the unity of Christ’s kingdom.
Lest we forget, lest we forget: Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
As we remember those from bygone wars, we remember those who are suffering from war now. We pray for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Sudan, Lebanon, and all those in other war-torn areas of the world. We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your Spirit of comfort may draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war or peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all the innocent children, at risk and in fear; please hold and protect them.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer
Lord, help us to waste none of today’s hours and to miss none of today’s opportunities. Thank you for the gifts you have given us – individually and collectively – and help us to use them to further your Kingdom here on earth - eyes to see and perceive, ears to hear and listen, hands to work and create, minds to think and innovate, memories to remember and learn from, hearts to love and worship.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer
Lord, we pray for: our community that all may be supportive of each other; for those in the armed forces, as they prepare for their next challenges in a dangerous world; for volunteers, carers and those who undertake work for which they are not paid; for our church today and in the coming weeks as we discern your will. Lord, guide and inspire our community, in all we do this week, and in the weeks to come.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Lord, we pray for all who are sick, in body, mind or spirit, for those who are in trouble and fear, for those who are anxious because someone is ill or in pain, for those who are lonely. Lord, bless: those who are tired because they have too much to do, those who are struggling with financial problems, those who are unhappy because of unkind words or actions. Lord, surround those in need with your wisdom, your Spirit, your healing, and your life-giving peace. We especially remember, at this time: Reverend Diane, Ken, Brian, May, Susan, Tony, Jan, Lynda, Dot, Maureen, Pam and David, Sandra, Roger and Helen, Michael and Patricia, Rob and Alison, Mary, Jeremy, Anita and Stephen, Callum and Elaine, Sue and Martin, Margaret and John, Coral and Paul, Barbara, Simone, Felicity, Dinah, Daphne and David, David and Jeanette, Stanley, Carol, John and in a moment of silence, all those who are known to us personally and those who have no one to pray for them
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer
Lord, welcome into your eternal kingdom, all those who have died. We know that they are safe in your hands but we ask your blessing on all who are grieving the loss of loved ones.
We remember those whose year’s mind occurs this week …
Lord, we thank you for this moment, this place, and this world. We give ourselves to you. Take us – as changed people. Ask much of us, expect much of us. Living Lord, accept our lives and accept our prayers this day and every day.
You have the words of eternal life and in you we trust.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St Clement, St Andrew, and St Allen. Merciful Lord, accept these prayers in the name of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Gathering our prayers and praise into one, let us pray as our Saviour taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn; ‘He Who would Valiant Be’
Blessing
God grant to the living grace, to the departed rest,
to the Church, and all humanity, unity, peace and concord;
and to us and all God’s servants, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among us those whom we love, and remain with us always. Amen.
'When you go home, tell them of us and say,
for their tomorrow, we gave our today'.