Forgiveness And Reconciliation

Text of the Week: Let us not become tired fo doing good: for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.  Galatians 6:9

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. It’s Sunday Special today – that means that any children and young people are invited to go through to the café space where there’s some breakfast and lots of activities to enjoy. Thank to our Explore Group who have put together the first part of our service today and to Hy-Tec and Hy-Tide who have put together the last part of our Service. This morning’s service follows on from Remembrance Sunday last week and takes us back to the occasion when David Waters, who spent a gap year with us twenty years ago, joined our panel at the 40th anniversary of Richard’s ordination. David gave us a fore-taste of the Songs of Praise programme he had recently worked on. It was broadcast last Sunday afternoon to mark the 30th anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing. It tells a moving story of forgiveness and reconciliation. This evening’s service ties in with this week’s readings from Matthew’s gospel in Fresh from the Word. Rachel Jacques has copies of the new edition of Fresh from the Word ready for 2018. If you haven’t before, do join those who have been using Fresh from the Word. It gives us the opportunity to read the Bible together as a Church family not only in our Sunday services but through the week as well.

To watch a recording of our service please follow this link ... to find the start of the service move the slider forward to 19 minutes 37 seconds.

Welcome and Call to Worship

After the welcome invite people to be quiet and in the stillness sense the presence of God with us.

Jesus said,

For where two or three are gathered in my name,

I am there among them.

Please remain seated to sing as a prayer …

38 As we are gathered, Jesus is here

            As we are gathered, Jesus is here,

            one with each other, Jesus is here;

            joined by the Spirit, washed in his Blood,

            part of the Body, the Church of God.

            As we are gathered, Jesus is here,

            one with each other, Jesus is here.

John Daniels (born c.1954)

Copyright © 1979 Authentic Publishing/Adm. by kingswaysongs.com

And so with the presence of Jesus with us

it is good to join with all God’s people wherever they may be

to sing our praises to God.

Then I saw the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders

fall before the Lamb,

and sing a new song:

Then I looked,

and I heard the voice of many angels

surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders;

they numbered myriads of myriads

and thousands of thousands,

singing with full voice,

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth

and under the earth and in the sea,

and all that is in them, singing,

‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honour and glory and might

for ever and ever!’

And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’

And the elders fell down and worshipped.

Let’s stand as we are able to join in singing

173  Sing to God new songs of worship-

all his deeds are marvellous;

1          Sing to God new songs of worship-

            all his deeds are marvellous;

            he has brought salvation to us

            with his hand and holy arm.

            He has shown to all the nations

            righteousness and saving power;

            he recalled his truth and mercy

            to his people Israel.

2          Sing to God new songs of worship-

            earth has seen his victory;

            let the lands of earth be joyful

            praising him with thankfulness.

            Sound upon the harp his praises,

            play to him with melody;

            let the trumpets sound his triumph,

            show your joy to God the King!

3          Sing to God new songs of worship-

            let the sea now make a noise;

            all on earth and in the waters,

            sound your praises to the Lord.

            Let the hills rejoice together,

            let the rivers clap their hands,

            for with righteousness and justice

            he will come to judge the earth.

After Psalm 98, Michael Baughen (born 1930)

© Michael Baughen/Jubilate Hymns

It is wonderful to join in with all God’s people wherever they may be and of every generation in singing the praises of God.

Let’s share together in saying the words of Psalm 145 in our praise of God.

I will extol you, my God and King,

   and bless your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will bless you,

   and praise your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

   his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall laud your works to another,

   and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendour of your majesty,

   and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,

   and I will declare your greatness.

They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,

   and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

I will extol you, my God and King,

   and bless your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will bless you,

   and praise your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

   his greatness is unsearchable.

How good it is to sing the praises of God.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

And sometimes it makes us feel very small, all too conscious of our inadequacies, our frailty, our sinfulness.

We know what we should do … and yet so often we don’t do as we should.

We know what we should say … and yet so often we don’t say it

We know what should be in our hearts … and yet so often it’s not there!

But that’s the whole point of the faith we share in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The God he opens up for us to sing our praises to is the God who is full of compassion, who sees us as we are and touches us with a deep-down love that forgives.

Let’s go back to that wonderful vision of God’s glory Iain began our service with …

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slain,

And grasping the secret of life in all its fullness

Then it was that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, sang  a new song:

‘You are worthy to open up the secret of life in all its fullness

for you were slain and by your blood you set your people free for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation;

you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,

   and they will reign on earth.’

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,

‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honour and glory and blessing!’

Let’s look to Jesus and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and in the knowledge of that wonderful love of God let’s say together more words of that Psalm.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

I will extol you, my God and King,

   and bless your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will bless you,

   and praise your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

   his greatness is unsearchable.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,

   and gracious in all his deeds.

The Lord upholds all who are falling,

   and raises up all who are bowed down.

The Lord is just in all his ways,

   and kind in all his doings.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

   to all who call on him in truth.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

On Tuesday evening we met together at Explore to put this morning’s service together. We’ve celebrated the 40^th Anniversary of Richard’s Ordination as Roy Jenkins, David Waters and Yvonne Campbell shared their vision for the church with us. We have celebrated the 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation and the wonderful insight it has given us that God’s grace in all its love reaches out to each of us before we have done anything to deserve it.

We have reflected on dying, death and what is beyond in the sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. In  our Remembrance Service we have committed ourselves once again to work for that peace which those who died in war longed to see.

Where can we turn next?

Reconciliation was, we sensed, the theme we should share today.

Reconciliation begins with forgiveness.

Where better is that story told than in the book of Genesis? Many of its stories set the scene for the whole story of salvation the Bible contains.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation are at the heart of those stories in Genesis and at the heart of the whole story of salvation in the Bible.

When Jacob cheats Esau of his rightful inheritance the two brothers become enemies. The story unfolds focusing on Jacob until towards the end Jacob sees Esau approaching him with 400 hundred men and he is convinced he is bent on revenge and destruction. Gathering all his family together, Jacob goes on ahead to meet his brother and he bowed down to the ground seven times. It is not in a spirit of enmity that Esau has come. He has come in a spirit of friendship.

Jacob reaches out to Esau and says, most movingly, “To see your face is for me like seeing the face of God, now that you have been friendly to me.”

As Jacob’s story comes to an end it leads on to the story of Joseph and his Brothers. And it is a story of forgiveness and reconciliation.

There’s a most moving moment in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat when Joseph is at his lowest – he has fallen out with his brothers, they have fallen out with him. He finds himself in the deepest of dark places. And it is there that he finds the presence of God.

Close every door to me.

I love Joseph and the Amazing Tecnicolor Dreamcoat – but at the very end it somehow misses the point. It comes to a climax with the slushiest of messages – Any dream will do!

No, any dream will not do, I always feel like shouting out in the theatre  but I restrain myself and get carried away with the exuberance of the m music – which I could sing … but I won’t!

The Bible story actually comes to an end on a much more challenging and a much more powerful note.

At the very end of the story in Genesis the tension mounts one last time. Their father, Jacob, has now died. And the brothers are convinced that Joseph will turn to hatred and wreak revenge.

Genesis 50:15-21

After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said,

“What if Joseph still hates us

and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?”

So they sent a message to Joseph:

“Before our father died, he told us to ask you,

‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed

when they wronged you.’

Now please forgive us the wrong that we,

the servants of your father's God, have done.”

Joseph cried when he received this message.

Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him.

“Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.

But Joseph said to them,

“Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God.

You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good,

in order to preserve the lives of many people

who are alive today because of what happened.

You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.”

So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

Forgiveness leads on to reconciliation.

Verse 20 is one of the most powerful in the Bible …

You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good,

That’s the God I believe in.

And then comes an even more wonderful moment … as Joseph reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

Let’s come back to those words of Psalm 145

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

The Lord is just in all his ways,

   and kind in all his doings.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

   to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;

   he also hears their cry, and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him,

  

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

   and all will bless his holy name for ever and ever.

187 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy

1          There's a wideness in God's mercy,

            like the wideness of the sea;

            there's a kindness in his justice,

            which is more than liberty.

2          There is no place where earth's sorrows

            are more felt than in God's heaven:

            there is no place where earth's failings

            have such kindly judgement given.

3          For the love of God is broader

            than the grasp of mortal mind;

            and the heart of the Eternal

            is most wonderfully kind.

4          If our love were but more simple,

            we would take him at his word;

            and our lives be filled with glory

            from the glory of the Lord.

Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)

Forgiveness gives rise to reconciliation. And that makes a world of difference.  It can make a difference in our lives not because of any strength we can muster but because of that strength we can draw on from beyond ourselves in the unseen, yet very real power of the Holy Spirit.

But the Spirit produces

love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

humility, and self-control.

There is no law against such things as these.

Reading: Galatians 5:22-26 & 6:7-10

And those who belong to Christ Jesus

have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.

The Spirit has given us life;

he must also control our lives.

We must not be proud

or irritate one another

or be jealous of one another.

Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God.

People will reap exactly what they sow.

If they sow in the field of their natural desires,

from it they will gather the harvest of death;

if they sow in the field of the Spirit,

from the Spirit they will gather the harvest of eternal life.

So let us not become tired of doing good;

for if we do not give up,

the time will come when we will reap the harvest.

So then, as often as we have the chance,

we should do good to everyone,

and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.

Those are powerful words –

The Spirit has given us life;

he must also control our lives.

People will reap exactly what they sow.

So let us not become tired of doing good;

So then, as often as we have the chance,

we should do good to everyone,

Forgiveness. Reconciliation.

Can that really be something practical to live your life by?

A month ago at that celebration weekend for the 40^th anniversary of Richard’s ordination, David Waters spoke of his return to Songs of Praise. He had just been working on the Songs of Praise edition for Remembrance Sunday which this year marked the 30^th anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing in Nortthern Ireland. David spoke of filming Joan Wilson whose husband Gordon found it within himself to forgive those who had so cruelly killed their daughter. He rcalled how everyone involved in the filming was moved – even the cameraman, moved to tears, he said.

Joan Wilson reflects on how faith gave her strength after losing her daughter in the Enniskillen bomb. And Father Brian Darcy on how Gordon Wilson’s words impacted the Peace Process.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05mfjmm

Thursday on the Today Programme at 1 hr 30 mins

Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, himself a victim of terrorist bombing went with the Coptic Bishop Angelos to a desert monastic community north of Cairo and he spoke to a community that feels under siege.

On Tuesday we will be praying for the persecuted church – to do that with Open Doors is to be struck by the resilience of the Christians in the Middle East, their defiance in the face  and their commitment to the Gospel of Christ in all its forgiving love.

Bishop Angelos reflected on what it was about the Coptic people that impressed him.

The Copts are a resilient people who have faced persecution for 2000 years and the wonderful thing for me, the very inspiring thing for me is that I always fall back on the example of people here who face this with such forgiveness and such strength and such grace.

We don’t want to die. We love to live because life is given to us by God we are not people who look to die but we embrace it if it comes our way. I think resilience comes from a love of life in the right way and an ability to forgive even those who pursue our death and our persecution.

What would you say then, to the extremists of ISIS and others who say Christians have no place in the Middle East? Asked Frank Gardner.

My message to those who choose to persecute us, replied Bishop Angelos, is that you are loved, we forgive you.

Frank Gardner responded, How on earth can you say that you love somebody who blows up and butchers innocent people?

Because I know that it is the evil within the person acting not the person him or herself and what I want is for that person to look at every individual as a human with the sanctity of life, with a dignity and a right to live.

Then Frank  Gardner went on to meet a Coptic man whose granddaughter had been killed in the bombing of a Cathedral church last December just before Christmas when a suicide bomber had killed 25 to 30 people, nearly all women and children.

Frank Gardner asked Samir what happened that day. Speaking through an interpreter he explained what had happened.

I got back from church and turned the TV on and saw there had been an explosion at |St Mark’s and people had died. I knew my grandchildren would be there so I rushed down there to see what was going on.

I saw ambulances, police and people carrying stretchers – he saw my daughter who had seen my granddaughter had been taken to another hospital.

He found her plugged into a machine. We were praying for a miracle. We prayed to God to save her we kept on praying for her but sadly she was gone. She went to heaven 21^st December

After the terrible thing that has happened has it changed you? Asked Frank Gardner. Do you feel stronger, weaker?

After the attack we are stronger. I used to go to church once a week before the attach but now I go several times a week.

Our church is called the martyrs’ church – its fruit grows with the blood of martyrs, the believers of the church.

Then came the question that made me prick my ears up even more.

Could you ever forgive the terrorists who did this?

Samir then spoke so powerfully of his Christian faith.

Our religion teaches us to forgive. It teaches us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us. And to pray for those who hurt us. Yes we will forgive them despite all the blood that was spilled. Our faith tells us to forgive.

Frank Gardner then went on to give his comment as the BBC’s security correspondent.

Well, he sighed audibly, it’s obviously an incredibly moving story. A number of things strike me about this.

One is this amazing attitude that Coptic Christians seem to have, the few that I have spoken to since I have been here of turning the other cheek. Of saying, you know, we must forgive.

Then Frank Gardner said something very, very personal.

But personally, as a victim of terrorism myself, I don’t forgive the terrorists. They’ve never apologized. I’ve never had a letter from the mum saying forgive so and so.

But they, [those Coptic Christians,] are different.

They keep telling me they want to love the terrorists, they want to say prayers for them which to me is extraordinary.

The other thing is the resilience that they have so this man that has lost his darling grand daughter and his own daughter has been horribly scarred and damaged  for ever by the explosion yet he says he goes even more to church than ever before. He is determined to resist the threats from the terrorists.

486 Forgive our sins as we forgive

1          'Forgive our sins as we forgive',

            You taught us, Lord, to pray,

            But you alone can grant us grace

            To live the words we say.

2          How can your pardon reach and bless

            The unforgiving heart

            That broods on wrongs, and will not let

            Old bitterness depart?

3          In blazing light your cross reveals

            The truth we dimly knew,

            How small the debts men owe to us,

            How great our debt to you!

4          Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,

            And bid resentment cease;

            Then, reconciled to God and man,

            Our lives will spread your peace.

Rosamond E. Herklots (1905–1987)

© Oxford University Press

Is it really possible to forgive in such a way?

Is it really possible to seek reconciliation for real?

Hard on the heels of that piece by Frank Gardner on  Friday morning came Thought for the Day with Lucy Winkett.

She reflected on how forgiveness is so often seen as something weak, as if it involves letting people get away with something. So often it is seen as somewhere between impossibly generous and unhelpfully pious.

She was quite clear. It is not about being nice. It is not about being a doormat. Especially does that apply, she suggested, to women who have experienced domestic violence.

She reflected on the way there is a timeliness to forgiveness and for many it isn’t yet; it isn’t now.

She suggested it’s more of a process than an event.

And then she quoted Marion Partington who only discovered after 21 years that her sister, Lucy, who had gone missing had been killed by the West’s in Gloucester. The discovery set her on a path that has led to her involvement in the Forgiveness project.

Forgiveness, she suggests, is giving up hope of a better past. She knows what she is talking about.

When I embark on a process of trying to forgive you or trying to forgive myself I am taking a deep breath and turning my face towards a past that I know I can’t change. It’s not weak: it’s strong. And the hallmark of the strength of forgiveness is found in the root of the word used in the NT. To set aside. To let go. What is forgiveness then?

Listening to Samir perhaps it begins in defiance, choosing what is inevitably a costly path to freedom

It’s interesting how Lucy turns to an understanding of the NT to throw light on the emotional power of what Marion Partington had said. Lucy Winkett has written the forward to 2018’s Fresh from the Word. Rachel has got fifty copies for the New Year – and so make sure you get a copy. If you haven’t had one so far please put your name on the list, and make sure you get hold of them.

“When we read the Bible with our heart, she says, we let it touch us; we let the gospel get under our skin….

“When we read the Bible with our head, we obey the commandment to love the Lord our God with our mind as well as everything else.

“And finally, when we read the Bible with our feet, we acknowledge that this scripture is good news for our lives as they are lived now.”

Is it really possible to forgive in such a way?

Is it really possible to seek reconciliation for real?

No, it is not possible … in our own strength.

But what makes our faith the faith that makes such a difference for Samir and those Coptic Christians and for Marion Partington and those involved in the Forgiveness Project is that we have a strength from beyond ourselves that we can draw on.

The Spirit has given us life;

he must also control our lives.

People will reap exactly what they sow.

So let us not become tired of doing good;

So then, as often as we have the chance,

we should do good to everyone,

526 This is a day of new beginnings

This is the definitive version of the text. An earlier version Is this a day of new beginnings in Faith Looking Forward is given elsewhere but the definitive version should be used wherever possible.

1          This is a day of new beginnings,

            time to remember, and move on,

            time to believe what love is bringing,

            laying to rest the pain that's gone.

2          For by the life and death of Jesus,

            love's mighty Spirit, now as then,

            can make for us a world of difference

            as faith and hope are born again.

3          Then let us, with the Spirit's daring,

            step from the past, and leave behind

            our disappointment, guilt and grieving,

            seeking new paths, and sure to find.

4          In faith we'll gather round the table

            to show and share what love can do.

            This is a day of new beginnings;

            our God is making all things new.

Brian Wren (born 1936)        

© 1983, 1987 Stainer & Bell Ltd

Prayers of Concern

The Lord’s Supper led by our Children and Young People

Praise with Hy-Spirit

Words of Blessing

Building a New Jerusalem - A Service for Remembrance Sunday

Text of the Week: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea. Psalm 46:1-3

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshipping with us for the first time. On this Remembrance Sunday, during our morning service we shall observe the two minutes silence. As we read the names of those who lost their lives in war associated with this church we remember that those who were in that First World War longed that it should be the war to end all wars. We remember that those who were in the Second World War longed that it should be the war to end all wars. As we remember let us honour their memory in our commitment to work by all means possible for that peace which they longed to pass on to future generations, a peace we pray for in a world that in so many places is still at war. In the words of the Prayer of St Francis, 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: 

where there is hatred, let me sow love; 

where there is injury, pardon; 

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, 

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, 

to be understood as to understand, 

to be loved as to love. 

For it is in giving that we receive, 

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

For a recording of our service follow this link

The service begins at 7' 38"

Welcome and Call to Worship

Hymn 161 O God, our help in ages past

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Psalm 46: the Congregation

God is our refuge and strength,

   a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam,

   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

   the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

   God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

   he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord;

   see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

   he burns the shields with fire.

‘Be still, and know that I am God!

   I am exalted among the nations,

   I am exalted in the earth.’

The Lord of hosts is with us;

   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Be still!

There is something very peaceful and calming about those words. They come into so many of our hymns and some of our favourites

Be still for the presence of the Lord, the holy one is here.

But is ‘be still’ quite the way to

The mountains shake, the waters roar and foam

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter

And then the commanding voice of God speaks

Be still

Quiet!

Is it a roar?

It’s captured in one of my favourite hymns for Christmas –

it came upon the midnight clear

that glorious song of old

Peace to the earth

But with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angels’ hymn have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong

And warring humankind hears not

The love song which they sing

O hush the noise you men of strife

And hear the angels sing

Be still!

Quiet!

Hush the noise!

… is what Jesus said as the

It is the voice of Jesus who stills the raging sea

Reading: Mark 4:35-39

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them,

‘Let us go across to the other side.’

And leaving the crowd behind,

they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

Other boats were with him.

A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat,

so that the boat was already being swamped.

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion;

and they woke him up and said to him,

‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,

‘Peace! Be still!’

Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

That image is a picture of the long forgotten national war memorial, commissioned just after the 2^nd world war and in Aldershot. The sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos depicts Christ in the middle of the storm of raging war saying,

Peace!

Be Still!

Hush the noise you men of strife

And hear the angels’ sing

Remembering Friends

The story of Corder Catchpool and the Friends Ambulance Unit

A Hy-Spirit Song

An Act of Remembrance

In a moment or two we shall stand to remember those who have lost their lives in war, particularly the wars our country has engaged in during the last Century and this:  the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, the Suez War, the end of Empire Conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, the Falklands War, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, the terrorist atrocities of 9/11 7/7, the war in Libya, the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria.

We make a special remembrance of those who lost their lives from this church, most young men in their teens and in their twenties.

Those who were in that First World War longed that it should  be the war to end all wards.  Those who were in the Second World War longed that it should be the war to tend all wars … as we remember, let us honour their memory in our commitment to work by all means possible for that peace which they longed to pass on to future generations, a peace we pray for in a world that in so many places is still at war.

Will you please stand.

We remember all those who have lost their lives in war … particularly do we remember those connected with this fellowship, Highbury Congregational Church who lost their lives:

W.G. Bowles

DM Brown

G Clayton

C Coles

F Cooper

F Gill

K Gurney

HG Marshall

J Phillips

J Saunders

W Stephens

F Warren

CW Winterbottom

H Woodward

528 Make me a channel of your peace

Activities for all over 3

Words for when there are no words

It must have been a year ago that Richard Sharpe passed on to me a reflection on Remembrance by Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, a frequent contributor to Thought for the Day. He drew attention to a book published a couple of years before of readings, prayers, poems and reflections for Remembrance. It is called Hear My 
Cry It is, commented Nick Baines, a repeated and heartfelt wrenching of the spirit taken from the Psalms.

But what caught his attention more than anything else was the subtitle:

‘Words for when there are no words’.

There is a time for silence. I find it most moving to share in the two minutes silence on Remembrance Sunday.

Silence can be moving. But it can also be haunting. One of my abiding memories of talking to people who had been through the first world war was of their silence – they wouldn’t speak of it. The same can be said of the conversations I had with people who had been through the second world war. Silence – they couldn’t speak of what they had been through.

There is an aching silence in many of the Psalms which is broken with a gut-wrenching cry, Hear my Cry! Often poetry provides an outlet and finds words for when there are no words.

It was just such a poem written by her father that Helen discovered only very recently.

Helen spoke movingly of her father's war-time service and his commitment to bringing people together following the war.

My Father was a man of peace.

He was a teacher and lay preacher when war broke out in 1939 and struggled deeply with ‘going to war’, contemplating being a conscientious objector.  In the end though, he felt he had to fight and went to war when he was called up in 1940.

He was in the Royal Engineers and built Bailey bridges a lot, usually in the dark, it seems.  He was a natural leader and was selected for Officer Training just as his battalion was about to be shipped out, so he didn’t go with them.  They were practically wiped out in their first offensive. He felt a deep sorrow at the loss of his friends and comrades.

By 1945 he was a Sergeant Major and was shipped to Bombay to protect India if Japan invaded.  They never did, but Dad made great friends with his Indian Batman and his family, discovering authentic Indian cuisine for the first time when invited to his family home.  His fellow Officers found Dad’s behaviour – fraternising with the locals – frankly baffling. Dad didn’t care. They stayed in touch for the rest of their lives.  

His experiences in India, France and Belgium during the wae cemented in him a great love for his fellow man, of whatever colour or race, which never left him.

In 1951 he was invited to go to the International School of the United Nations in Geneva, with a view to becoming the Head of the School.  He went for a visit with my Mother and Sister and loved it!  But his sense of responsibility to his ageing Mother who lived with them and refused to leave England, meant that they stayed in Cheltenham and became Head of Naunton Park School.

Instead, we hosted many foreign exchange students from Switzerland, Austria and other European countries, many of whom became life-long friends.

He never spoke about the war to me, but after his death, we found a book of poems he had written during the war – mostly love poems to my Mother! But the last one I found deeply moving.  

My Mother told me he stopped writing poetry after this…

A visit to an injured comrade in hospital – January 1942

(By Bill Whiteman)

I came to see you, chat and smile

But her greeting frightened me - .

“A minute,” said the Nurse, “No more,”

And looked at me suspiciously.

She will not say you’re dying, but her look

Says so, - the way she says, “He’s not so well today.”

She let me come without a word last week.

You looked well then, and talked and smiled,

Your hand gripped mine, you said,

“Soon I’ll be back!” I went away lighthearted,

For I felt that such determination,

With your happy, plucky heart, would bring you through

In spite of injuries so terrible.

But now – you’re “Not so well today.”

And I walk down towards your bed

Sadly; with foreboding;

Trying to walk silently, in army boots.

The Nurse won’t let me come alone,

She’s here as well, and speaks to you,

“A visitor – know who it is?”

She steps aside and I see you –

Oh friend, how ill you look!

Must I be cheerful, smile, talk brightly,

While the heart cramps and tears are near?

You, whom I remember with your chubby face alight with smiles,

And wrinkles round bright shining eyes,

Now sunken-cheeked, and trembling lipped,

Breath coming quick and shallow,

Puffing from your blood-stained lips.

Your eyelids rise so slowly, as if the effort

Were too much.

My friend, your eyes!

Oh God! They’re dead man’s eyes!

Film-coated, slowly moving as you seek my face,

As though you see another world

But turn them back, and seek through mist,

To see again your friend,

Before the earth is blotted out.

My head close to your ear

“This won’t do lad, how is it now?”

(My voice a whisper, trembling too).

You speak to me between your panting,

“I’m – not so well – today.”

No, friend, I know you’re not, and what’s the comfort I can offer?

Talk lies about next time –

Smile with my face? Thank God

You cannot see my fearing eyes, nor know

My dreading heart.

I wish you well – “I hope that you’ll be better –

Soon.”

I fear that you’ll be dead.

[Driver John Rymer died 2 days later, Sunday 1st February 1942]

It is as much in prayer as in poetry that we find Words for When there are no Words – a worship group in a local church put these words together for Remembrance Sunday with the help of John Bell.

712 What shall we pray?

1          What shall we pray for those who died,

            those on whose death our lives relied?

            Silenced by war but not denied,

            God give them peace.

2          What shall we pray for those who mourn

            friendships and love, their fruit unborn?

            Though years have passed, hearts still are torn;

            God give them peace.

3          What shall we pray for those who live

            tied to the past they can't forgive,

            haunted by terrors they relive?

            God give them peace.

4          What shall we pray for those who know

            nothing of war, and cannot show

            grief or regret for friend or foe?

            God give them peace.

5          What shall we pray for those who fear

            war, in some guise, may reappear

            looking attractive and sincere?

            God give them peace.

6          God give us peace and, more than this

            show us the path where justice is;

            and let us never be remiss

            working for peace that lasts.

Carnwardric Parish Church (Glasgow) Worship Group

© Carnwadrick Parish Church and Wild Goose Resource Group

I will not cease from mental fight

There are times when in our words we are called to be outspoken. As the Napoleonic wars raged William Blake was one who was outspoken about the ills of the world around him. He put together a collection of what he called Prophetic Books. Among them was an epic poem called Milton. In the preface he quoted the Book of Numbers  chapter 11: Would to God that all the Lord’s People were prophets.

And as part of that preface he wrote a poem which for a hundred years was hardly noticed. And then in 1916 Robert Bridges published it in an anthology that was published as morale was on the decline, patriotic fervor needed to be stirred up and conscription introduced. It was just the time when Corder Catchpool were increasingly disillusioned.

Robert Bridges then went on to commission Sir Hubert Parry to put it to music for a Fight for Right Campaign meeting in the Queen’s Hall London. It was a hundred years ago this year, however, that Sir Hubert Parry himself became very uneasy with the way the war was unfolding. In May 1917 he withdrew his support for the Fight for Right campaign. That year Jersualem was taken up by the Suffragettes and in 1918 one of their leaders, Milicent Fawcett asked Sir Hubert Parry to orchestrate it for a Suffragette rally.

The words of this poem set to music so powerfully are not so much a patriotic call to arms: they are rather a passionate call to change things for the better – would to God that all the Lord’s People were prophets.

The key to understanding the poem is in realizing that the expected answer to each of the questions posed in the first half is no, of course not.

And did those feet in ancient time,

Walk upon Englands mountains green: - no, of course not

And was the holy Lamb of God,

On Englands pleasant pastures seen! – no of course not

And did the Countenance Divine,

Shine forth upon our clouded hills? – no of course not

And was Jerusalem builded here,

Among these dark Satanic Mills? – no of course not.

Would to God that all the Lord’s people were prophets – it is for us to find a prophetic voice and make a difference …

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;

Bring me my Arrows of desire:

Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!

Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Would to God that all the Lord’s People were prophets

The composer of those words, like the author of the words a century before had a passion to see society change in the wake of war. So it was that he gave the copyright for the music to the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.

By the time women got the vote finally on an equal footing in 1928 Sir Hubert Parry had died. His family looked for another campaigning women’s movement to give the copyright for the music to. The copyright was given to the Women’s Institute. Each year Women’s Institute meetings up and down the country vote on a cause to support nationally. At their annual meeting in 2017 the National Federation of Women’s Institutes voted to “call upon the Government to stop the accumulation of microplastic fibres in our oceans and to take steps in communities to alleviate loneliness.

To honour those who lost their lives in war we need to re-capture the passion they had to build a peace that would make a world of difference.

Would to God that all the Lord’s People were prophets.

Before we sing the hymn, let’s have in our mind’s eye what the new Jerusalem would look like.

There is no better place to turn than Isaiah 65.

But be glad and rejoice for ever

   in what I am creating;

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,

   and its people as a delight.

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,

   or the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it

   an infant that lives but a few days,

   or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

   they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

   the lion shall eat straw like the ox;

   but the serpent—its food shall be dust!

They shall not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain,

says the Lord.

To build the new Jerusalem we need to be passionate in the cause of

Alleviating distress

Caring for children and older people

Providing housing and employment

And working for reconciliation

Weren’t those the things that those who returned from the Second World war were passionate about – education for all, health for all, justice for all – coupled with a coming together of the nations who had been at war in the United Nations and in the beginnings of a very different kind of Europe.

To honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in war would to God that all the Lord’s People were prophets.

CP 754 Jerusalem

Prayers of Concern

706 For the healing of the nations

Words of Blessing

Retiring Collection