e-Service - 14 November 2021

Mexborough Baptist Church Sunday 14th November 2021

Remembrance Sunday

Photo from Royal British Legion

Welcome to this service of Remembrance. 2021 marks 100 years since our nation’s collective Remembrance traditions were first brought together in the pattern we are all familiar with - the poppy, the two-minute silence, Armistice Day, the service for the Unknown Warrior, the march-past at the Cenotaph, and parades and services at war memorials in towns and villages all over the UK.

Our first hymn is a traditional remembrance hymn of gratitude to God for his help in the past and hope for our future - 'O God our help in ages past' click on the link

Prayer

Lord God, may this gathering, together with Remembrance Sunday thoughts and prayers everywhere, help move our world one step closer to the peace of your Kingdom. We come together today to remember with thanks those who have given their lives in service of others; to remember with sadness the suffering, destruction and pain caused by human conflict; to commit ourselves to be peacemakers and peacekeepers wherever we can. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

from a PowerPoint by the Royal British Legion.

Thank you to Mary Davies for knitting these poppies.

One of the ways in which Remembrance is evolving is in the colour of the poppies. The iconic red poppy as the symbol of Remembrance goes back over a hundred years, even during the First World War, partly due to Major John McCrae's poem written in 1915 'In Flanders Fields'.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

White poppies have been worn for over eighty years, promoted by the Peace Pledge Union. The white poppy stands for three things:

remembrance for all victims of war, those killed in war, those wounded in body or mind, the millions who have been made sick or homeless, the families and communities torn apart, those killed or imprisoned for refusing to fight.

A commitment to peace and to finding non-violent solutions to conflicts.

a challenge to attempts to glamorise or celebrate war.

Today over 90% of people killed in warfare are civilians. A recent poll shows that 83% of UK adults believe victims of war of all nationalities should be included in remembrance, whilst 86% believe civilians should be included.

More recently, the purple poppy was created in 2006 in remembrance of the animal victims of war. The Purple Poppy Appeal is organised by the War Horse Memorial, which gives donations to animal charities.

The black poppy, launched in 2010, commemorates African, West Indian and Pacific Islander people who played an important role for Britain in World War Two, and also in rebuilding the country afterwards. The black poppy is sold by the Black Poppy Rose organisation and the proceeds fund the organisation’s work to document and tell the stories of black people who fought and died in war.

Whomever and however we choose to remember, please pause and spend a few moments in silence to remember before God, and commend to His sure 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 mankind.

When you're ready, listen to this Remembrance Hymn 'O Lord we look upon the past' click on the link

Prayers for Remembrance Sunday were prepared for us by Trevor Hughes...

Father God, we thank you for bringing us together this Remembrance Sunday.

Let us bring before you, the God of peace, our prayers for the world, the church and all Your people.

Merciful God we pray for peace in our hearts and homes, in our nations and our world, the peace that is your will, the peace that we so badly need.

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 peace among the nations.