All Saints' Millington
  • Home
  • Who we are
    • Clergy & Staff
    • 100 Years And Counting
    • Spiritual Connections
  • Worship
    • Becoming a Member
    • Sermons & Reflections
    • Words of Faith
    • Baptisms
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
  • Music & Choirs
  • Outreach
  • Giving
  • Calendar
  • E-Letter

Reflection on the 100th Anniversary of the Start of World War I

8/3/2014

0 Comments

 
Dear Friends in Christ,

Tomorrow, August 4th, is the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I. Throughout Europe there are many memorials and commemorations taking place. The Church of England website has offered many resources for reflection and worship, some of which I have included below. All of these resources are from a British perspective; in part, that is our heritage as a Church, and what is most easily available in English. But we need to remember that suffering and atrocities happened on all sides, and in many, many places. No one who participated was left unscarred in some way, and the world has never been the same since.

+ + + + + + +

The British war poets (including Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Vera Brittain) wrote of their experience of the horror and destruction of war in ways that were especially poignant, given that the public expectation in 1914 was that the war would be limited and speedy, a way to bring glory to England and heroism and pride to self. Owen died on 4 November 1918, just before the war’s end, at the age of 25.

1914, by Wilfred Owen

War broke: and now the Winter of the world
With perishing great darkness closes in.
The foul tornado, centred at Berlin,
Is over all the width of Europe whirled,
Rending the sails of progress. Rent or furled
Are all Art's ensigns. Verse wails. Now begin
Famines of thought and feeling. Love's wine's thin.
The grain of human Autumn rots, down-hurled.

For after Spring had bloomed in early Greece,
And Summer blazed her glory out with Rome,
An Autumn softly fell, a harvest home,
A slow grand age, and rich with all increase.
But now, for us, wild Winter, and the need
Of sowings for new Spring, and blood for seed.

This You Tube link is for Choral Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, recorded by the BBC on august 13, 1982. You may want to listen to the entire service (about 50 minutes), but the anthem (at minute 33:24) is very appropriate in reflecting on World War I. It is “Give unto the Lord” by Edward Elgar, a setting of Psalm 29, and it was written and sung for the first time in April 1914 – as it happens, a very prescient prayer for peace; beautiful and moving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaLUj_aSHpM

A responsorial prayer of commemoration
Remember, Lord, those whose stories were unspoken and untold.
Jesus, remember them when you come into your kingdom.

Remember, Lord, those whose minds were darkened and disturbed by memories of war.
Jesus, remember them when you come into your kingdom.

Remember, Lord, those who suffered in silence, and those whose bodies were disfigured by injury and pain.
Jesus, remember them when you come into your kingdom.

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 would hold for ever all who suffered during the First World War, those who returned scarred by warfare, those who waited anxiously at home, and those who returned 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 who in the aftermath of war, worked tirelessly for a more peaceful world. And 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. This we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
  + + + + + + +

Many of you will remember the Rev. Mark Beach and his family, who served here in 1999 during Richard Wrede’s sabbatical. Mark is now the Dean of Rochester Cathedral in England. Here is a link to the Cathedral’s website describing what they are doing in remembrance of World War I http://www.rochestercathedral.org/news/categories/cathedral-news/277-remember-ww1.

And a final link, to a hymn that is in our hymnal (#597) “O day of peace that dimly shines.” It is set to the very famous British tune Jerusalem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zso1Y_B7EbA

O day of peace that dimly shines
through all our hopes and prayers and dreams,
guide us to justice, truth, and love,
delivered from our selfish schemes.
May the swords of hate fall from our hands,
our hearts from envy find release,
till by God's grace our warring world
shall see Christ's promised reign of peace.

Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,
nor shall the fierce devour the small;
as beasts and cattle calmly graze,
a little child shall lead them all.
Then enemies shall learn to love,
all creatures find their true accord;
the hope of peace shall be fulfilled,
for all the earth shall know the Lord. ~ Carl P. Daw

In this summer when so much in our world seems to be so violent and difficult, may courage and leadership never be lacking, and yet may we always pray for wisdom and guidance and be about doing “the peace that passes all understanding.”

Blessings,
Vicki+

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Sermons & Reflections

    Sermons and reflections from clergy and lay leadership at
    All Saints' Episcopal Church, Millington, NJ.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    12 Steps
    Aa
    Advent
    Arizona Shooting
    Art
    Ascension
    Authority
    Baptism
    Bread
    Church History
    Common Good
    Community
    Community Of Faith
    Commuting
    Death
    Demons
    Desert
    Diakonia
    Discipleship
    Distractions
    Doubt
    Easter
    Easter Eve
    Episcopalian
    Episcopal Vocation
    Eternal Life
    Evangelism
    Fans
    Ferguson
    Foot Washing
    Humility
    Independence Day
    Invitation
    Jesus Finds Us
    Justice
    Kingdom Of God
    Lazarus
    Lent
    Liberty
    Lordship
    Love
    Mark's Gospel
    Mark's Gospel
    Marriage
    Mary Magdalene
    Maundy Thursday
    Mercy
    Money
    Oppression
    Ordination
    Outreach
    Palm Sunday
    Parenting
    Patriotism
    Peace
    Prayer
    Questions
    Racism
    Reflection
    Religion
    Resurrection
    Samaritan Woman
    Seeds
    Selfsufficiency103ee8a392
    Sermons
    Service
    Spirituality
    Stewardship
    Surprise
    The Binding Of Isaac
    Trust
    Truth Telling
    Truthtelling00f726273f
    Violence
    Vocation
    Worry
    Worship

    RSS Feed

All Saints' Episcopal Church

 15 Basking Ridge Road, Millington NJ 07946    phone: (908) 647-0067    email: allstsmill@hotmail.com