Commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of WW1
‘Sons of mine I hear you thrilling To the trumpet call of war; Gird ye then I give you freely As I give your sires before, All the noblest of the children I in love and anguish bore’
Or Rupert Brooke
‘Now God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour, And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping…’
How very different years later when Wilfred Owen wrote:
‘What passing bells for those who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns’
Or Siegfried Sassoon’s:
‘Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear, They leave their trenches, going over the top, While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists, Flounders in mud. O Jesus make it stop!’
Bishop Paul with Revd Lyn by the poppy chandelier in the Metrocentre
- 16 million killed
- 21 million wounded
- 37 million total casualties
Remembering what happened – and why 888,246 British dead millions injured and bereaved. My memory of Grandad Butler – trench digger – mustard gas – silence. We remember – lest we forget – for if we do we never learn. RESPECTING
- Those who gave their lives
- Those who were scarred for ever
- Those who served at home – miners, shipbuilders, women in factories and other jobs, children as defence volunteers.
REFLECTING
- On humanities capacity for evil
- On humanities capacity for sacrifice
- On learning from the sleepwalking into conflict
- On God on the midst of anguish
- On commitments to being peacemakers
Peace-making takes work. Jesus said ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’