Remembrance Sunday Before the Service
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Church at Home Remembrance Sunday Before the Service A very warm welcome to today’s service of Church at Home from the Diocese of Oxford on this Remembrance Sunday. We are delighted that today Bishop Steven Croft will be presiding & Archdeacon Jonathan Chaffey will be preaching. This year Remembrance Sunday will be significantly changed for many, as England enters a second period of lockdown, and we will mark the occasion in ways very different from those we have been familiar with in the past. Yet, however we mark the day, be it in public or in the privacy of our own homes, we will each find our own way to keep silence, to pray and to remember. Remembering is at the very heart of the Christian faith and it is the central act around which our worship revolves as we celebrate the Eucharist together. In the Eucharist we remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and give thanks for Christ’s sacrifice of himself for the life of the world. But today, we also recognise and remember the sacrifice made by those who have lost their lives in war, and hold before God all whose lives and families continue to be affected by the mental, physical and spiritual effects of conflict. The purpose of the Act of Remembrance is both to honour those who have made such great sacrifice in the cause of freedom and also to commit ourselves afresh to bringing an end to conflict, division and hatred in the world. As Christians we are called to be ‘people of peace’ as we seek to follow Jesus the ‘Prince of Peace’. As ever, we are hugely grateful to all of our contributors from across the Diocese in parishes, chaplaincies and other organisations, who have given of their time, skills and voice to help lead us in worship this morning, including: All Saints’, High Wycombe; St Frideswide’s, Water Eaton; St Michael and All Angels, Lambourn; The Sea Cadet Corps; The Royal Air Force Association; The RAF Chaplaincy; Jubilee Brass Band; The Royal British Legion and High Wycombe Town Council. Today, as we remember with gratitude, let us each resolve to pray, seek and act to bring the peace of Christ to all whose lives we touch. 2 Film before the service ‘Lest we forget’ The British Army 2020 available online: https://youtu.be/ahGRNKi8-18 Greeting Bishop In the name of the Father. and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All Amen. Bishop We come before the throne of God with countless crowds from every nation and race, tribe and language. All Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour, power and might be to our God for ever and ever. Amen. The Bishop welcomes the congregation gathered online and introduces the service. Prayer of Commemoration Bishop 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. All Amen. 3 Hymn Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Under the shadow of Thy throne Still may we dwell secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defence is sure. Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same. A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be Thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home. WorDs: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) Music: ‘St Anne’, William Croft (1678-1727) Recorded by members of the Choir of All Saints’ Church, High Wycombe 4 Confession Bishop Let us confess to God the sins and shortcomings of the world; its pride, its selfishness, its greed; its evil distortions 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. All 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 Bishop Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all our sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. All Amen. 5 Gloria in Excelsis All Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen. The Collect Bishop Let us pray. Silence is kept. Bishop God, our refuge and our strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end, that earth may know the peace of heaven through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. All Amen. We listen to God speaking through the Scriptures. 6 First Reading Amos 5.18-24 (NRSV) read by Faye Simonds, St Frideswide’s Church, Water Eaton Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 4.13-end (NRSV) read by Ordinary Cadet Ben Peerless But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 7 Hymn Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; leave to your God to order and provide; in ev'ry change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: your best, your heav'nly Friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul: thy God will undertake to guide the future as he has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below. Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart, and all is darkened in the vale of tears, then shalt thou better know his love, his heart, who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay from his own fullness all he takes away. Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last. WorDs: Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel (1697-1768) Music: ‘Finlandia’, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) Recorded by Susan Holmes & Stephen Holmes, St Michael & All Angels, Lambourn 8 Gospel Reading Matthew 25.