9.30–10.30 am: Civic Service of Remembrance at St Mary’s Church – All welcome
10.50–11.15 am: Act of Commemoration at the War Memorial
11.15am–12 noon: Refreshments at ChristChurch, Fish Street
We hope that you will join us as we remember the fallen and give thanks for the sacrifices made by so many for our liberty.
The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed
We invite all who have lost loved ones in the past few years to join us as we remember them and give thanks for their life at this special service with beautiful music sung by our choir.
Cards are now available to complete if you would like us to remember someone by name at this service, (even if you can’t come along to the service yourself). You can complete one at the South Door of the church.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them
Every year large crowds of people gather from our community on Remembrance Sunday at the War Memorial to pay our respects and to honour the sacrifice of those who have died in conflict and the pursuit of peace. And as we gather for that time of remembering, I am always struck by those powerful and timeless words of Laurence Binyon, ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them’. In other words, day and night, we will never cease to remember them and honour the service they have given to our nation. And this remembering is for people that, for the most part, we haven’t actually known personally. Imagine what it is like when someone we do know and love dies; they’re certainly never very far from our thoughts at any time of the day or night.
A friend of mine has just lost his brother at the tragically young age of 58 and he says that there are at least five times each day when he goes to pick up the phone and tell his brother something and is halted in his tracks. He can’t call Jerry – he’s no longer there. But he is in the eternal care of almighty God and my friend knows that but it doesn’t stop him missing his brother terribly.
At All Souls each year, we have the chance to come to St Mary’s and remember our loved ones before God. To carry on missing them and loving them, of course, but also to remember them in our prayers because we will never stop thinking about them and giving thanks to God for them. Come and join us – whether you come to church regularly or not – all are invited and welcome.
Will
Our Director of Music Jonathan Goodchild writes in this month’s Choral Evensong Blog about the music which the choir will sing for our Choral Eucharist for the Feast of All Souls on Sunday 3rd November at 6.30pm
This year for the All Souls Eucharist the choir will, as last year, be singing movements from the Vaughan Williams operas The Pilgrims’ Progress and The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, adapted by Kathy Goodchild for our use. Some of you will remember the talk by Andrew Green in which he set out his conviction that (though not stated publicly by the composer) the music is a memorial to those who died in the Great War.
Excerpts from these operas have been arranged into four movements of Requiem music for choir, organ and viola (to be played by choir member and webmistress Kate Ford).
We hope that in this year, the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, (the most important of the treaties which brought World War 1 to an end) this music will bring comfort and solace to the bereaved just as it did after the Great War.
The Introit and motet after the commemoration of the departed are from ‘Watchful’s Song’ of The Pilgrim’s Progress, including words from Psalms 31, 127 and 121 and Isaiah 11 and 14.
Into thy hands O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Except the Lord keep the house, the watchman waketh in vain. The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep peace: the whole earth is at rest and is quiet.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from when cometh my help. My help cometh even from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee shall not sleep. Behold he that keepeth thee shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord himself is thy keeper, he shall preserve thee from all evil: yea it is even he that shall keep thy soul from this time forth for evermore
The Gradual is from The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, and sets words from Psalm 91:
Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be safe under his feathers. He shall give his angels charge over thee, that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone.
To this the Requiem words have been added:
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis (Give them eternal rest O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them)
The anthem, taken from The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains sets words from Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name’s sake. Yea though I walk thro’ the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Jonathan Goodchild
St Mary's Church, Redbourn 