Remembrance Sunday
Sunday 12th November
Join us as we will be remembering those that gave their lives for us during our World Wars and those that continue to do so in our Remembrance Day services across the Parish.
St Mary's, Wargrave
9.45am Remembrance Service with guest speaker Major General Rob Thomson
10.40am Royal British Legion Remembrance Service on Mill Green, Wargrave
St Peter's, Knowl Hill
10.45am Remembrance Service
Guest Speaker
Major General Rob Thomson CBE DSO
On Sunday 12th November we will be joined by Major General Rob Thomson as our guest speaker during our
9.45am Remembrance Service at St Mary’s, Wargrave.
Music for Remembrance Service
For many, singing the hymns and songs on Remembrance Day provides us an opportunity to express emotions in our hearts that are hard to articulate. For this year’s Remembrance Service at St Mary’s, our music will be reflective, expressive and stirring as we remember and honour the sacrifice of our Armed forces and emergency services who gave their lives for the peace of our nation.
Our hymns have been carefully selected by our Music Director, Peter Dart and his team. Here is a summary and background for the hymns we will sing, with the first verse or refrain of each.
Lift High the Cross by George Kitchin
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred name.
This hymn was published in 1887 with words by George Kitchin when he was Dean of Winchester and set to the melody of ‘Crucifer’ by Sydney Nicholson. It is based on the biblical text of Matthew 16:24 and powerfully expresses the cross as a symbol of God’s love and the resurrection of Jesus. It is often sung during Lent and Holy Week but is a fitting choice for Remembrance Sunday with its references to the battle of Christ’s triumph over death ‘Come, Christians, follow where thy Captain trod, Our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God’.
Love Divine by Charles Wesley
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav’n to earth come down,
Fix us in Thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful Mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation
Enter every trembling heart.
One of Charles Wesley’s most widely sung hymns and a wonderful example of his sublime spiritual poetry. It first appeared in 1747 and is based on the theme of God’s perfect love and was sung at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year. The hymn was inspired by a poem by John Dryden and set to music by Henry Purcell. It is set around a progression of thoughts, from our prayers for the Holy Spirit through to praying for the second coming of Our Lord and finally prayers for his new creation. Wesley was reputed to write ten lines of verse every day for 50 years and some while riding on horseback to his evangelical meetings! What a wonderful legacy of congregational songs he created.
Lord of all hopefulness by Jan Struther
Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Whose trust, ever child-like, no cares could destroy,
Be there at our waking, and give us we pray,
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.
Lord of all Hopefulness was written in 1931 by Joyce Torrens under the name of Jan Struther. It is set to the melody of an Irish folk tune called ‘Slane’, named after the hill of Slane in Ireland. Joyce is best known for her character ‘Mrs Miniver’, created for her column in The Times newspaper and the subsequent novel, consisting of sketches of family life before World War II. The film version was a blockbuster, winning six academy awards in 1942. Joyce had a difficult life and suffered from deep depressions for which she was hospitalised. This beautifully simple hymn describes an ordinary day of trusting Jesus and asking him to be with us from our waking to our sleeping, and at the end of our days.
Lord, for the years by Timothy Dudley-Smith
Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
Urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
Sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided;
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.
This is such a wonderful hymn by the skillful and prolific hymn writer Timothy Dudley-Smith who is now 96 years old, set to music by Michael Baughen. It has been acclaimed as one of the 20th century’s finest hymns with its timeless quality and strong sense of the Holy Spirit moving in our lives and looking to the future. It has beautiful vibrant phrasing such as his description of the word of God that ‘speaks to our hearts and sets our souls ablaze’. Dudley-Smith was ordained in 1950 and wrote much comic verse while a student at Cambridge and started to write hymns later in life in the 1960’s, but he is also well known for editing the Christian magazine ‘Crusade’ which was founded after Billy Graham’s 1955 London crusade.
