In Transition

 The link for this week's live streamed service is here.

 This week at SPPC has been one of transition. On Tuesday many of us attended Remembrance Services in the area. I went to the one in Sidney and found Leading Cadet Abigail handling the ropes for the raising and lowering of the flags. 

I also saw our clerk of session place a poppy-covered cross at the memorial on behalf of the congregation.

By Thursday, we were moving into the Advent season, with the choir preparing anthems to celebrate the birth of Christ. 

               

Rev. Irwin's newsletter contains many, many announcements of upcoming Christmas events.

 I'd like to highlight the "Great Peninsula Shortbread Bake-off and Christmas Carol Sing and Bake Sale." It is quite a mouthful, I know, but how often do you get to sample several types of shortbread in one sitting? 

Not only that, but you can purchase a plateful of your favourite cookies at the same time. AND you get to sing Christmas carols! 

All of this for free at 2:00pm on Sunday, Dec, 21, at SPPC 9296 E. Saanich Rd. N. Saanich. Call 250 656-2241 for more information.

 Ed. Notes. 

To request your favourite carol, use the sign up sheet in the narthex or call the  the church.  

 

*Non-members of SPPC are welcome to enter their best shortbread in the bake-off.

*Judges are not needed. Honours will be "people's choice."

Live in Remembrance

 Link for this week's live-streamed service is here

Cadet Abigail and Jerusha place wreath on Sunday morning

On this Remembrance Day it behooves us to pause and honour those who have died in Canada's wars, and to consider how we honour their legacy. Although, they fought on foreign soil, they fought to uphold Canadian ideals of justice, fair play, human dignity and all the many privileges we enjoy in this land. We have become so accustomed to those "privileges" we often consider them "rights," but they came with a cost.

In 1964, Dick Van Dyke, of Mary Poppins fame, stood beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and delivered a speech written by Rod Serling. In 2024 he repeated that speech in Los Angeles. In part, it reads:

Hatred is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Suspicion, dislike, jealousy ...none of those are the transcendent facets of the human personality. . . . As long as there is one voice left to say 'welcome' to a stranger, one hand outstretched to say 'enter and share,' and one mind remaining to think a thought of warmth and friendship, then there is still hope for humanity... .  There will be moments of violence and expressions of hatred and an ugly echo of intolerance. But these are the clinging vestiges of a decayed past, not the harbingers of a better, cleaner future. 

In closing he quoted from Horace Mann: "be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." The actor added in his own words, "let us be ashamed to live without that victory."

Sitting in a local coffee shop last week, I was grieved by how many people, old and young, did not wear a poppy. As veterans of the World Wars pass away, their stories are left to family and historians to record. But we, who live in this most blessed and peaceful land, owe a debt of gratitude to those brave souls who left home and comfort to battle against hatred and evil. If we do not remember our history, we leave open an invitation for evil to rise again, and threaten all who live in freedom.

 I hope, that even without a poppy, that outward sign of remembrance and respect, Canadians of all stripes will strive to honour our fallen by living a life that wins "a victory for humanity."

For Such a Time

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

Every year on Remembrance Day we stand in solemn silence and vow "to remember them." We read the names of those who fell in past wars. We grieve for the families left behind, for the potential left unfulfilled. We look at history and promise ourselves never to let that happen again.

Yet, this year, 2023, the ceremony feels different. Wars are raging around the world and two of them, one in Europe, one in the Middle East, feel especially close to us. As a land of immigrants many of our fellow citizens have direct ties with these troubled parts of the world. The wars feel personal and present. They are not tales in a movie or a history book. They are real and they are now and they are horrific.

As we "remember them," how do we face the news with its unending reel of carnage and sorrow and death? 

Can we recite "lest we forget" while bombs and blood and hate explode in our world? It would seem we have forgotten. Forgotten that our forebears went to war to secure peace for their children and succeeding generations.

How do we make our "Act of Remembrance" meaningful in the face of today's headlines?

A couple of week's ago, our choir sang an anthem, "For Such a Time as This."  The title comes from the Book of Esther, but the poetry is ageless, and offers guidance for our time.

For such a time as this, we are called to service,
For such a time as this, we care called to grace,
For such a time as this, we are called to worship,

This is the day that God has made,

And at such a time, we are called to praise.

For such a time as this, we are called to purpose

For such a time as this, we are called to care,

For such a time as this we are called to worship.

For everything there is a season 

And a time when God's purpose is fulfilled.

May heaven always find us faithful

Always find us grateful

When God's call to service is revealed.

For such a time as this we are called to mission

For such a time as this we are called to work.

This is the day that God has made,

And at such a time, we are called to praise.

                                   by Joseph Martin

Service, mission, work, praise, grace, gratitude -- these qualities we can cultivate and practice, even in the face of war. Our "Remembrance" is made meaningful by the lives we live after November 11. We honour those who sacrificed for us, by holding high the values of grace and gratitude. We laud our fallen by offering our service to others, by working to build peace in the world.

For Esther, "such a time" was when her people were threatened with extermination. For us, "such a time" is now. Upheavals in world order, disquieting cultural change, stress in our financial lives, are top of mind. Problems that seem overwhelming, beyond our abilities to solve. Yet, we are called to care, to praise, to worship, -- we can do those things. 

Sunday's Presbyterian Devotional was titled "Small Things," and reminded us that God cares about the small things, like sparrows. Every day, we can all do small things to further the Kingdom of God on earth, and to honour those who gave up their todays to give us  better tomorrows.

Nov.11, 1918 - Nov. 11, 2018

Next Sunday is November 11, Remembrance Day.  This year's observance will be particularly poignant as it marks 100 years since the armistice that ended World War I.  In order to accommodate people who want to attend cenotaph services, SPPC will hold its worship service a little early, beginning at 9:45 am and ending a little early at 10:30 am.  That leaves worshippers time to travel to a cenotaph for the commemorative ceremonies.

Because this is such a significant Remembrance Day, various groups around Victoria are sponsoring special events all this week.  School children have already visited the Veteran's Cemetery (God's Acre) in Esquimalt in order to place a poppy on each grave marker. If you want to make your own pilgrimage, that's a good place to start.

Special events will take place all week at Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse.  Participants will include the Maritime Museum of British Columbia and the  B.C. Air Museum.  If you can't make it into Victoria, just drop into the Air Museum at the airport and pay tribute to our airmen.

On Friday, Nov.9, the School of Music at U.Vic presents a concert of WWI music with Benjamin Butterfield and Kinza Tyrrell. Admission is by donation.

Sunday, Nov. 11 there will be remembrance ceremonies in all municipalities in B.C., including here on the Peninsula.  For the first time, Central Saanich will hold its service at the new cenotaph monument in Brentwood Bay. See here for a list of all services.

On Sunday afternoon, after the cenotaph ceremonies, Via Choralis is performing a concert titled "In Remembrance," 2:30 pm at St. Elizabeth's Church in Sidney.

In recognition of the significance of this Remembrance Day, the Royal Canadian Legion has coordinated the "Bells of Peace." Across Canada, bells will ring 100 times at sunset. In Sidney, the town crier will begin ringing at 4:39 pm at the Cenotaph.

Time has marched on. Memories dim. Old soldiers are laid to rest. But for those who live in freedom and peace,  "at the going down of the sun, and in the morning,/ We will remember them."

Never Forgotten

With Remembrance Day just passed, I want to share with you this story from one of our congregation.  Andy Wallace was Gladys' father, and one of the thousands of Canadians who fought in "The War to End All Wars," WWI.  He saw action at Vimy Ridge.  When the battle ended, Andy, a carpenter by trade, worked on a large wooden cross to commemorate the dead of the 44th Canadian Infantry.  Just three weeks after the victory, Andy's cross was raised on the crest of the ridge. 

He might even be one of the soldiers in this photograph.  He and Sapper McIver created the huge wooden cross from 8x8 inch oak logs within range of the enemy's guns.  Other members of the section mixed the concrete. In a letter, a fellow veteran, A.C. King wrote to Andy, "Here is a picture of the cross.  It doesn't look so big but, boy, oh boy, that concrete took some mixing."

The cross was twelve to fourteen feet high and about six feet wide.  It was held together by wooden dowels and had no inscription on the carving itself.  There was a copper plate in the stepped concrete base that reads:

 to the memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 44th Canadian Infantry who fell in the attacks on Vimy Ridge, the Triangle, and La Coulotte in April, May and June of 1917.

The monument was originally erected on Vimy Ridge, France by the 44th Battalion in 1917. In 1924,it was moved to its present location in Vimy Ridge Memorial Park on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg by members of the 44th Battalion Association and next of kin. Plaques on the sides of the monument listed those in the 44th Battalion who had lost their lives during the Vimy Ridge battle. Dedicated in June 1926, it was restored by the Department of Veterans Affairs in June 1967 and by the City of Winnipeg in October 1992.

The iconic Vimy Memorial that now stands on the ridge has eclipsed the battlefield monuments in the public imagination, but those rough crosses, built by fellow soldiers in the midst of battle truly bear the "blood, sweat and tears," of our military.

Thanks to Gladys for sharing her story, and thanks to Andy Wallace for his service to Canada. 

Andrew Wallace 44th Regiment, Canadian Infantry

I Vow to Thee My Country

   

   For the last couple of years we've included the hymn, "I Vow to Thee, my Country," in our Act of Remembrance on the Sunday before November 11.  This hymn was not in the hymnary I grew up with, so I thought I'd find out something about it's origins and use.
     
     While the hymn is associated with war and remembrance,it was written in peacetime, 1908.  The author, Cecil Spring Rice, was a British diplomat, posted to Sweden at the time.  The lyrics of the first verse express the longing and love of an ex-pat for his homeland.  Some critics consider the words too jingoistic, going beyond patriotism to a dangerous nationalism, others counter that the lines speak of "earthly things" and make a statement on the nature of love.
  

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,

Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;

The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,

That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,

The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

     The closing verse speaks of "another country", the Heavenly Kingdom, that the Christian loves even more than his earthly homeland.  The final line references Proverbs 3:17, Her[Wisdom's] ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."  

This verse urges Christians to make the Kingdom of God our goal and our pattern for living.  There can be no controversy over the sentiment of these lines. 

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,

Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;

We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;

And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,

And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

     There is another verse, very rarely included in the hymn.  It was written by Spring Rice in 1918, while he was ambassador to the United States.  One of his duties in that role was to encourage America to support the allies in WWI.  One might have expected him to exalt the claim of country at that time, yet this new verse replaces the ringing promises of the patriot with the sombre reflection of a witness to the carnage of war.  Yet Spring Rice remains unshaken in his love for his country, seeing her as a mother and he her son.
 

I heard my country calling, away across the sea,

Across the waves and waters, she calls and calls to me.

Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,

And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead;

I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns;

I haste to thee, my mother, a son among thy sons.

     There are other hymns sung on Remembrance Day, "O God Our Help in Ages Past,"  "Eternal Father Strong to Save,"  "O Valiant Hearts," to name just a few, but "I Vow to Thee my Country," continues as a favourite, despite the objections of some.  It may be the tune that makes it so popular.  Thaxted, an adaptation of  the Jupiter movement from Gustav Holst's "The Planets," cannot fail to stir the soul.  Holst made his first adaptation in 1921, then, at the request of his friend Ralph Vaughn Williams, he harmonized it in 1926 so it could be a sung as a hymn.  Thaxted is the name of the village where Holst lived.  

     The hymn has been sung at weddings, at funerals, on Remembrance Day, at sporting events, and at school graduations.  It bears no childhood memories for me, but the tune alone makes me glad I've learned it.

    Whatever you sing on Remembrance Day, however you mark the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, say a prayer for those who put themselves in harms way so others can live freely and in peace.