Lest We Forget

We have recently marked Veteran's Day, here in the US. Since our family has more than one Veteran, this day holds a deeper meaning as we approach it each year. But more than any other time, I will always remember the day we celebrated Remembrance Sunday, with the English.

It was 1990. We arrived in Norfolk in the fall, ready to find a home and move in. This we did, not long before Remembrance Sunday. We attended one of the village churches that morning, and saw that the townspeople had decorated the church with wreaths, flowers, and children's drawings depicting the veterans who had risked all for the freedoms so dearly won.

As the congregation sang the hymns that morning, every voice was raised, but none more than the elderly gentlemen who lined the front rows. These, my friends, were the precious veterans of the First World War; the War to End all Wars. The men were in their 90's, but their heads were held high as they were honored by the town.

The eldest of these gave the reading, that day, from Psalm 91. Before he read, he told of the time he and his comrades in the trenches gathered around their chaplain. It was the night before they were to go 'over the top', crossing no man's land to face the enemy. As they stood in the rain, the chaplain read the whole of Psalm 91 to them, blessed them and prayed over them.

The words of that Psalm were to give him the calm courage to do his duty that next day. Many of his comrades were to die, it is true. The Great War was cruel in that way. But this elder gentleman did live,  and on this Remembrance Sunday the words were not read, they were spoken. He never glanced at the Bible in his hands. As he spoke, he let the silent tears fall for those who had not come home with him.

All over England, no matter how small the village, there are memorials to the 'glorious dead'. You will see on the War Memorial in St Ives, the words 'Lest We Forget'. 

Let us not.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day...

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

 

With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”