We gather in silence.
Welcome and introduction:
At 2.41 pm on 7th May 1945 in a school house in Rheims, France, unconditional surrender was signed: active operations by the German Forces would cease by 11.01 pm the next day. And so, on 8th May 1945, the news the nations of Europe had been waiting for arrived. War in Europe was over!
Today, 74 years later, we remember, and we celebrate.
Op de 7e mei 1945 om 14u41 werd in een school in Reims, Frankrijk, de onvoorwaardelijke overgave ondertekend. De Duitse troepen beëindigden tegen 23u01 de volgende dag hun operaties. En dus, op de 8e mei 1945, kwam het nieuws waarop de Europese naties hadden gewacht: de oorlog in Europa was voorbij!
Vandaag, 74 jaar later, herdenken we en vieren we.
The Standards are brought forward and laid on the Altar.
Opening sentence:
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
(Is. 40:31)
Opening prayer:
We meet in the presence of God.
We commit ourselves to work for reconciliation between the nations;
That all people may live together in freedom, justice and peace.
We pray for all who in bereavement, disability and pain continue to suffer the consequences of fighting and terror.
We remember with thanksgiving and sorrow those whose lives, in world wars and conflicts past and present, have been given and taken away.
And we celebrate the gifts of lasting peace: democracy, religious freedom, equality, justice for all.
All: Amen.
Hymn (please stand if able):
1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our help for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Beneath the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3. A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
4. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
(Author: Isaac Watts, tune: ST. ANNE)
Extract from the VE Day speech of His Majesty King George VI (please be seated):
Today we give thanks to almighty God for a great deliverance. Speaking from our Empire’s oldest capital city, war-battered but never for one moment daunted or dismayed – speaking from London, I ask you to join with me in that act of thanksgiving.
There is great comfort in the thought that the years of darkness and danger in which the children of our country have grown up are over and, please God, for ever. We shall have failed and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and good will.
This is the task to which now honour binds us. In the hour of danger, we humbly committed our cause into the hand of God and he has been our strength and shield. Let us thank him for his mercies and in this hour of victory commit ourselves and our new task to the guidance of that same strong hand.
Gospel reading (please stand if able):
Hear the Gospel according to Saint Matthew.
All: Glory to you, O Lord.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Mt. 5:1-10)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Homily (please be seated).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Who among you has been to Westminster Abbey in London?
And when you where there, how many of you looked up at the west entrance, the main entrance, and the statues on the facade?
One of those is a statue of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, who fiercely opposed the Nazi regime and was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler.
Bonhoeffer was martyred by hanging on 9th April 1945 at Flossenbürg concentration camp, three days before the liberation of the camp.
Bonhoeffer wrote about cheap and costly grace: German Protestants and other Christians, he said, were wrong to believe that just because they were saved by grace alone, that God didn’t demand action from them, a response, responsibility.
Bonhoeffer writes:
“[Costly grace] is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: ‘My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’"
As Christians, we’re made free in order to serve.
Faith to God and love to the neighbour, and on the intersection of this cross we see Christ.
Because when the Lord declares us blessed, things happen, things shift.
Costly grace is never complacent, never lazy, it never looks away, but faces the realities and messiness of life, with its hardships and struggles and conflicts.
We could argue that war and terrorism are a sad result of cheap grace, when Christians forget about their responsibilities in this world, when they are too arrogant or too complacent about the freedom in Christ they have been given.
We didn’t earn this grace, but that doesn’t mean it was free and easy: Christ paid with his life on the cross so that we might inherit eternal life.
And if life is eternal, then that includes the here and now.
Christians should argue for diplomacy, negotiations, war as a last resort.
Christians should insist on the keeping of international conventions and laws pertaining to war, and they should constantly pray and strive for an end of hostilities as soon as possible.
When hostilities cease, from the very moment war ends, Christians are called to be peace-makers, bridge-builders, mediators.
As Christians we’re called to remind the world that in pain and suffering, in conflict and its aftermath, forgiveness is the way forward, which doesn’t gloss over the past, but which takes hurt and mistrust and turns them into a lasting and profound new relationship.
And these lessons we take with us in other, non-military conflicts as well: democracy and the voting process, the stewardship of creation, religious freedom, the protection of minorities, the inclusion of LGBT people, gender equality, the opposition to racism, fascism, negationism, antisemitism and Islamophobia, and so on…
Costly grace demands a conscious engaging with the world, just as God engages with us and all of creation every day.
It calls us to be mindfull and act, to commemorate and to celebrate.
“Blessed are…” said Jesus, and we were all given a new charge.
Hymn, during which a collection for the Poppy Appeal will be taken (please stand if able):
1. If you but trust in God to guide you,
And place your confidence in him,
You’ll find him always there beside you
To give you hope and strength within;
For those who trust God’s changeless love
Build on the Rock that will not move.
2. Only be still and wait his pleasure
In cheerful hope, with heart content:
He fills your needs to fullest measure
With what discerning love has sent;
Doubt not our inmost wants are known
To him who chose us for his own.
3. Sing, pray, and keep his ways unswerving,
Offer your service faithfully,
And trust his word; though undeserving,
You’ll find his promise true to be;
God never will forsake in need
The soul that trusts in him indeed.
(Author: Georg Neumark, tr. by Catherine Winkworth)
Prayers of intercession (please be seated):
The responses to our intercessions are:
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
Let us pray for all who suffer as a result of conflict, and ask that God may give us peace:
For the service men and women who died in the violence of war, each one remembered by and known to God;
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
For those who love them in death as in life, offering the distress of our grief and the sadness of our loss;
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
For all members of the armed forces who are in danger this day, remembering family, friends and all who pray for their safe return;
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
For civilians whose lives are disfigured by war or terror.
ay God give peace.
All: God give peace.
For peace-makers and peace-keepers, who seek to keep this world secure and free;
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
For all those who bear the burden and privilege of leadership, political, military and religious; asking for the gifts of wisdom and resolve in the search for reconciliation and peace.
May God give peace.
All: God give peace.
Psalm 136, said in hourly Services of Thanksgiving on 8th May 1945:
All: Amen.
We say together, each in the language of our heart, the prayer which Jesus himself has taught us:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not in temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Closing hymn:
1. Praise to the Lord,
the Almighty, the King of creation;
O my soul, praise him,
For he is they health and salvation:
Come ye who hear,
Brothers and sisters draw near,
Praise him in glad adoration.
2. Praise to the Lord,
Who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Who, as on wings of an eagle,
Uplifteth, sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen
All that is needful hath been
Granted in what he ordaineth?
3. Lof zij de Heer
Die uw lichaam zo schoon heeft geweven,
Dagelijks heeft hij u kracht en gezondheid gegeven.
Hij heeft u lief,
Die tot zijn kind u verhief,
Ja, hij beschikt u ten leven.
4. Lof zij de Heer
Die uw huis en uw haard heeft gezegend.
Lof zij de hemelse liefde
Die over ons regent.
Denk elke dag
Aan wat zijn almacht vermag,
Die u met liefde bejegent.
5. Praise to the Lord!
Oh, let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come
Now with praises before him!
Let the Amen
Sound from his people again;
Gladly for aye we adore him.
(Author: Joachim Neander, tr. Catherine Winkworth and Rupert Davies)
Blessing:
God grant to the living grace,
To the departed rest,
To the Church, the nations and all people,
Unity, peace and concord,
And to us and all God’s servants,
Life everlasting.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, + Son and Holy Spirit
Be with you and remain with you and those whom you love, always.
All: Amen.
The Last Post is sounded.
Silence is kept.
Reveille is sounded.
National anthems – Volksliederen – Hymnes nationaux – Nationalhymnen
The dismissal:
Go in the peace of Christ.
All: Thanks be to God.
Prayer and Blessing at Last Post ceremony, Menin Gate, Ypres:
Eeuwige God,
u wil de aarde en de hemel in dezelfde vrede vasthouden.
Schijn uw licht van waarheid over donkere gedachten en gevoelens van wantrouwen, wraak en hebzucht, en leer ons daar eerlijk en moedig mee omgaan.
Maak ons enthousiast over vredesinitiatieven.
Maak ons respectvol voor vredestichters en vredesbewaarders.
Maak van ons vredesambassadeurs.
Eternal God,
amid all the turmoil and rapid changes in this world, only your love is certain and your strength never fails.
In times of strife and upheaval, be our sure guardian and rock of defense.
Guide the leaders of our nations with your wisdom, comfort those in distress, and grant us courage and hope for the future.
In Christ's name we pray.
The Lord bless you, and keep you.
De Here zegene u en beware u.
Vader, + Zoon en Heilige Geest.
Amen.
(based on the Royal British Legion Handbook and Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Augsburg Fortress Press, Mineapolis (MI), 2006)