On the second Sunday of November there will be a service combining the specifically British Remembrance Sunday with an 'All Souls' service.
Remembrance Sunday was developed after the First World War as a religious counterpoint to the secular Armistice Day. When I was young (after the Second World War) both the 11th and the nearest Sunday were celebrated across Britain. On the 11th of the 11th at 11am, traffic in London and elsewhere stopped and the 'two minute silence' was observed across the country: a civil remembrance of the cost of building a lasting peace; and on the nearest Sunday to the 11th there was an additional '11am silence' in almost every church in the country, regardless of denomination or churchmanship. However, as the national mood changed, so did the emphasis, leaving little more than a national wreath laying ceremony on the 11th. More recently, as the secularisation of Britain has grown apace, the Government has tried to rebuild observance of the 11th. At the same time, as those directly affected by the Second World War have grown old, it has been increasingly difficult to sustain a meaningful Remembrance Sunday and some churches (across the denominational spectrum) have ceased observing the day at all. In contrast France, for example, has continued to keep the 11th as a national day of far greater significance than it has been in England for decades, but (like most Americans in our congregation) knows nothing of Remembrance Sunday.
While Remembrance Sunday has been on the decline in England, the practice has grown of holding an 'All Souls' service on All Saints Day, to remember departed loved ones. In an English parish, such as my last two parishes which had two hundred or more funerals a year, these were significant services attended by a couple of hundred people, many of whom did not normally attend church. Here, with fewer than ten funerals a year, the situation is somewhat different, so we have combined the two services on Remembrance Sunday.
We hope to have a guest preacher for this service, Pastor John Elangovan from India, who will be visiting Switzerland at the time. I should have more information about him on display on Sunday the 7th (when we are having our special choral communion service). Pastor John's visit is one of those 'happenstances' that are also very appropriate: in the general sense that on this day in which we remember the world-wide horror of the two 'great' wars, we should have a preacher who underlines the world-wide characteristics of our congregation (which represents over 25 nations and 17 denominations), and specifically because among the relatively few war graves in the British and Commonwealth cemetery at Vevey, India is represented. And, by the way, the typical Anglican nowadays is not Anglo-Saxon!
The names that will be read out during the 'All Souls' part of the service are those of people for whom the staff of St Ursula's have conducted funeral services during the last year, and any names that have been requested by members of the congregation. If there are names you would like read out, please enter them on the list that will be placed in the Upper Hall the week before, or telephone the office.
A special feature is the provision of simple paper 'memorial crosses'. Those who are remembering someone in this particular way may take a cross and write on it the person's name, bringing it forward when the name is read out and placing it at the foot of the cross at the front of church. The cross reminds us of Easter, thus symbolising our leaving our loved ones in God's keeping and claiming the power of Jesus' resurrection.
Yours in Christ,
Richard Pamplin
PS
Don't forget: the Christmas Bazaar begins on Friday evening (19th) and there is a full session on Saturday (20th).
This year we will have a raclette tent, open on both on the Friday evening and Saturday.