OzThoughts –Wednesday 11th November 2009.

OzThoughts –Wednesday 11th November 2009.

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day and similar memorial days are very special days in any National calendar. Every time I am involved I think it is a very personal time. Many are not thinking only of “our armed forces and all those involved in war” but to many they are thinking of dad, an uncle or aunt, a brother or sister, or a son or daughter. It is a very personal time and they allow us to share our two minutes with them today. Today to them also we say “thank you”.

Some time ago, Denice and I spent a lovely evening on the internet doing some research on her grandfather. It was rather special to search the site on the National War Museum in Canberra (www.awm.gov.au ) and to discover copies of his actual war records from World War I. It became very special when we saw a letter in his file that he had written a few months before he died from the address where Denice spent many holidays with him at Tewantin, Queensland.

Jack Gourley, (Regimental Number 329) was a member of the famed Australian Light Horse Brigade. He like thousands of other Australians was based in Egypt from where he went on the 9th May, 1915 to the Gallipoli Peninsular to fight the Turks. Jack at the end of the war returned to Australia to live out his days as a TPI (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex-Serviceman).

As we pause to remember today, we may think of Jack and his service but our thoughts, too, are with the just over 100,000 other Australians who gave their lives and the more than 1.4 million Australians, and the people from other lands who have served fighting for the freedoms we enjoy. We remember all those who have suffered because of war through injury and those who suffered the loss of a loved one.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget!

Prayer:

Father God, in this Day of Remembrance, we look to you and ask you to envelop us with your present. May you give us a reminder of the important things of life, our community and our faith this day. Please be with those throughout the world who now are suffering because of war. Amen.

[ Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music3/mus_4241.mp3 ]

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea

O Saviour, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amid its rage didst sleep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace:
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go:
And ever let there rise to thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
Author: William Whiting (1825-78)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 569

[ The above Song from the SA Song Book follows closely (except in verse 2) the words published in The Church of England ( now Anglican) Hymns – Ancient and Modern. The song has had many revisions since it was written in 1860. A thing to note is the 4 verses are written in turn to the Father, Christ, and the Spirit and the Trinity. The words below are a modern version of what was known as the “Naval Hymn” to include references to the Army and Air Force. ]

Almighty Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! the Lord of hill and plain,
O’er which our traffic runs amain,
By mountain pass or valley low;
Wherever, Lord, Thy brethren go,
Protect them by Thy guarding hand,
From every peril on the land!

O Spirit, whom the Father sent,
To spread abroad the firmament;
O wind of heaven, by Thy might,
Save all who dare the eagle’s flight.
And keep them by Thy watchful care,
From every peril in the air.

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoever they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad praise from air and land and sea.

Psalm 83 – Selected Verses (The Message)
1-5 GOD, don't shut me out;
don't give me the silent treatment, O God.
Your enemies are out there whooping it up,
the God-haters are living it up;
They're plotting to do your people in,
conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.
"Let's wipe this nation from the face of the earth,"
they say; "scratch Israel's name off the books."
And now they're putting their heads together,
making plans to get rid of you.


13-18 My God! I've had it with them!
Blow them away!
Tumbleweeds in the desert waste,
charred sticks in the burned-over ground.
Knock the breath right out of them, so they're gasping
for breath, gasping, "GOD."
Bring them to the end of their rope,
and leave them there dangling, helpless.
Then they'll learn your name: "GOD,"
the one and only High God on earth.


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