It is time to reflect again on the costs of defending liberty, justice and concord
Next week we will once again reflect upon the costs of defending righteousness, freedom and liberty, giving thanks not only for our allies but also for reconciliation and peace. Across Britain, Europe and America the common story and Christian heritage which unites us will be expressed in services of Remembrance and thanksgiving. In churches and beside war memorials across Britain these familiar bidding words will be heard:
“We have come to remember before God those who have died for their country in the two world wars and the many conflicts of the years that have followed. Some we knew and loved: we treasure their memory still.
Others are unknown to us: to their remembrance too, we give our time… With thanksgiving we recall services offered and sacrifices made…”
In Storrington the Royal
British Legion is celebrating its 100th anniversary and will be leading the community in acts of remembrance and the Poppy Appeal. Each year poppies are sold to raise vital funds to help today’s Armed Forces community and this year in Storrington the Guides are assisting.
A short act of remembrance will take place on November 11 at 11am in Storrington High Street at the Roll of Honour by The White Horse Inn.
Remembrance Sunday falls on November 14 this year and a service of remembrance and thanksgiving will be held at St Mary’s Parish Church, Storrington at 2.50pm, uniting our community across the generations. The standards of the Royal British Legion, the Royal
Navy Association and the youth organisations will be on parade as wreaths are laid at the War Memorial and during the service.
Families, communities and nations are bound together by their shared stories; stories of both joys and sorrows. Where these memories are embraced with open hearts they seed compassion, hope, empathy and a desire to work for the common good – something which our armed forces know intuitively. And our nation is once again united by the evolving story, the shared experience of Covid-19.
I hope that in the coming week of remembrance each of us will be able to find time to reflect, offering thanks and prayers for the courage of successive generations who have been called, and continue to be called, to defend the greater cause of justice and concord.
Rupert Toovey is a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington – tooveys. com – and a priest in the Church of England Diocese of Chichester