Remembrance Day

11th November is Remembrance Day in England, just like the American Veterans Day. For years this day has passed me by, living in Africa. But before, when I was a child, I remember it always being an important day. On the morning of 11th, there are ceremonies at war memorials all around the country, and usually, at 11.00 am, a two minute silence - in shops, schools, businesses, anywhere. Everybody buys a small paper poppy in the days before, and wears it in their lapels: the poppy became a symbol for the thousands who died in the battlefields of Europe - because after the war, nothing but poppies grew in those fields.  (The poppies are sold by the Royal British Legion, an organisation which provides care for war widows and any retired or disabled soldiers who need their help.)

So this year it was quite a throw-back for me to have a chance to participate in a grand Remembrance Day service with Abigail's school, in Gloucester Cathedral. There were traditional hymns, prayers of thankfulness for those who have given their lives in war to protect our country and freedom, prayers for those in combat zones now, prayers for peace in the world. Flags of various army, airforce and navy regiments were carried up and laid on the altar. A lone trumpeter played the Last Post from the very back of the cathedral, so that the solemn notes floated to us as if from a great distance.

I mainly just enjoyed soaking in the feeling of being in a service in the ancient stone Cathedral, the main body of which was built in Norman times, one thousand years ago. Over the intervening years portions have been added, stained glass windows, huge carved tombs, statues and inscriptions. But it is all truly old. Huge round pillars hold the massive building up, solid and circular, wider in girth than any tree. But the impression is of being in a huge spacious forest, stone branches fanning out and spreading to meet each other over our heads. The size and majesty, the feeling of strength, even indestructibility, in the stone, and the space and light, all speak of God, and give a sense of peace. If I need reassuring that "all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well," I will step inside Gloucester Cathedral for a few moments in my day, and be reminded.