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Christian Year

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

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The armistice to end the First World War (1914-1918) was signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. So 11 November is kept as Remembrance Day every year. Remembrance Sunday is the nearest Sunday.

Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday are not in any way an attempt to glorify war. Instead they are an opportunity to remember those who died or were injured in the many wars that have taken place and to reflect upon the tragedy and futility of those wars.

Usually churches hold a two-minute silence at 11.00am during the morning service on Remembrance Sunday. People often wear poppies. Poppies, red as blood, were the one of the few things left alive on the battle fields of Flanders in the First World War.

Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth’s most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God,
War!

Geoffrey A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929)