CELEBRATING:
SERMONS
8 - Nov 2009
A sermon delivered by Rev. Gordon How
"Not one of these people had grown old"
For: Remembrance Sunday, November 8, 2009
Those who were here a year ago on Remembrance Sunday
2008 may recall that I told the story of the death in
WWII of the RCAF Chaplain after whom I was named. Discovering
his story in April 2008 was an emotional experience
for me. I am ever so grateful for the serendipitous
visit with Ruth Dakin his dearest friend from the late
1920s, 30s and early 40s. Until that visit, I did not
know that Ruth knew Gordon Brown. My visit with Ruth
triggered for me this unique re-connection with him.
She knew him well. Ruth is a long time member of our
church and I know we are all delighted that at 95 she
can be here with us today, with her daughter Cheryl.
The man of this story was Squadron Leader, the Reverend
J. Gordon Brown, Chaplain, RCAF, killed in November
27, 1944 in Belgium - the only person killed by the
V-2 bomb that struck his birthday party celebration
the day he turned 35. It so happened that Gordon Brown
had been a close friend and minister of my parents when
they lived in Edmonton when I was born. After discovering
this shared history with Ruth Dakin, I promised to myself
and to her that one day I would leave roses at his grave
in Antwerp, Belgium. I kept that promise on June 30,
just four months ago.
It is not likely nor often that a tourist's day out
from London by train to the continent could be described
as a day of reverence. However, the graveside visit
was, indeed, a day of reverence. Reverence, you see
is "a long standing virtue that sadly survives
in us in only half-forgotten patterns of civility, in
moments of inarticulate awe, and in nostalgia"1
for near forgotten people and their lives. "Reverence"
is almost missing from our modern activities, yet when
it comes upon us and grabs us, it brings heart-stopping
insight which catches our breath and might even brings
tears.
Reverence turns on switches that are deep within us.
It opens doors to being in awe of whatever we believe
lies outside our control - God, truth, nature, even
death. Reverence brings with it the capacity for deep
respect of others and realizing what others have done
for us. A visit to a War Graves Cemetery is all about
reverence - being in awe of history and sacrifice. Reverence
is being in the presence of the Spirit which calls people
to be sacrificial threads in the fabric of human community.
This day-out from London began with a Tube ride on
the Jubilee Line from St Johns Wood station to Baker
Street station. Then a change to the Circle Line that
took Valerie and me under Marylebone Road to St Pancreas
International Railway Station. Right on time, the 6:59
Eurostar took off down the high speed track, over the
Thames, through the fields of Kent and under the English
Channel to Brussels.
In WWII the Channel was what saved Britain. It's width
of 34 kms. meant that the Commonwealth forces could
lie in wait for the German air force and navy and that
the great invasion force of D-Day could be built, organized
and rehearsed safely from the continent. The Channel
was also a weather-dependent challenge. Lengthy crossings
on the Channel for navies and above it for air forces
brought certain vulnerability. But now, six decades
later, it is only an 18 minute high speed run under
the channel - weather free.
In two hours we were in Brussels station, where we
walked upstairs to another platform and found a seat
on a train for Antwerp, 45 minutes away. Multi-cultural
Antwerp is the diamond capital of Europe. We walked
through the wonderfully elaborate marble Central Station
then crossed the street where we easily found the Tram
and rode 30 minutes on the fifth rail car of our day's
journey. The end of the line of Tram Route 24 was immediately
across the street from the entrance to Schoonselhof
Cemetery in the suburb of Hoboken.
Ahead was a long walk, at least half-a-mile, through
the park-like cemetery. The pathways were wide and the
trees a hundred years tall. The office building sat
beside still waters; we entered and found only two staff.
They gave us Flemish directions in broken English -
which augmented what we'd earlier seen on Google Earth.
Our quiet, peaceful, expectant walk continued all the
way to the Commonwealth War Graves, in the back, far
corner of the cemetery. It was sunny, bright and warm.
The moment we arrived in the War Graves section, the
reverence began. We were hit by the sheer numbers of
graves - all so orderly and well kept, as they should
be. Not one of these people had grown old! They were
all in their teens, twenties and thirties. So much of
life was denied to all of them. So grave was their war.
We thought of the pain they suffered, of the shock of
being hit and the despair of knowing they were about
to die; we thought of their loved ones not knowing of
their death for days or weeks or longer when the next
of kin received a feeling-less telegram delivering a
terse and devastating message.
There was one large section for the Belgian army that
included flags and a simple memorial. All the rest were
Canadians, Brits, Poles and French. It was overwhelming.
For 65 years the sun had risen each day upon their gravestones
and each nightfall brought no hope of a tomorrow with
new life, no hope of new friendships nor of descendants.
Row upon row upon row upon row. Not one of these people
had grown old!
We studied our simple map and began to analyze the
layout of the cemetery to find Gordon Brown in Plot
1, Section A, Row 1, Grave No. 27. "No doubt, this
is Plot 1 and this must be Section A, and here, look,
this is marked Row 1." Along Row 1 I counted: 22,
23, 24, 25, 26 … Not one of these people had grown
old! … "Here he is! Grave No. 27 - Squadron
Leader J. G. Brown, Chaplain, Royal Canadian Air Force,
Nov. 27, 1944."
I stood beside the earthly remains of the man I was
named after. Everything in the cemetery became even
quieter for a moment. I felt that I had found a long
lost friend; I felt a connection to my parents who had
treasured his friendship; and I felt so very good for
Ruth because her important friendship in her youth with
'Brownie' finally had an epilogue.
We had brought a dozen red roses with us all the way
from London. Flowers under the English Channel, no less!
I placed them there and offered a prayer:
Gracious God, from whose love in Christ we cannot
be parted, by death or by life, hear this prayer of
thanksgiving in this place, in this moment of reverence.
Here in this solemn place of war remembrance, we stand
midst so many destroyed. They were courageous and they
died violently. We offer gratitude for all our war time
ancestors, for leaders and followers, for the famous
and the humble, for friends across the decades - so
many affected directly by wars.
Gratitude especially for the lives marked here with
all these graves and those many similar graveyards elsewhere;
so many sacrificial lambs whose shortened lives ended
in violence but each leaving a gift that will never
end as they made our common life secure. O God, may
the memory of their sacrifice inspire in us a resolve
to do your will for the world of our day - and a reverence
for each and every thread that weaves the fabric of
life.
And thank you for Gordon Brown - gratitude at last offered
here at his grave from Ruth, from Barbara and Tom, from
the United Church of Canada and from me. This courageous
man of faith is remembered. And we will treat with due
reverence these unforgettable wars - the havoc and death
they bring to some and the change they bring to the
rest of us. Amen.
The mission to Brown's grave was complete. We retraced
our way back to the bustling centre of Antwerp. After
a sidewalk Café lunch, and a stroll through the
plazas, we returned to London on the high speed train.
A week later we were home in Vancouver. The circle had
been completed - a unique connection was now confirmed
with reverence.
1. Woodruff, Paul, Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue,
Oxford University Press, 2001. p.3.
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Shaughnessy Heights United Church
congregation is a Christian faith community respecting
each other in our diversity and reaching out to all
who seek God’s love.
1550
West 33rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC V6M 1A7
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Tel:
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