A cold November wind stroked the skin of parishioners as Rector Daniel Fournier read out the names of veterans buried in the cemetery of St. Luke Cedar Hill Anglican Church Sunday morning during a Service of Remembrance.
B次元官网网址淛ohn Gorden Anderson, Ernest Charles Ashton, Allan David BallantyaneB次元官网网址次元官网网址�
As Fournier read out more than 90 names, a group of children darted among the graves, as the wind lifted up fallen leafs. Silently and carefully, they placed a small, solitary rosemary bush topped by a Canadian flag on each of the graves.
B次元官网网址淛ames Ince, Delbert John Irvine, Richard JohnsonB次元官网网址次元官网网址�
Some 100 parishioners, many visibly deep in thought, stood and listened in silence as Fournier read the names.
B次元官网网址淧hillip Martin Saville, George Herbert Scarrett, John Charles Durrant ScholefieldB次元官网网址次元官网网址�
Once Fournier had finished the list, a trumpteer played the Last Post to usher in two minutes silence broken by Reveille.
Readings of poetry by Laurence Binyon (For the Fallen), John McCrae (In FlandersB次元官网网址� Fields), and Debbie Holick (In Gratitude of Silence) followed.
The playing of O Canada under a blue sky and a closing prayer concluded a service that had begun inside the church, with a reminder from Fournier that the cemetery holds a special place.
On its own, the cemetery appears just as a parcel of land that might lack meaning, he said. But the fact that it memorializes some thousand fore-bearers, ancestors, family members turns it into a deeply significant treasure filled with meaning.
B次元官网网址淏ut on this this day, its importance is raised to even a higher level, because today we honour those who have gone before us, and who have put their lives on the line and served our country in times of conflict and peace,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎nd so how blessed we are to have this place of remembrance, this sacred place. How blessed we are to enjoy the freedom to live in such a beautiful place in such a diverse nation.
But Fournier suggests that this B次元官网网址済ift of freedom,B次元官网网址� earned by many paying the ultimate price, faces threats in alluding to the current climate of political instability.
B次元官网网址淔riends, as we remember today, as we thank God for this time of encounter, we are also very aware of the context in which our world is currently in. There are certain realities that exist in our world that certainly would grieve the heart of God. We must never, never give up on the ways of peace.B次元官网网址�
