Lest we forget
God of love and liberty, we bring our thanks this day for the peace and security we enjoy, which was won for us through the courage and devotion of those who gave their lives in time of war. We pray that their labour and sacrifice may not be in vain, but that their spirit may live on in us and in generations to come. That the liberty, truth and justice which they sought to preserve may be seen and known in all the nations upon earth. This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord.
~ Amen.
Remember, O Lord, all those the brave and the true, who have died the death of honour and are departed in the hope of the resurrection to eternal life. In that place of light from which sorrow and mourning are far banished, give them rest, O Lord, thou lover of men. And grant to us who remain the spirit of service which may make us worthy of their sacrifice, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
~ Amen.
O Lord, lover of souls, who through the mouth of your prophet of old declared that all souls are yours, we thank you for the brave and faithful dead, who willingly laid down their lives on the battlefields of war or succumbed to the perils of the deep or of the air. We bless you for the dauntless courage of those defenders of our country who have fallen in the cause of truth and righteousness. In your hand, O Father, we leave their departed spirits. Grant us to follow their good example in faithfulness and endurance, even unto death, that we may with them be found worthy of the crown of everlasting life.
~ Amen.
Ode to the Fallen
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and they are in peace.
Hallowed in Christ be the memory of the brave men and women who died in wars for the freedom of the world.
They shall yet stand before the Throne, an exceedingly great army.
And in the muster there shall be found, these, our own well-beloved.
Their glory shall never die,
The whole wide world is their sepulchre,
Their epitaphs are written upon the hearts of mankind,
And whenever there is talk of noble deeds,
Their names will be held in grateful remembrance.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow,
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted.
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow, not old,
As we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,