This coming Sunday morning, 8 November, the Anglican Church of Luxembourg will hold its annual Service of Remembrance at the Konvikt Chapel (5 Avenue Marie-Thérèse, Luxembourg-ville).
The service will be giving thanks for the sacrifice of so many men and women in the wars of the last century, as well as praying for peace and reconciliation.
This year there are a few elements which underline the theme of reconciliation. The readings, Isaiah 2. 2–5 and Matthew 5.1–11, will be read by the German Ambassador and the British Ambassador.
Three of the musical items are directly linked to WW1 and WW2. De Profundis by l’Abbé Jean-Pierre Schmit, director of music at the Cathedral Notre Dame de Luxembourg, was written while he was interned in the concentration camp at Hinzert. Alan Carlisle, the Anglican Church of Luxembourg's former Director of Music has set to music the poem “Secret Music” by the WW1 war poet Siegfried Sassoon. Also, the English translation of the poem “Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen”, which was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his prison cell just a few months before his execution in May 1945 for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, will also be sung.
The congregation is requested to be seated by 10:50, so that the Act of Remembrance may begin at 10:55. Parents are asked to take young children directly to Junior Church downstairs. Older children who can understand something of the significance of what is happening are welcome to be part of the Silence.
The service will also include the Act of Remembrance and Laying of Wreaths, prior to The Silence and the Readings, with the Act of Penitence and Act of Commitment later in the service.
Poppies will be available outside the Chapel, along with the collection box to receive donations for the Poppy Appeal.
For further details, see www.anglican.lu.
Photo from the 2014 Service of Remembrance
