Service at St Marks’ contrasts despair of war with message of hope
Parishioners of St Mark’s, Dundela marked the Centenary of the outbreak of the First World War at their morning service on Sunday, 3 August. Members of the congregation came together for this significant anniversary in the context of a specially prepared Service of the Word, which drew from resources prepared in the Church of England as well as original material.
The Service was conducted by clergy of St Mark’s, Revd Lynne Gibson, Curate–Assistant, and Revd Adrian Dorrian, Rector, who also preached. The Parish Choir, directed by Peter Hunter, sang Douglas Guest’s setting of Binyan’s famous poem ‘For the fallen’, and the service was interspersed with poetry from the First World War including work by Siegfried Sassoon and Geoffrey Faber.
Speaking about the poetry used for the service, Revd Adrian Dorrian said: “I felt that there was such a rich vein of literature from the War, and that it represented perhaps one of the most honest and enduring forms of expression from the period. The poems selected date in turn from the start of the Great War, the middle of the War and from its ending. Although very beautiful, a lot of poetry from the First World War is quite cynical and devoid of hope; this might seem out of place in a Church service but in fact it provided us with the opportunity to contrast the despair of the War Poets with the message of hope that is central to the gospel. It was very important that we used St Paul’s words from Romans 12 as part of the service: ‘Do not repay evil for evil.’”
At the end of the service, two members of the Parish Sunday School planted poppy seeds and used words of peace to dismiss the congregation, reminding those present of the message of the gospel of peace and of the role of each new generation in responding to that gospel.
St Mark’s, Dundela, is actively planning future events to mark the centenary of the First World War, including a parish evening in November which will include War Poetry and tell the stories of some members of the Parish who served in the conflict and others who corresponded with Parishioners from the Front.