Sunday Focus


Remembrance Sunday 9th

November 2025


 

 

Hymn - O God our help

 

Gather us into Your presence, God of peace.
We trust that Your vision for the world –
the great creation of Your imagination,
entrusted to us as a place for our flourishing –
is still there behind all the challenges of our lives.
We come today remembering that even in the darkest of days,
Your flame of hope and new life flickers
drawing us on to find the good
and to illuminate the world with Your Gospel of love.

Help us to find You in the smallest of things
and the most ordinary of our experiences.
For You are the great source of our being
and the power that sustains us through Your Holy Spirit.
When we search hard for You,
we may miss Your presence in the everyday -
so, help us to look out for You -
in the face of friend and stranger,
in the wonder and beauty of our world,
in the complexity of design
in the creativity of artist and scientist.

 

Hymn - Eternal Father

 

Luke 1:68-70

Zechariah’s song

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
   in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

 

These are the first words of Zechariah, Father of John The Baptist, he had been silent through most of Elizabeth's pregnancy.
For Zechariah, something had gone terribly wrong with the world. Things just weren't as they were meant to be, and he had found it very difficult to reconcile how the world worked and what it looked like, with the words he heard in the Torah and the vision of God expressed through the prophets. But, as he looks upon his son – who seemed like a miracle just for existing, he is filled with a new optimism and sense of hope that things can be different, that the way things are doesn't need to be the way things will be.

Zechariah's prophecy is two-fold. One strand regards how God will transform the reality of life (v68-75), and the second revolves around the role Zechariah foresees his son completing (v76-79). As with the Old Testament prophesies, to those listening what Zechariah spoke about would have seemed impossible, lofty or unrealistic. Yet God was certainly at work and would complete the work Zechariah spoke of.

This reading reminds us that we also can reimagine how our world works through the power and majesty of God's Holy Spirit.

As we spend time in remembrance, there is a good opportunity to challenge those who have gathered to not accept the way things are, but to look forward to a time and age where war will be a thing of the past.

As we look at the world, it does not take long until we can name any number of elements that show the world is not as it should be. Using the Luke passage, you could speak of the hope and transformation that is promised through the lens of Christ's coming, and that we all must take the place of John in preparing the way for those who will come after us.



Hymn - O Lord we look upon the past

 

 

In Flanders Fields

  

God of peace
We come this day in solemn remembrance and prayerful witness
to the courage, self-sacrifice and devotion to duty of those who have given of themselves in service to others.

We remember those who lost their lives and the grieving families and friends they left behind.
We remember also those who came home but who lost something of themselves on fields of battle. Those who lost limb, or reason, or sense of self.
We pray that Your comfort will be known by all who have seen the realities and dangers of war.
Ease the pain of those who grieve, being renewal to those whose health in body or mind has been diminished.

We seek Your blessing upon members of our Armed Forces and upon their families.
Grant to them safety in the fulfilment of their duties, defend them as they face dangers of many kinds, and grant to them wisdom and courage as they work for peace and justice in our lifetimes.
We remember those who faced and continue to face significant challenge at home.
For families torn apart by war, for those forced to leave the familiar and seek safety and refuge elsewhere.

For those whose homes have been destroyed,
or who cannot return due to dangers caused by conflict.

We pray for lands where neighbours have become enemies,
where brothers have picked up weapons against one another and we seek Your reconciliation and peace.

We give thanks for the times and places where we can see seeds of peace growing.
We pray for those who have never known war, and we plead that this will long continue.
Grant a love of peace to our Young people,
that they will make choices that lead to harmony.

We pray for our King, Charles, and for all of his ministers in Westminster and Holyrood.
Grant to them wisdom in the fulfilment of their duties, that they will seek to make our world a place of safety and of prosperity for all.
Grant that Your Church will speak out with passion for the sake of those who are voiceless.
Save us from silence or complacency and inspire us by Your Holy Spirit to prepare the way of the Lord today,and always.

We bring to You those things that weigh heavily upon our hearts,
trusting in the mercy and intercession of Your Holy Spirit.

We pray these things in the name of Christ, Amen

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever.

Amen.

  

 

May the God of love fill Your heart with peace
and send You into the world to live it.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
be with You and those You love,
this day and always
Amen