So I decided to head to the local church on Sunday to attend a service. I thought it would be nice to see how the Church of England differs and doesn’t from the Episcopalian Church and also it’s a very cool old building that I wanted to see the inside of. It did not occur to me, though, until I got there that the Sunday I had chosen was November 11, which is Remembrance Day in England. On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour the Armistice was signed to end World War I. So now every Nov 11 is a sort of Veterans Day for England. So the service was not a normal service, it was centered on remembering and honoring British soldiers.

It was so cool to be there. The church was packed – people had to stand because there were not enough chairs. The readings and hymns all were about fighting for causes and fighting for God. The sermon was very interesting. The priest gave it by basically addressing the children, starting with “today I will speak on two things, both starting with the letter “r”. Do you know what one of them is? That’s right, remembrance. Do you know what we are remembering today?” etc. The main focus of his sermon, though, was about how World War I and World War II had caused such pain to soldiers, families of soldier, friends of soldiers, and so forth because of all of the death and suffering. And if we recognized that war can only cause grief, why are we continuing to engage in wars? And he ended by saying that Christ is Prince of Peace.

After the sermon and the Lord’s Prayer, they sang the National Anthem “God Save the Queen” and apparently we stole the tune from them and changed it to “My Country Tis of Thee” which is interesting. Then everyone went outside to the War Memorial and one by one, representatives of various groups laid down Poppy Wreaths. There was a moment of silence and a bugler played. It was all very moving. It seemed as though this entire tiny town I was in had gathered to remember all the people from their community, past and present, who had served.

After this, a sort of parade followed. The veterans marched along side the Royal British Kidlington Legion, Cadets from Kidlington, St. John Ambulance (which is basically like the Red Cross, I think – they give and teach first aid), and then all of the Boy and Girl Scout troops from Kidlington. And there was a marching band. It was like something out of a movie – the main street of the town from the Church to the Tesco (a supermarket) was lined with people watching the parade.

Oh Kidlington. I wish I had taken pictures. It was very moving.

These are what the paper poppies look like. Everyone wears them pinned to their shirts and the wreaths layed are made of them.