July-August-2018_WEB

forgotten voices WWI July, August 1918
undivided: One Hundred Years of Remembering and Forgetting, 1914-2018
Silence is not, in general, a key feature of our culture—we are generally a very
noisy and busy society. There is one area, however, in which silence has become
increasingly common — the numerous occasions on which we are called to observe
a national silence in the wake of tragic events or on their anniversaries....
— Revd Andrew Totten, MBE
THE ABOVE WORDS are from a talk entitled Military remembrance: the
personal and the political, the first of four for Bristol cathedral's June
undivided series above. These and the following words are taken from
the review of the talk on the News section of the cathedral’s website:
Revd Andrew Totten MBE ... explored
the tension between the political and
the personal within the area of remembrance.
He focused on the use of silence
as a public way of remembering and
marking grief, following its development
through modern history. Its most
famous and consistent use over the last
one hundred years has, of course, been
in the observation of two minutes of
silence on Remembrance Day to commemorate
those who died in the two
great wars. Over the last twenty years
the observation of silence has become
increasingly common — we are experiencing
what the speaker called ‘silence
inflation’. Whilst there is certainly a
place for silence, Revd Totten reflected
that its overuse and misuse has cheapened
it. Through his extensive experience
as a military chaplain he has seen that
the political motivations behind public
displays of grief are often to the detriment
of the personal and pastoral needs
of those most closely affected (families
and troops) — which can often lead to
emotional fatigue. Silence is a powerful
tool. Although it can often be used for
good — helping people stop and reflect
in times of deep emotional crisis — it
can also be a means to close down discussion,
to enforce conformity in a world
where people do not necessarily agree
about the circumstances of grief. Revd
Totten finished by drawing a link with the
words of Ecclesiastes which tells us that
there is a time for silence but also a time
to speak out, a time to hold on and a
time to let go. As the Cardinals Winning
and Hume observed in the wake of the
Dunblane school massacre — in times
of crisis the church’s response should
not be silence, but instead in speaking
out and fervent prayer.
Revd Andrew Totten MBE is Principal at the Armed Forces’ Chaplaincy Centre
and an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen. He has been a British Army Chaplain since 1994
our Voices compilation by Lester Clements resumes in September
diary dates 1st July – 2nd September
please note that in addition to the diary listings below, which vary in frequency or other
details, the following events happen every week in this period—
Tues
Tues
Weds
Thurs
Fri
Faithspace Coffee Morning // 10am–12pm — Faithspace Community
Centre (FCC)
Christian Meditation // 6.30–7.00pm — FCC
Jazz in the Undercroft // 7.30pm–10.00pm. NB — Summer closure: last
session 25 July; sessions start again 5 September
Redcliffe Gardening Group // 10.00am–12.00pm — Somerset Square
Police Beat Surgery Drop-in // 1.00pm–2.00pm — FCC
2 Pot Luck Lunches // 12.30pm — at Rosemary Cooper’s
2 Postcard Club // 7.30pm — FCC
3 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Peter Dill
4 Hymn Sing-Along // 11.00am — Rosemary Kingsford — FCC
4 Redcliffe Lunch Club // 12.00pm — RNIB — FCC
4 Redcliffe Film Club // 2.30pm — A Good Year — FCC
5 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Kat Campion-Spall
5 Organ Recital // 1.15pm — Iain Crabbe; Marlborough College
10 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Kat Campion-Spall
JULY
11 Redcliffe Lunch Club // 12.00pm — Yvonne; Bumper Quiz with prizes— FCC
11 Mothers’ Union // 2.30pm — Judy Loxley; Thought for the Day — FCC
12 Eucharist with Prayer for Healing // 12.30pm — Revd Kat Campion-Spall
12 Organ Recital // 1.15pm — Jonathan Vaughan; Greenwich, USA
17 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Canon Bruce Saunders
18 No Lunch Club until Wednesday 5 September
18 Redcliffe Film Club // 2.30pm — Mrs Doubtfire — FCC
19 No lunchtime organ recitals until 13 September
19 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Peter Dill
24 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Peter Dill
26 Eucharist with Prayer for Healing // 12.30pm — Revd Peter Dill
28 Wedding of Max Hogg & Abaigeal Burrell // 1.00pm — Revd Chris Parkman
31 Holy Communion // 12:30pm — Revd Peter Dill
1 Hymn Sing-Along // 11.00am — Rosemary Kingsford — FCC
2 Holy Communion // 12:30pm —
AUGUST