The Parish Magazine December 2024

24 The Parish Magazine — December 2024
around FEATURE the — 5villages — 1
Never forgotten by their old church . . .
Writing in the January 1919 issue of this magazine, the then vicar of Sonning, Rev Gibbs Payne Crawford, reflected on how
St Andrew's Church supported the 1914-18 war effort. The following is a slightly edited version of his account . . .
One of the best things we had
was certainly the Friday War
Communion. It was begun at the
request of a family staying in the
village.
The first took place on Friday 28
August 1914 and it was continued
every Friday, with very few exceptions
— mainly when it broke down for
want of communicants — till Friday 15
November, when it became a Eucharist
service for the conclusion of war. It
was, week by week, the great prayer of
the parish about the war, and though
attended by fewer people than we
hoped, we felt that throughout our
fellowship in Christ it was the prayer
offered by the few in the name of all.
Often it was made deeply real, by
the presence of some who sought it in
their day of trial.
For many months we had a young
wife pleading in it for her husband who
eventually fell in battle; at another
time we had a mother committing her
young son in it to the care of God; now
and then a husband and wife made
it their parting service, or they made
it their thanksgiving when they met
again after the perils of the war.
THE SOLDIERS BELL
All through the war we had a
mother making it her prayer for the
safety of her dear boys in soul and
body during the perils of campaigning.
Sometimes lads and maidens
made it their pledge of love to be
kept faithful during their parting,
and always the celebrant reading out
one by one the names of those of the
parish who were in the perils of war,
while those who had made the great
sacrifice gave a solemn reality to the
pleading.
Collections were always given to
the British Red Cross Society and the
Order of St John of Jerusalem.
From the beginning of the war a
bell was rung every day at noon. It was
a call for the prayers of those at home
on behalf of those absent on service,
and whenever one of our men fell, the
same bell tolled at noon to let everyone
know that a soldier had died. It is now
called the 'soldiers’ bell'.
The Great War memorial plaque in St Andrew's Church Sonning
At every Sunday service there was
remembrance made of the war and of
the men in it.
At Evensong the second part
of the usual prayers gave place, by
permission of the Bishop, to the
special prayers issued for the war.
This praying varied according to the
circumstances of the war and was
always very real.
Each prayer was introduced by a
war related thought and the hush that
filled the church while the prayer was
said spoke of itself for the reality with
which it was offered.
There were sermons about the
war — not so many as some wished,
but more than others did. Everywhere
that was a point in people’s minds.
Some were only too glad to leave
thoughts of war outside the church,
while others felt that war was for the
time the national life, and therefore
that preaching should be directed
upon it.
In our church there was a middle
course; war was not dragged into the
preaching, rather it was used to voice
people’s minds when thought of the
war was specially prominent.
REMEMBRANCE
At each daily service remembrance
was made of it in prayer, and at the
end of Evensong, first the sailors and
then the soldiers of our parish, each in
a separate prayer, were committed to
God’s care for the coming night.
Our men will never be able to say
that while absent they were forgotten
in their old church. Perhaps a grateful
remembrance of this will bring them
back to using their church.
Each time when news reached us of
the death of one of our men, we held a
short memorial service for him on the
following Sunday evening, at which his
family was present.
When the man was well known
in Sonning it was attended by a large
number of people in the village.
Whether common action will place
in the church any memorial of those
who have fallen in their country’s cause
remains to be seen.
COMMUNION
Peter Rennie
We have a church rich in its beauty,
but it would not be difficult to find
points at which it could be made still
more beautiful.
This is something of what was done
in our church during the war. It is
impossible to record everything.
It is hard to say whether the war
entered deeply into the spiritual
consciousness of the people; whether
it taught any to pray better, or to use
their Communion better; and whether
it is leaving behind it any spiritual fruit.
Only God knows this for certain.
LIFTED TO GOD
No doubt it brought neighbours
together: mutual interests in common
war work, the sharing of each others
anxieties and sorrows, and the one
great cause of the Empire in which we
were all united have undoubtedly made
people know each other better and
learn their mutual worth.
And from the church we cannot
help thinking that there went out into
the parish through those who attended
it some power to endure, some faith
that lifted the war up to God.
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