‘Dunkirk Moment’ for Church
The 70th anniversary of the battle for Dunkirk falls as I write.
The battle took place between May 26 and June 4 1940. King George VI was a fragile man who will be remembered for two things from those dark days: first, he read a few lines from a poem beginning “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year” in his Christmas address in 1939 and secondly he called the nation to a day of prayer, during the Dunkirk crisis and churches were full to overflowing. The rest is history.
It seems to many of us in the Church of Scotland that the kirk has reached a Dunkirk moment in its history. The present statistics and the predictions for the next ten years indicate a critical situation which I do not need to repeat.
Would it be too much to ask the new Moderator to do something drastic but obvious? We are a Church of Jesus Christ. We pray. We pray for the nation but we need now to pray for ourselves. If he wishes to be remembered as George VI is remembered, let him call the church and nation to a day of prayer.
Peter Kimber, Dirleton, East Lothian
‘Easter Feast’ praise
Another feast – this for the ears and heart!
Readers who found Jolyon Mitchell’s visual exposition (An Unexpected Easter Feast, April) to be of interest might wish to explore another unexpected feast, this in music, in the Sacred Story of the Resurrection as set by the famous German composer, Heinrich Schütz, a much-travelled antecedent of J S Bach.
Schütz studied and worked for some time in Venice with the Gabriellis. His setting of the Emmaus incident, as also throughout the whole work, is richly wrought, with plangent and heart-searing music.
I urge everyone to listen to the whole composition (indeed, to Schütz’s Christmas Story also) – enjoy, be refreshed, and reflect.
Tim Chester (Crosslands, Boroughbridge), and many others have also written widely on this topic of image and message, one of eternal interest.
Philip Bradfield, member of the Choir of the Abbey Church of Dunfermline
Welsh Thoughts
Some months ago I subscribed to Life and Work magazine.
Cartoon: Bill McArthur
“Eh... Minister. I don’t think invoking the spirit of Dunkirk on Portobello beach is going to have much traction on the Mound.”
I am so pleased with the publication. As a retired minister of the Presbyterian Church of Wales I am nowadays, due to poor health, not very active. However, Life and Work is one magazine that keeps me informed about the life of the wider Church – and keeps my mind active.
Meirion Thomas (Rev), Bodfari, Denbigh, Wales