Across the street from St. Paul’s is a cenotaph. A cenotaph is a monument erected to the memory of a group of people whose remains are interred elsewhere. In this case it honours all Newmarket residents who lost their lives fighting for their country.
In Newmarket Remembrance Day is observed on the Sunday on or before November 11th with a Legion parade to the cenotaph at about 1:30 in the afternoon and a brief outdoors service.
What you might not know is that local cadets spend the night standing guard at the cenotaph in a candlelight vigil. The cadets take turns being on duty and spend the rest of the night in the lower hall at St. Paul’s. It is always a very moving sight. A solemn occasion.
In our Sunday morning worship service we at St. Paul’s also take time in an act of remembrance. We commit ourselves to work in penitence and faith for reconciliation between the nations, that all people may, together, live in freedom, justice and peace. We pray for all who in bereavement, disability and pain continue to suffer the consequences of fighting and terror. We remember with thanksgiving and sorrow those whose lives, in world wars and conflicts past and present, have been given and taken away.
Let us pray: Ever-living God, we remember those whom you have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of your presence; may that same peace calm our fears, bring justice to all peoples and establish harmony among the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
