The following is the standard order of service used for a number
     of years in Golden, British Columbia for the November 11th
     Remembrance Day Cenotaph Service.  It is fairly typical of such
     services around the country.  

     The Parade itself starts from a location near the Cenotaph and
     includes, in parade formations members of the Royal Canadian
     Legion, The Army Cadets, Scouts Canada groups, Royal Canadian
     Mounted Police and in some years Elementary School Classes and so
     forth.   The timing is to permit the two minutes of silence to
     fall at 11:00 am, the time the armistice was declared in 1918
     (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month)

     The particular address included here by the Legion Chaplain was
     delivered in November 2001 - and reflects that fact.  Other
     addresses will be found following the one included on this page.


10:35     PARADE FALL IN                                  - Parade Marshall

10:40     PARADE MOVE OFF                                    - Led by Piper

10:50     PARADE ASSEMBLE AT CENOTAPH                - Master of Ceremonies

10:55     O CANADA                                       - High School Band

     * ROLL CALL    WWI  1914-1918                - RCL Auxiliary President

     * ROLL CALL    WWII 1939-1945                   - RCL Branch President

     * KOREA CONFLICT                                        - Cadet Leader

     * ACT OF REMEMBRANCE                            - RCL Branch President

         They shall not grow old as we are left grow old.
         Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
         At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
         We will remember them.

         - Rx -  We Will Remember Them 


11:00     LAST POST                            - High School Band Trumpeter

          Two Minutes Silence
     
          REVEILLE

          LAMENT                                                    - Piper


MESSAGE AND PRAYER                                - Padre (Legion Chaplain)

Two months ago this day - and near this hour - the world was once again
plunged into conflict - and  into what has been called a new kind of war -
a war that has come home to this continent much in the way that it did in
1914  and again in 1939 and again during the Korean Conflict.

And once again - as before - men and women in the uniform of our nation
have responded.  Husbands and wives and children have stood at the dockside
in Halifax and in Esquimalt and wept and  hugged one another as our
warships have departed port carrying aircrew and navy personnel to an
uncertain future - a future in which some may die - some may be injured -
and in which none will ever be the same again.  They are making this
sacrifice because they are ones who care - because they are one's who
believe in  doing their duty - and because they are one's who believe that
this country and it's values - the values  of freedom and justice - are
worth defending and indeed preserving.

The men and women we remember today at this Cenotaph were like those who
have gone to fight this new War on Terrorism.   They served at home and
abroad - leaving their families and friends at quay-side and airport
runways and train stations as they departed - some for several months, some
for several years, and some forever.   They - with the forces of other
nations committed to liberating those who were oppressed and overrun by the
enemies of peace and freedom - gave themselves - in whole and in part - so
that not just we - but all peoples -  might live without fear - and might,
as we all desire, raise children and grandchildren and enjoy the fruit of
their labours and the blessings of civil rest, no matter what race, colour,
creed, or political persuasion they might be.

We remember them and their sacrifices today.  And we, and the citizens of
many countries around the world, thank God that they - along with their
families and our entire nation - were willing to step into the breach - and
to take up the struggle with the foe - the foe which would quench the torch
- and bring darkness upon the world.

Today - for the first time - the Colour Party bears with it the American
Flag - to remind us that we are not alone in the current struggle - nor
were we alone in the past.  We remember the sacrifice of not just our own
citizens today - but the sacrifice made by our allies.  

And today we have with us - for the first time - the Cadets of the 3066
Lord Strathcona's Horse - young men and women who have helped greatly in
this year's Poppy Drive - a fund which supports both the veterans and their
families that we remember here today and as well many worthwhile community 
endeavours.  These young ones indeed are taking up the torch - the light of
freedom - as they engage in civic duties that help to create and preserve
justice and equity among all peoples - and as they take part in activities
and training that will them into stronger and better citizens.  They are to
be commended - for it is for such as these that those we remember today
gave themselves in the hope that they might live long and prosper - and to
such as these that they passed the torch that it might be held high.

Today as we remember those who gave themselves in the last century - let us
honour them by pledging ourselves to their struggle - the struggle for true
peace.  The peace that does not come with victory or defeat, but with
justice throughout the world.  Let us pledge ourselves to fight the evils
that drive nations and peoples to war: poverty, hunger, racial and
religious hatreds and persecutions, ambition, greed, and the oppression of
the weak by the powerful.   Let us remember today those who made the
supreme sacrifice for the sake of true peace  - and pledge ourselves to
their cause.   Amen.

     
LET US PRAY:                  (based on a prayer the United Church of
                              Canada's worship resource "Celebrate God's
                              Presence" 16T006)

     Today, O God, we remember times of war, times when men and women
     served our Nation and fought and died so that we and so many
     others might live in freedom.  We are saddened to remember the
     lives that were lost - and the cost that so many paid so that the
     world might not  live in fear of oppression and violence.  Today,
     O God, we remember and we are thankful for the sacrifices that
     our soldiers and sailors and aircrew made so that their brothers
     and sisters  and the generations that have followed them - both
     here and in other nations - could live in peace.  We recall those
     who served in places far from here - and those who served at home
     and we thank you for what they did to hold high the torch and to
     take up the quarrel with the foe.  We thank you, O God, and we
     pray today for those like them who are serving Canada at home and
     abroad in our armed forces - that you would keep them safe and
     bring them home soon.

     Finally, most Gracious God, we pray as well that all people on
     earth will learn to live together as one family; - to share, that
     none will be hungry or homeless; - to care so that none will be
     oppressed or afflicted by violence, - to love and to respect one
     another despite our differences, so that freedom might be more
     than a word and so life might be more than a struggle to survive. 
     We ask it in the name of the Prince of Peace.   Amen.

xxxx
Alternative Message and Prayer by Pastor Lloyd Srickland
xxxx

"AMAZING GRACE"                                            - Sung by a Trio


MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER (read in English and in French)


LAYING OF OFFICIAL WREATHES             - The High School Band plays "Abide
                                        With Me" as various wreaths are
                                        laid by Government, Military, and
                                        Legion Represenatives)
     

CLOSING COMMENTS                                     - Master of Ceremonies


RECALL COLOUR PARTY and STAND EASY                        - Parade Marshall


LAYING OF WREATHES                 - By Representatives of the Community,
                                   businesses and individuals as they are
                                   called forward by the MC)


"GOD SAVE THE QUEEN"                                     - High School Band


PARADE TO ATTENTION // MARCH OFF                - Parade Marshall and Piper


PARADE SALUTE                         - Received by RCL President and Padre

                         - - - - - - - - - - - 


copyright - Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, 2004 - 2005
            please acknowledge the appropriate author if citing these sermons.