General News
29 May, 2022
Pastor's Ponderings
THIS year I once again had the honour and privilege of playing the Last Post and Rouse at the Anzac Day service that was held at Rainbow.
Submitted by David Young- Rainbow and Hopetoun Uniting and Baptist Combined Parish Church
THIS year I once again had the honour and privilege of playing the Last Post and Rouse at the Anzac Day service that was held at Rainbow.
Traditionally, the Last Post call signalled that the final sentry post had been inspected, and the camp was secure for the night. However, it also had another function, at the end of a day of battle, when it signalled to those who were still out and wounded or separated that the fighting was done, and to follow the sound of the call to find safety.
Since the 19th century, it has been used by nations of the British Empire where it is incorporated into funerals and memorial services, now symbolising that the duty of the soldier is over and that they may rest in peace.
The second bugle call to be played was either the Reveille or the Rouse.
Traditionally, these are morning calls intended to get soldiers out of bed. Ordinarily, the Reveille is played at dawn services only while the Rouse is played at any other time of day.
Between them is the one minute of silence which, as King George V described, is to “perpetuate the memory of that Great Deliverance, and of those who laid down their lives to achieve it.”
Before the Last Post is the Ode, which is an excerpt from Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen," which he wrote in 1914 as World War One was beginning.
It ends with the line, ‘At the going down of the sun, and in the morn, we will remember them’.
These words were taken from the Bible book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, which is part of an account of the Israelites’ Passover ceremony, itself an act of remembrance giving thanks to God for their rescue from slavery in Egypt.
The essential elements of the remembrance service owe their origin to two Anglicans - the Dean of Sydney, the Very Reverend Albert Talbot, and Brisbane’s Canon David Garland.
These men were both chaplains to the first ANZACs during World War I who saw the need to incorporate Christian recognition into the Anzac Day service.
That they should recognise this is unsurprising at a time when Christianity was deeply embedded into Australian culture.
One interesting aspect of the Anzac Day order of service is that the Last Post, symbolising the end of the day, comes before the Reveille or Rouse, which signals the day’s beginning. It seems to be the reverse of the logical order.
This can be seen as an expression of hope, where new life, new beginnings arise out of the chaos of tragedy.
The Bible is full of such accounts, such as with the redemption of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, and later with the resurrection of Christ, but perhaps one of the most significant symbolic meanings that we can draw from this is the way in which it reflects the promise of the resurrection.
John’s Gospel records Jesus as saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
The apostle Paul, writing to the Church at Thessalonica, likewise said, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.”
The resurrection is the greatest hope of the Christian.
Just as the Reveille or Rouse being after the Last Post symbolises a new beginning, those who accept Christ as Lord are promised that in the end, we too will be raised to a new beginning and everlasting life for eternity with Him.
Sadly, with events in Europe and elsewhere as they are, it seems that the world may once again be headed towards a future that is cast over with the dark clouds of war.
In such times we should be never ceasing in our prayers and our concerns for the victims of those tragic events as they are unfolding in other parts of the world. And yet, through all the tragedy that this brings let us also never forget the promises of our Lord to those who accept Him, that no matter what happens He will always be with us even to the end of the age.
As the apostle Paul said in his letter to the church at Rome, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”