A Different Sort of Remembrance Service

Yesterday our family, as we try to do most years, attended a Remembrance Day Service. I expected the usual ritual. Military formalities around laying wreaths, saluting, and the colour guard protocol. Politicians trying hard to be noticed but not inappropriately so. A clergyman trying hard to say things that were at the same time religious but not offensive to those who don't share his religion and often ending up not saying much at all. A minute of silence that takes much less than a minute. I don't mean the foregoing to be dismissive. In fact, I appreciate the fact that there generally is a decent crowd with a mix of older people who sometimes show by their emotion a knowledge of war that my own generation does not know and younger people who bring along their kids, anxious to use the opportunity to provide a civics lesson. Still, there are times when I feel that at least I -- and it would seem many around me -- wear the poppy, do our duty, and leave the service without really having managed to be touched too deep inside of ourselves.





The service I attended this morning was quite different than that. Held indoors at the Okotoks Foothills Centennial Arena, we arrived 20 minutes before the advertised 10 a.m. start time to find most of the 1200 chairs already filled. My guess is that more than 1500 people were crowded into the room, a surprising number wearing suits and "Sunday best" on this mid-week holiday. The Calgary Fire Departments "Cappy Smart" band was already playing and to segue to the formal proceedings, St. James Children's Choir performed a number. The program lasted one hour and forty minutes and contained the usual bevy of greetings from officials (who all kept their remarks very brief), three hymns sung by the audience, the involvement of five local pastors, and a thought-provoking message from Pastor Don Hall of Okotoks Ministerial. Based on a reading of Joshua 2:1-15 where we have the account of the spies going into Jericho and obtaining intelligence Rahab, Pastor Hall made practical remarks on the intelligence side of war, providing a helpful civic education lesson for all of us. He then segued into a more spiritual message, focusing on the doctrine of providence. Just as one cannot understand military operations without the behind the scenes intelligence operations that inform it, so life itself cannot be understood without realizing what God is doing "behind the scenes." The service included several numbers by the Big Rock Singers and the Okotoks Mens Chorus.

So what was different? All of the elements were the same as I was accustomed to yet there was an intensity about the gathering that was different. Part of it is the location I am sure. I have noticed from the reception that the soldiers receive each year as they march in the Stampede Parade through general conversations that the greater Calgary population expresses its appreciation for the military more openly than I was accustomed to in Ontario. There was also a more explicitly Christian focus to the assembly, and there is little doubt that the crowd was much less multicultural and ethnically (and one presumes religiously) diverse than similar gatherings in the Greater Toronto region. The "Calgary is not Toronto" factor is certainly part of it.

But I wonder if there is more. Is the fact that Canada is at war, with soldiers dying with too great a frequency, having an impact on our national conversation? Is the fact that even soldiers on a military base can get killed by a fellow soldier, heightening our awareness in a post 9/11 era that evil is real, very close to home, and cannot be ignored or wished away? Is the fact that that the Canadian government has invested significantly in the military in recent years, that Canada is once again taking its historic place in the midst of the battle on the side of the good guys fighting the bad guys, restoring a greater degree of national pride?

I don't have answers to these questions and I am sure that there is a complicated mix of things going on, but I for one was humbled and thankful to take part in a service which did more than simply the go through the rituals but managed to capture the audience that had gathered, responsibly educate them on the significance of war without glorifying it, while honouring the brave men and women who stand up for our freedom every day.