Festival of Remembrance went wrong over Lord’s Prayer

Remembrance was marked differently this year as a result of the pandemic.

I USUALLY find that the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance to be a very moving occasion.

I watched it on November 7 and was very impressed by the contributions made by both the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Bearing in mind the Covid-19 restrictions, most of the Festival was up to the usual high  standard except, for me, two items.

The Revd Maggie McLean, York Minster's Canon Missioner, observes a two minute silence in the Cathedral in York, to remember the war dead on Armistice Day. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Early in the festival a blond- haired lady sang something – sadly, for some reason, one could not tell what she was singing about; her words were unclear.

The second criticism is a strong one.

Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer to be a prayer, not a concert piece, as I thought it was that night, sung by a choir and not spoken by all present.

A shame, I think, as that prayer is still known by most people, even in these secular days.

Remembrance and Armistice events do justice to veterans – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: John Turley, Dronfield Woodhouse.

RON Firth (The Yorkshire Post, November 13) pays a deserved tribute to the Armed Forces, doctor and nurses, and those that took part in the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, and Sunday morning service at the Cenotaph.

However he then bizarrely twists this round to an attack on those that did not support Brexit, and like several other Brexiteers, seemingly accuses them of being unpatriotic or even traitors, creating an atmosphere of division and intolerance, much like Donald Trump whom I assume he very much admires.

He then even more bizarrely tries to blame any failure to reach a Brexit deal on politicians who did not support Brexit such as Hilary Benn (MP Leeds Central), totally ignoring the fact that many Brexiteer politicians never wanted a deal in the first place, but lacked the honesty to state this during the Referendum campaign.

I have little doubt that if there is No Deal at the end of the transition period, Brexiteers like Ron Firth will blame everyone and anything but themselves.

From: Jenny Eaves, Balby, Doncaster.

It has been a challenging year in lots of ways but I found it particularly sad that people were unable to mark Remembrance Sunday as normal. However, the sacrifices we are being asked to make to our ordinary lives at the moment are nothing compared to what the wartime generations went through.

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Festival of Remembrance went wrong over Lord’s Prayer - Yorkshire Post Letters