WWI Poets - Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy

One of my heroes - and I think we all need heroes, for they, like Saints, encourage us to live, act and perhaps even die, well - is a priest who became famous by his praying with, and sending over the top, soldiers of the first world war with a New testament and a packet of Woodbines; giving him the nickname 'Woodbine Willie'.

Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy was a man who was many things and it is in his honesty and his poetry that perhaps we find the truth to the lie that war is glorious and denial of the oft vaunted claim that the Church supports war. We (the Church) don't support or promote war, but where conflict is to be found, we are always there (and have always been), the priests (and others) whose engagement in the conflict is that of offering support for (all) the combatants.

Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy is one of those and as the plaque (see April's blog entry on 'Woodbine Willie') in Worcester Cathedral so rightly states, this is a man who was:

A Poet:

A Prophet:

A Passionate Seeker After Truth:

An Ardent Advocate Of Christian Fellowship 

And it is to one of his poems that I turn here:

'COME UNTO ME' (A SHELL-HOLE MEDITATION)
Come unto Me
It sounds like mockery,
A voice that calls a wounded man
Across a weary space
He cannot travel o'er;
For we would come to Thee,
We long to see Thy face,
But we are wounded sore,
And evermore
Our weakness binds us,
Darkness blinds us,
We stretch our hands out vainly toward the shore,
Where Thou art waiting for Thine own.
We groan, and try, and fail again,
We cannot come--we are but men,
Come Thou to us, O Lord.
Come Thou and find us.

Shepherd of the sheep,
We cannot come to Thee.
It is so dark.
But hark,
I hear a voice that sounds across the sea.
"I come."

A man with whom I am proud to say I share both cap badge and calling.

dona eis requiem

A Good Read: Woodbine Willie

I found myself a new book this week: Woodbine Willie: an Unsung Hero of World War One (Bob Holman    ISBN 978-0-7459-5561-2)

In 1914 a simple, unknown parish priest enlisted as a Chaplain. This man became one of the most famous personalities of the 14-18 war and although few might have recognised the name, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, as 'Woodbine Willie' he was a hero!

His habit of passing cigarettes around and being with the troops where the action was; braving shells and bullets to do what Chaplains did then (and continue to do today). He maintained morale and when war ended, took up another battle against poverty, unemployment, war itself and injustice.

A man who brought Christian and socialist thinking together and did rather than just talk about it. His money and his mouth were firmly to be found residing in the same place! The dean of Westminster Abbey refused him a funeral in that place because he was a 'socialist' (always good to see the days when we were perhaps the much vaunted 'Conservative Party at prayer'). But the man wasn't a political type, in fact he had a dislike and distrust of them (because he been to war and seen that politicians start them and soldiers either end them or are ended in them?).

This is one of the first practical theologians and looked to the Church to stand up against, poverty, poor living and  the condemnation of the class system. 'If we share we have enough,' was his mantra, and many ignored it; but some didn't and that's part of the man's appeal - he was ahead if his time!

This is man who knew long ago that Church is the 'Big Society' and that we have a new Commandment to live by that goes into no man's land with those who are about to die; and ministers to the wounded and dying too!

This is a hero of the 20th Century and I can but commend the man (and the book) to you as an exemplar of what it means to live the Christian message and take up your cross to follow Christ.

Enjoy

ps. I was privileged to see a painting of the man hanging in the vestry of Worcester Cathedral whilst preaching there recently. I have to admit that the thrill of seeing it and the memorial (below) was one of the (so many) high points of that day:

Daily Office - Jan 19

Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095
Second Day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Psalm 29
Ascribe to the Lord, you powers of heaven,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the honour due to his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders;
the Lord is upon the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation;
the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord splits the flash of lightning;
the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe
and strips the forests bare;
in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’

The Lord sits enthroned above the water flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king for evermore.
The Lord shall give strength to his people;
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

Psalm 33
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, for it is good for the just to sing praises.
Praise the Lord with the lyre; on the ten-stringed harp sing his praise.
Sing for him a new song; play skilfully, with shouts of praise.

For the word of the Lord is true and all his works are sure.
He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers up the waters of the sea as in a waterskin and lays up the deep in his treasury.

Let all the earth fear the Lord; stand in awe of him, all who dwell in the world.

For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; he frustrates the designs of the peoples.
But the counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever and the designs of his heart from generation to generation.
Happy the nation whose God is the Lord and the people he has chosen for his own.

The Lord looks down from heaven and beholds all the children of earth.
From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze on all who dwell on the earth.
He fashions all the hearts of them and understands all their works.
No king is saved by the might of his host; no warrior delivered by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; for all its strength it cannot save.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him,
on those who wait in hope for his steadfast love,
To deliver their soul from death and to feed them in time of famine.
Our soul waits longingly for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Indeed, our heart rejoices in him; in his holy name have we put our trust.
Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have set our hope on you.

Amos 5.18-end
Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!
   Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light;
   as if someone fled from a lion,
   and was met by a bear;
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
   and was bitten by a snake.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
   and gloom with no brightness in it?

I hate, I despise your festivals,
   and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
   I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
   I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
   I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images that you made for yourselves; therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

1 Corinthians 5
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you?

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgement in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons—not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber.

Do not even eat with such a one.

For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. ‘Drive out the wicked person from among you.’


The Collect
Lord God,
who raised up Wulfstan to be a bishop among your people and a leader of your Church:
help us, after his example,
      to live simply,
      to work diligently
      and to make your kingdom known;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.