CENOTAPHS AND MONUMENTS

LEST WE FORGET TO REMEMBER

My family and I have recently been required to pour over and sort through years of belongings, photos, letters, and memories of loved ones who have passed away. It has been a challenging process, in many ways heart wrenching, often confronting, sometimes joyous. It has been as though we have entered the vaults of our loved one’s lives. Their material lives are a testament of memories with stories, histories, and intimacies to tell. Remembering is a powerful process, it can be liberating and empowering.

SORTING THROUGH THE MEMORIES

During the Easter holidays this year (the time I prefer to label “The Passion week”) my wife and I spent much of our time we would spend in reflection, rest and recreation working through about 35 years of our own archives, files, and ministry notes and resources. This was a space and time-determined imperative. In the process we needed to discern what was necessary to retain and those elements that would need to be processed for shredding (including much confidential material). A monumental experience after successfully filling four wheely-bins of discarded material. Amongst all the archives we also discovered artifacts we have chosen to retain as they are eminent memories. Emotionally charged. Important. Relevant. Impactful.

The Australian Light Horse

MEETING THE LAST LIGHT HORSEMAN

 

Amongst them was an order of service that sparked a precious memory from twenty years ago.I had been invited with my family to the birthday of Albert (Bert) Whitmore (1899 - 2002). I remember being so honoured and proud of my son when he was blessed to shake his hand. Bert was the last surviving Light Horseman and last surviving South Australian World War One veteran. Having joined the service as a 17-year-old Bert joined his fellow comrades in arms shortly after they had captured Beersheba in the historic cavalry charge. Bert rode in the successful third battle for Gaza. Allied victories soon led to the capture of Jerusalem. The rest - they say- is history. Bert described the scenes he had witnessed  as "like riding through the Bible". Israel is an archaeological museum of peoples, and lives and stories and beliefs. In the midst of the war, Bert had been graced to view with his own eyes the good news places he had read of and heard about in Sunday School. Beersheba is the place of cisterns in the desert where “The well of Abraham” can be seen on numerous plaques heralding the narrative to visitors. 

Author Shane Brigg at "Abraham's Well" at Beersheba in Israel

CENOTAPHS, MEMORIALS, AND MONUMENTS

Today monuments and cenotaphs are seen in this place too of the time Bert and his mates rode through.  In Jerusalem there are many cenotaphs, memorial places, plaques, and archaeological sites of significance. The most eminent and debated over is the burial place of the risen Jesus. The word cenotaph is derived from the Greek kenos taphos, meaning "empty tomb." A cenotaph is a monument, sometimes in the form of a tomb, in our modern usage it is often utilized as a place of remembrance to a person or group of persons buried elsewhere. Including our ANZACs.

LEST WE FORGET

Bert Passed away at the age of 102. Soon after the opportunity our community had made to honour him in life we then gathered for his funeral service which took place on the 31st of October 2002. This date was also the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba. I was honoured to attend this humble man’s graveside State funeral service in the Barmera cemetery. It was a solemn, impactful, appreciation of a servant-hearted man and his comrades who had laid down their lives. The words “Lest we forget” resounded. The phrase simply implores that 'it should not be forgotten'. We say or write 'lest we forget' in commemorations to always remember the service and sacrifice of people who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. A Bugle sounded. Bagpipes played. 

Albert Whitmore. The last Light Horseman

I visited that cemetery several times over the years.

OTHERS NOT FORGOTTEN 

Among the artifacts we found as we cleaned up all those archives was the memorial service handout of a ten year old boy's funeral that I had conducted at that same cemetery a couple of years after Bert Whitmore’s farewell. I was his Chappy and Pastor caring for his family over many years. I have kept that order of service. This was a difficult memory to process. Especially considering that only a little while later I was doing another service for his Dad who had passed away after his battle with cancer. Bagpipes played at their funeral, but there was no bugle. The phrase “Lest we Forget” was not announced for these two friends of mine. But they had both fought a brave fight: one which is the battle of all young people to live their lives, grow, learn, wrestle through the challenges, connect, love and be loved by others and celebrate every heartbeat, the other was to experience the same and to have lived and loved and fought a brave battle for health. Then to have known the peace of God in the last hours as hands were held, prayers were said. I will ever remember them as having fought the good fight of faith. Sometimes this fight may have been faltering for them. Sometimes it was full of glory. Remembering them is important. It helps to anchor my own life and be thankful for the lives I have been honoured to know. It also deepens the appreciation of those whom I have not known and yet who are important to value and appreciate and take time to remember.

HONOUR TO OUR ANZACS 

This ANZAC day we will pause to remember our service people who have laid down their life and living to secure peace in our world. Many have paid the ultimate price of their life in sacrifice. No greater love. Lest we forget.

The phrase 'Lest we forget' is from a line in the1897 Rudyard Kipling poem, “Recessional”:

"God of our fathers, known of old,

Lord of our far-flung battle line,

Beneath whose awful hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!"

 

Remembering is a powerful process.

Shane Brigg Chaplain Remembrance Day Service Prayers

The memories that had been catalysed by our archival cleanout over passion week have culminated in my final thoughts here:

The opportunity to journey with loved ones (like my family and friends), acquaintances and even people less known to us but whose stories have had an impact on our lives (Like Bert Whitmore) is a blessing.

The memories literally grounded in the cemetery in Barmera are not just of deaths, but of lives and loves that have touched my life. And Life goes on.

LIFE. LOVE. LIFTING JESUS . 

The siblings, wife, family, and friends of those who we had buried at the Barmera cemetery gathered at the beautiful Lake Bonney near this landmark at the culmination of my tenure in this region. It was for a baptism in its waters. As we remembered the saving works of Jesus. No Greater Love has any one than to lay down their life for their friends. And as those who went through the waters, we recognised that this act was more than just a memorial of death. It was a living symbol of Jesus having laid down his life he rose again to give us life. Life abundant. The sister and daughter of that little boy and the dad who had passed away was baptised.

 There was no bugle or bagpipes, but someone played a guitar and we sang.

 "Lord, I lift Your name on high

Lord, I love to sing Your praises
I'm so glad You're in my life
I'm so glad You came to save us

You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord, I lift Your name on high."

(Written by Rick Founds).

We could have added a stanza we might have borrowed from Kipling (my thoughts):

God of our fathers, known of old, (and known to us)

Lord of our far-flung battle line, (Our lives, our world, our time)

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, (Jesus, you never leave us nor forsake us)

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Lake Bonney Barmera, South Australia

The Passion week is a time for us to remember. Baptisms are a mark on our lives to memorialise in our own living Jesus death and resurrection. A testimonial of saving love. We do that conscientiously and consequentially of our faith journeys. Jesus life and death and resurrection has redeemed our past and marked and influenced our future. I am grateful.  Remembering is powerful.

The opening of the memorial portal that was stored in all the archival and material elements that my wife and I have kept and reviewed have meant that I have and will conscientiously make  time to remember my family and friends. My loved ones and their lives. To tell and write more of their stories. To bless. To heal. Those who have lived their lives and touched ours in the past and their passing have marked and influenced our future. I am grateful.  Remembering is powerful.

Love is a reminder that the story of our lives is interwoven with those of others. The strongest reminder is the greatest of love. The laying down of lives. Living sacrifices. Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these is love, and no greater love has anyone than they lay down their lives for their friends. (1 Corinthians 13:13, John 15:13).

This ANZAC day I chose to remember. I chose to remember, appreciate, honour those who have served and have laid down their lives in times of war and conflict to secure a future and peace for us. I am truly grateful. 

Bert Whitmore Light Horse Memorial Barmera RSL 

On the 14th August 2022, on Albert Whitmore’s birthday a memorial was unveiled by Tony Pasin MP & Bert`s family at the Barmera RSL. The Plaque reads :

“Erected by the RSL Barmera Sub Branch to celebrate Albert (Bert) Whitmore.

The last surviving WWI Light Horseman”

 The Front Inscription reads :

“L E S T   W E   F O R G E T”.

 

I won’t.  I hope we all remember. Remembering is powerful.

Distracted by Divers Discourses

 (Seeking Simplicity)   (Tyndale’s Treatise)

I recently spent all day in our school library. Incredible. Surrounded in books. Inspirational. Perhaps a little daunting. So much to read. So many narratives to prioritize. So much learning. So many ideas, opinions, facts, truths, and stories. So many books and authors who have put into print what was in their imagination. Dreams. Hopes. Heroes. Works of love, life, and learning. All this work produced, published, printed. I sat there - as host of our network gathering of Chaplains and Youth Workers - I was distracted by all these thoughts and more. It is a very chaotic, deeply complex, wonderful, but often very challenging world. The complexity of navigating the enormity of understanding made me gasp. 

How can an average person today reckon with what is important, what is life giving, what is truth?

I sat surrounded with books. I was immersed in my cerebrations, a celebration of seminal significances.   I ruminated about all that script, imagined writing it all, imagined needing to hand write it all, remembered Gutenberg, and remembered the printing of the bible and its dissemination to the masses and the pioneering of mass printing for other major publications and future literature as well. The printing press played a key role in the advancement of the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment. Making knowledge contained in books and literature readily available and affordable for the general population for the first time. This contemplation, in turn, lead me deeper in my thoughts.

Bible Translator in Israel

I had recently also been drawn to taking another look at William Tyndale because of his standing up to a system that was threatened by their loss of control. In 1535, after several years as a ‘wanted man’ Tyndale was arrested, and jailed. In 1536, he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake. Tyndale’s crime was the translating of the bible into common English for the common people. Tyndale recognized the abuses that came from a corrupt system, and uneducated clergy who knew little about the Word of God, and even less about the Latin verses that they recited each week. His mission was to provide people access to the truths of the bible for themselves. His famous tenet resounded and framed his mission:

 “I will cause a boy who drives a plough to know more of the scriptures than the pope”. 

Tyndale was convinced that the Bible alone should determine the practices and doctrines of the church and that all believers should be able to read the Bible in their own language. Because of the influence of printing and a demand for Scriptures in the vernacular, William Tyndale worked on a bible translated directly from the Greek into everyday (accessible) English. Perhaps Tyndale’s greatest achievement was the ability to create a balance between the needs of scholarship, simplicity of expression, and literary gracefulness, all in a uniform dialect. The effect was the development of an English style of Bible translation, that was to serve as the model for future English versions for hundreds of years.

When Tyndale first translated his New Testament, the English language was thought of as weak and unfit for Holy Writ. Tyndale’s work proved that it was however rich, dramatic, and colourful; that it was fit to communicate God’s Word, and worthy of furtherance. It has been expressed that our English language and accompanying literature would not have become the powerful medium it is to this day without Tyndale’s legacy. Tyndale had a burning passion to see the common person read God’s unadulterated, de-barnacled Word and he did something about it. At the time of his death, 18,000 copies of his New Testament had been printed. The common English-speaking person had access to reading the scripture. Further to this, in fulfilling his mission, Tyndale opened for the translation of the bible into the divers and diverse languages of the world. To date The United Bible Societies and Wycliffe Bible Translators report that the Bible, has been translated (in whole or part) in more than 3,324 languages (including an increasing number of sign languages), including complete Old or New Testaments in 2,189 languages, and the complete text of the Bible (Protestant canon) in 804 languages. Wycliffe Bible Translators also estimate that there are currently around 2,584 languages which have active Bible translation projects (with or without some portion already published). As Tyndale’s mentor Erasmus projected: 

"Christ desires his mysteries to be published abroad as widely as possible. I would that [the Gospels and the epistles of Paul] were translated into all languages, of all Christian people, and that they might be read and known." 

This is simply happening.

Tyndale not only gave access for readership. He also gave access to revolutionary ideals through particular words and how he translated them. The choice of words can also be theologically loaded. There were 5 words of note that catalyzed his influence and the reaction that lead to his martyrdom. Tyndale’s translation was carefully phrased to state the perspective of what he could gain from the original Greek and Hebrew to bring meaning in the common English of his day. In several notable cases, Tyndale deliberately chose to render words that had a long legacy among the religious institutions with new terms that Catholics found offensive. For example, he used “congregation” instead of “church,” “elder” instead of “priest,” “repentance” instead of “do penance,” and “love” instead of “charity.” Tyndale’s English translations of these words were  more accurate translations of the Greek terms, but they differed from the familiar Vulgate upon which much Christian theology had been based. These terms are loaded: “do penance” had sacramental implications rejected by many protestant reformers—whereas “repentance” more closely reflected an act that could be done by an individual before God without the need of the church. These changes were offensive to the religious hierarchy and were heavily criticized by many.

 It was because his translation not only armed people with an opportunity to read scripture, but it also gave value to semantics of principles given through the use of these individual words that the population had access to truth. As I reviewed this article, I considered what word might encapsulate the themes I have been giving illumination to. “Access” was my working concept.

 

In the School Library

 The library that began all these musings gives access for our students to a whole range of topics. Gutenberg gave people access to a printed form of the scripture (in Latin). Tyndale gave access for everyday people to be able to read the scripture in their own language; and to understand deep theological and spiritual concepts by semantic relevance and with academic integrity. The power of effective translation and exegesis to give people access to stories and truths often gets overlooked. It’s either not given the prominence it demands, or worse it’s an afterthought. The truth is translation is far more important. In the Global Economy of today’s interconnected world, effective translation is an asset. It doesn’t matter which industry you’re in, whether it’s ministry, politics, e-commerce, iGaming, finance, science, sport, multimedia, or relationships talking the language of your customers or connections effectively is essential. Like Tyndale some of the crafting of translating ideals in words needs to be way simpler than what we often do. If you turn to read pieces translated or written by Tyndale, (either in his prose writings or his Bible translations) you enter a different (more easily accessed) world populated with short words and sentences that evoke images of real life. In this world you find light, not illumination; eat, not ingest; grow, not cultivate; burn, not incinerate.

I think all of this has relevance to me as a writer… for each of us as writers.

What I simply want to say is ………

That my main point is: If you want to say something so your audience can access it (understand it), keep it simple.

When you say something, say it simply.

My work as a school Chaplain has taught me that. 

In our world today, with all its complexities, absurdities, arguments, debates, disharmonious divisiveness, and discombobulations that distract us from some of the simple truth, we need to embrace again the simple pleasure and peace gained by some unostentatious communication and living.  

So sometimes (often) - in our writing- using a simpler phrase or word is even more effective to get your message across. This resonates for how we live our lives too (that’s a message for another article, but it is worth introducing here).

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (The Message translation Philippians 4:8-9).

When I am distracted by divers discourses, I am challenged to come back to the basics of life lived well.

As Corn Flakes expressed back in my childhood:

“The simple things in life are often the best”.

Ready, Willing and AGENCY

In my work with young people discussions have arisen over the years of the importance of empowerment to help create positive solutions for their future. Recently a useful tenet has been raised about the necessity of “agency” to be afforded to the young people we engage with. Giving agency means the instilling of hope and a sense of purpose, meaning and belonging in their worlds. Giving agency to the characters in our stories helps our narratives have a deeper meaning as well. 

Sociologists (1) suggest that people experience agency in the context of actions oriented to the past, future and the present. The ‘past’ or “iterational” aspect of agency refers to how a person can selectively reactivate actions based on understanding from actions and thoughts from the past. This may include how people have actions in response to typical situations that help them sustain their interactions, identities and institutions over time. An example of this in our storytelling may be how a character we have created may be able to face and resolve circumstances at the end of their character arc simply because they have experienced other similar situations earlier in their story. 

The ‘future’ or “projective” aspect includes how a person purposefully creates potential future. A character in our storytelling may dream, visualise, imagine, or self-talk about possible future trajectories of action connected to their fears, desires, and hope for the future.

The ‘present’ aspect of agency is the “practical-evaluative element”. It includes the capacity of people to make judgements and chose actions in response to a situation, demand or context. Characters we have developed need to be described with a reasonable ability to reason, have a will, and be shown to be able to function in the variable telling of their stories.

An example of agency from my work as a Chaplain helps explain this:

“James” was a student who was dropping out of school in year 10, experimenting with substance abuse, and had a horrific background.  In a letter at the end of his schooling he related how the first session of meeting with me as his chaplain was enough for him to put aside the plans he had made to seriously harm himself. How this happened was through him regaining a sense of agency (or Hope) in what seemed a hopeless situation. We talked about how little successes from his past could help his future. We talked about the things he could practically action. He also came to recognise that he had people supporting him and to simply be there for him.  James was not only helped though chaplaincy to get the support he needed he was empowered to help himself. James also joined a team helping other students and raised his own support to go on a Humanitarian project overseas helping others.

Empowering Agency in others changes the lives of those being supported, who in turn go on to help change the lives of others as well. A bit of a secret about empowering agency in my chaplaincy  interactions is that it is not about having to “fix” the students I work with, but it means I am there to simply be a role-model that asks good questions that empower the students to design solutions for themselves.  We do well to create the same type of environment and opportunities for our characters. For a student like James living without agency, your friends insist on you making bad decisions, the situation you are in seems hopeless, then you either cope or don't with the situation you've been put in. With agency, you get to work out what you want to do, then make a decision, then deal with the results of that decision. Agency linked with positive influences and empowerment helps design constructive futures. 

The very same thing that agency means in real life, should be afforded to characters in our stories. Giving a character the opportunity to make decisions about what happens to them, rather than imposing a set of circumstances upon them and forcing them to react. When you give a character 'agency' you are also instilling in them the power to fulfill their destiny. Agency is self-determination. Characters can be an 'agent' of their own will. Giving agency means making sure a character has the ability to make choices that drive the story. The options a character has will depend on their history, skills, background, experience, status, training, etc. which are all great options to help embellish a narrative and to  craft a deeper storyline. You want a character that can take action and not just be acted upon. Agency gives characters the ability to make choices. A character’s personality is revealed by their choices, not just by surface elements. What a character chooses when faced with a decision tells you who that character is. This is real, like life. It helps readers want to engage at a deeper level with a narrative. Agency also helps make it all flow. A story is more engaging, an adventure is more fun and a narrative more believable if the protagonist has options and reasons and the actions have consequences, and you help show all of this process.

A well-crafted story that gives agency to characters motivates the reader to lean in, read on and want more. It is engaging. More than this it could empower, equip, and get people mobilised. Agency turns your characters into ambassadors, it empowers protagonists to follow their dreams, sort out problems, and make a difference. A character who is relentless about getting it right, when everything else is not gives a sense of agency. Agency gives individuals in our narratives a will and a reason to want to leave a legacy.

All this ignites a mobilisation faithfulness in your readers, because it’s about inspiration, hope, meaning and purpose.

Are you ready and willing to give agency? Let me inspire you: Go and be an empowerer 😊

 References

(1)    Emirbayer, M. and Mische, A.  (1998). "What Is Agency?". American Journal of Sociology. 103 (4): 962–1023.