Requiem Service Serman - The Armenian Genocide 1915
St Sarkis Armenian Church, 24 April 2003
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fall, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
Hold thou thy Cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!
Henry Lyte was the pastor of a seashore Church in England, as well as the author of this moving hymn. His was the cry of a loving and grieving heart that had no earthly help, nor hope left.
As I read this hymn again earlier today, its words shook me with their melancholy strength. It is a hymn that enriches us with its biblical quotations, mindful of what St Peter said to the Corinthians when he reminded them that death had lost both its victory and its sting (1 Cor 15:55). This rejoinder by St Paul also reminded me of the quotation in the Book of Hosea which refers not to deaths, stings and victories, but rather to deaths, graves, plagues and destruction (Hos 13:14) when the Almighty promises 'to ransom them from the power of the grave'.
Indeed, we are gathered here this evening to commemorate the Armenian victims of a horrendous chapter in our national history. An evening that remembers the one and half million men, women and children who were pre-judged to their premature deaths as a result of their Armenian identity! Their genocide, the first such collective tragedy in the 20th century, is a self-immolating sacrifice that lifts up our individual and collective senses as Armenians.
But those tragedies did not dim the Armenian yearning for life. Instead, they affirmed the Armenian determination to survive the spoliation of life and to conquer death with life instead. They also underlined St Luke's words, 'He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much' (Lk 16:10).
Today, Armenians meditate upon the words of this hymn entitled 'Abide with me'. Whether as individuals or else within an institution, Armenians struggle to ensure that the world recognises at long last the harrowing deaths of their forefathers so that closure brings recognition, and recognition can only come forth with truth and justice.
I would like this evening to thank profoundly all my brothers in Christ from the various Churches who have joined us to commemorate the pain that has fed our history for eighty-eight years. Your sharing of our pain is sheer solace for us. I would also like to thank the representatives of the Armenian Embassy in London as well as each and every one of you - old and young - for being here with us as we pray together for the souls of departed Armenians who were our relatives, friends or family acquaintances.
Whether we assemble here at St Sarkis Church to join in a remembrance of those hapless victims of years past, or whether we join in marches, vigils, lectures or events already organised across the whole country, we expunge together the one travesty of genocide and aim together for the one objective of recognition. In so doing, we reflect those soul-searching words from Philippians that challenge us, 'For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain' (Phil 1:21).
May God remember our ancestors, bless us all today, and protect us always in His peace and grace. + Amen!