Dickson Chan - God of our Fathers (Recessional) (Melita - Dykes) (St Peter's Cooks River)

Today is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand.

On 25 April 1915, soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps formed part of an expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. The campaign failed to achieve its objectives, but as Wikipedia puts it, 'News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in the war.' Anzac Day was officially proclaimed in 1916.

Anzac Day has in more recent times become 'a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.'

It is a day on which we can not only remember those people but also when we can reflect on the stupidity of war: not only the major wars fought throughout our world but also the petty and senseless wars - for that is what they are - that men and women daily carry on with each other and that distract, hurt, alienate and divide us.

The words to this hymn - played by Dickson Chan on the 1880 Brindley & Foster organ of St Peter's Anglican Church, Cooks River, and recorded on 15 April 2023 - were written by the poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) in 1897. Here is the poem:

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!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
the captains and the kings depart;
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
an humble and a contrite heart:
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
lest we forget, lest we forget!

Far called our navies melt away.
on dune and headland sinks the fire;
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the nations, spare us yet,
lest we forget, lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
wild tongues that have not thee in awe,
such boasting as the Gentiles use
or lesser breeds without the law:
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
lest we forget, lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
in reeking tube and iron shard;
all valiant dust that builds on dust,
and, guarding, calls not thee to guard:
for frantic boast and foolish word,
thy mercy on thy people, Lord!

The last verse is truly a wake-up call!

The tune 'Melita' was written by John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876) in 1861 and was originally composed as a setting for the hymn 'Eternal Father, strong to save.'

This upload is in memory of my great uncle Harold Thomas Jeffreys who was killed in action in France in 1917 aged only 23.