In going through some of my old papers which seem to have been travelling with me forever and continuing to challenge me for what the future will be. I guess that we all have been through these emotions and have been variously affected in different ways. These are the actual notes that I wrote on that particular occasion and are offered here as a challenge to me to decide what will the next few years mean for me and my life. What will it mean when that ‘Great Day in the Morning’ arrives? Will there be people who will want to ask me of my ‘exploits for the Kingdom’?Officers Councils 1982
Melbourne Australia
It was the Afternoon of Officers Councils 1982, we sat in the historic Melbourne City Temple.
This was a large, 100 year old auditorium and each year for Congress the largest Blood and Fire Flag in the world was used as a backdrop on the back wall of the platform. During the afternoon session the Field Secretary read out the names of those Officers who had been ‘Promoted to Glory’ in the last 12 months, since we last met in this way.As the obituaries were read I could ‘see’ those officers so recently ‘Promoted to Glory’, many of whom I knew, being welcomed by the Founder into that most holy estate. I could see Brigadier Ern Callander and Colonel Myrtle Watson and all the others in their shining new garments. Not only was the old General there with his long white beard, but there was a host of the other Army Saints that we read about in the history books; George Scott Railton, Joe the Turk, Happy Elizer, Evangeline Booth and many others as if the Army history books had come to life. I saw these newly commissioned saints eagerly wanting to know the details that our history books left out or only gave small details, to hear firsthand the exciting and significant events that have made up our Army history.
But as I listened to that sanctified discussion it was the Founder and GSR and the others who were even more eager to hear of the exploits of the Erns and Myrtles and the others who had so recently left the fight. In all this excitement and joy the ‘Great Welcome’ was expressed by our Lord Jesus and as he spoke those ultimate words of welcome it seemed that the whole of creation heard and rejoiced; “Well done thou good and faithful servants; enter into the joy of your reward”
The celebration seemed without end with the meetings of loved ones and brothers and sisters in the faith and the hum and buzz of excitement of my new picture.
It seemed that I had been watching this glorious scene for many hours but the voice of the Field Secretary Colonel John McIntyre broke in on my reverie by continuing to read on the list of names and the memories they evoked in those of us who stood in respect, reverence and love for them. As I looked around I saw all the active officers with a variety of service around me there was Captain Frank D., Major Roland H., there were all the other Captains and Lieutenants, the retireds all sitting in the honoured front seats all standing listening to the names of their friends and possible session mates names being read out, and then there were the Cadets listening to the names of whom legends are made.
It was a moment of deep emotion for me as I made up such a small insignificant part of this great gathering on that particular day; but I realized more than ever before that it is we who are making history. It is we today who are taking our place in the fight who we are, by our holy living, making the history of tomorrow. There are many things that I want to ask those old saints about, some of the activities that have fired my imagination for so long, but one day, if I am faithful, there will be someone who will want to ask questions of my life and ministry, about the fight that I am engaged in.
We all took our seats and sang a suitable song but in that very sacred moment my mind sang over and over again..
“I’ll be true.... I’ll be true.........”
Yes; true to the Colours, but not necessarily the Red, Yellow, and Blue but to the colours of Faith and Service that we each covenanted on that day, that at the time was simply for me a step in leaving the ‘Hallowed Walls’ to go out and serve. What will the Saints who welcome me want to know about what I have achieved? What have I done and what I have achieved that will be worth talking about on that ‘Great Day in the Morning’. The time is always ripe for a challenge; these words have reached me and taken on new meaning from nearly 30 years ago.
I trust that this will be a challenge for you also.
FletchPeter Fletcher
Former
Australia
6 comments:
Good to hear from you again Fletch and as always you have provided us with much room for thought ... thank you!
It seems to me, our song should be:
'I'll be true Lord to Thee
I'll be true Lord to Thee
And whate're may befall
We shall surely conquer all
If I'm only true to Thee'
GBY real good, with love, prayers and respect!
Active UKT
"The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming. But again and again we avoid the long thoughts….We cling to the present out of wariness of the past. And why not, after all? We get confused. We need such escape as we can find. But there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need—not all the time, surely, but from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember—the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived." Frederick Buechner (A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces)
Former
UKT
(looking forward to learning what was learned from the recent polls)
"A Room Called Remember " hit the spot this morning. Thank you for sharing this. I even had a lump in my throat.
Blessings.
USA East former
Re: “I’ll be true.”
I remember at our Public Welcome Meeting in 1978, at the old Lomond Grove Camberwell Citadel in London, Brigadier Winifred Backhouse, on the ITC Staff, asked the Session to stand up and sing that Chorus. She said she had a dream that one day there would be a Session who would all fulfil that chorus, and still all be Officers until retirement or PTG. She wondered whether we would be that Session? I well remember thinking that of course I would still be an Officer.
Well, approx. figures are 104 entered Training, 98 commissioned, and now less than half still active serving to receive their 30 Year Long Service Awards! To be fair, as we were aged 20 to 47 at Commissioning, there are a lot of retirements and some PTGs among the other 50% plus, and some Retireds are still serving. However, about 1/3 have resigned for one reason or another.
Good article, anyway, one to make you remember your youthful enthusiasm, commitment, dedication and good intentions!
Greetings to all Proclaimers of Salvation who read this!
Margaret Day
Former
UKT
Welcome back my friend. Good writing and good notes for me to ponder.
Former Officer
Is this blog still active? Is there someone still fighting for married women officers to receive equal pay? Or to be able to wear pants with a tunic?
Please tell me someone is still advocating for this.
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