9th Aug 2020 - 75th Ann of Hiroshima

Land’s End Benefice

2020 Ordinary Time Eucharist

75^th Anniversary of the Hiroshima’s Nuclear Bomb

Facing Pain: A Service of Lament

August 6, 1945- 8:15 a.m.

Please join in with the words in bold. The bold with underlining is to mark the sections. You may remain seated throughout or sit or kneel or stand when we usually do so in church.

The Eucharist

The Greeting

The president greets the people

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
and also with you.

August 6, 1945- 8:15 a.m.

The first nuclear weapon used in human history, nicknamed “Little Boy” was dropped from the Enola Gay. After falling for approximately 43 seconds, it exploded mid-air in a nuclear eruption approximately 600 meters above the Shima Hospital, slightly southeast of the Aioi Bridge which was the target. In the moment it exploded, and a gigantic fireball appeared, intense heat rays were emitted, causing the ground temperature of the surrounding area reach to temperatures between 3,000 to 4,000 degrees centigrade. Also, the intensive bomb blast created maximum wind speeds of 440 meters per second at the hypocentre. The blast spread out rapidly and swept the entire city in about 10 seconds.

Although the heat rays were only emitted for a short period of time, their extreme intensity caused anyone within a one-kilometre radius from the hypocentre either to die on the spot or to receive multiple severe burns. Even people over three kilometres away from the hypocentre were burned on the parts of their bodies that were not covered by clothing. Wooden structures located within two kilometres of the hypocentre were completely destroyed, and there were people left trapped under the remains.

Prayer of Preparation

We say together the words printed in bold.

We meet in the presence of God

All who knows our needs, hears our cries, feels our pain, and heals our wounds.

Let us pray. The weight of grief bears heavily upon us but it is a load we need not bear alone. Let us offer our burden to Jesus,

Lord of life and of death, of the present and of the future.

We bring before you, Lord, our confusion in the face of shock,

our despair in the face of tragedy, our helplessness in the face of death. Lift from us our burden,

All and in your power, renew us.

We bring before you, Lord, the tears of sorrow,

the cries for help, the vulnerability of pain.

Lift from us our burden,

All and in your power, renew us.

We bring before you, Lord, our sense of frustration,

our feeling of powerlessness, our fears for the future.

Lift from us our burden,

All and in your power, renew us.

We bring before you, Lord, our frustrated hopes,

our unfulfilled desires, our unfettered sadness.

Lift from us our burden,

All and in your power, renew us.]

God of the desolate and despairing, your Son Jesus Christ was forced to carry the instrument of his own death — the cross that became for us the source of life and healing. Transform us in our suffering that in the pain we bear you might be for us a fount of life and a spring of hope; though him who died for us, yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

All Amen.

Sharing the Story Hiroshima’s reconstruction

Reconstruction just after the atomic bombing

The atomic-bombing completely destroyed the city, including buildings as well as the public infrastructure, such as transportation and communication facilities and water and sewage systems. The reconstruction of Hiroshima City first began with development of urban infrastructure under the national government’s wad-damage reconstruction project as one of the 115 war-damaged cities in Japan.

August 8, 1945 (two days after the bombing): the Japanese National Railways Sanyo Line was reopened between Hiroshima and Yokogawa (a station next to Hiroshima Stations).

August 9, 1945 (three days after the bombing): Streetcar operations partially resumed in one section

August 10, 1945 (four days after the bombing): Water pumps resumed operations. However, water leaked and spouted at many places in the city; and repairing the waterworks was an arduous task. It is said that it took nine months to restore the water supply to the outskirts of the city.

As for the city’s reconstruction plan, 34 reconstruction plans proposed by citizens, government officials, and foreign people were published at the Hiroshima City Reconstruction Council and in newspapers. It was thought that reconstruction of the city from the ruins would be nearly impossible; but the reconstruction plan pursued the highest ideals attainable at the time, with ambitious plans for roads, including 100-meter wide roads, parks, green areas, and land readjustments to secure land for infrastructure. At that time, Hiroshima City was having financial difficulties with its budget. Citizens and those who were engaged in the reconstruction had to work hard and at times heavy burdens were imposed on citizens for the sake of reconstruction. At the same time, various forms of aid and support from overseas helped Hiroshima citizens to overcome the crisis that followed in the aftermath of the bombing.

Psalm 102 – a Psalm of Lament

Turn your ear to me; be swift to answer when I call.

All Turn your ear to me; be swift to answer when I call.

Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you:

All be swift to answer when I call.

Do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble:

All be swift to answer when I call.

You, Lord, endure for ever, and your name from age to age:

All be swift to answer when I call.

You will be moved to have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to have pity on her:

All be swift to answer when I call.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

All Turn your ear to me; be swift to answer when I call.

Words of Comfort

A short silence is kept between each of the readings.

Hear these words of comfort which the Lord our God offers to all in trouble and distress:

Jesus said ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11.29,30

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.

Isaiah 43.2-3a

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8.38-39

Finding Hope

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law 1949: The Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law was enacted

Initially, the reconstruction planning (Hiroshima Reconstruction City Planning) encountered many problems such as financial difficulties, lack of human resources and shortages in materials and public land. Due to the catastrophic damage from the bombing, tax revenue was minuscule in Hiroshima City. In order to cope with these conditions, Hiroshima mayor Shinzo Hamai, city council members, and other local people concerned made strenuous efforts to find a way and lobbied the national government.

Enactment of this special law paved the way for special assistance from the national government, the transfer of national government properties and pushed reconstruction efforts forward. In addition, Hiroshima City was designated a “peace memorial city” under Article 1 of the law stating, “Hiroshima is to be a peace memorial city symbolizing the human ideal of the sincere pursuit of genuine and lasting peace.”

Reading Psalm 133

Mercy and truth are met together,
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

1 Behold how good and pleasant it is ♦
to dwell together in unity.

2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, ♦
running down upon the beard,

3 Even on Aaron’s beard, ♦
running down upon the collar of his clothing.

4 It is like the dew of Hermon ♦
running down upon the hills of Zion.

5 For there the Lord has promised his blessing: ♦
even life for evermore.

Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Grant to your people, good Lord, the spirit of unity, that they may dwell together in your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. All Thanks be to God.

Reflection

There are moments in history that echo in our hearts and memories. Hiroshima is one of these. The image of the explosion had a strange beauty. The wide cloud like mushroom shape seemed to have a softness about it. But there was nothing soft in the devastation created in the wake of the explosion.

In the work of a moment the bomb was released, and the world would never be the same. Not because of the resulting damage and death, bad as it was. The world could never be the same as we saw how all was destroyed, those who were innocent, the children, those who held a bright and caring future, wiped out of existence, the land as a place of beauty and nurture gone, the animals and plants, gone. A human being, or more rightly a chain of human beings made the decision to push a button that denied life, future and hope for others. A human being, or a chain of humans, together acted in full knowledge of the response of exploding a nuclear bomb. That is what we can never forget – the ability of humankind to enact wholescale evil.

In God’s story we hear again and again of the sins of humankind. The sins of greed, power hungry people wanting to have all things for themselves, wanting to shape the world their way. Wanting to be in control, and in judgement. Wanting to be affirmed that their desires, their thoughts, their actions are right and just.

In God’s story of the world, God tries to reach us, God sends messengers and they are rejected. God tries to speak to the people, but they won’t or can’t hear. God sees the world growing further away from love, from justice for the weak and voiceless, growing cold to the stranger. In a final bid to make the world understand, God decides to come, to become one of us. In Jesus we see the humanity and the divinity of God. It would have been enough to show people how to love. It would have been enough to show people how to care, how to act for one another, how to get close to God. It would have been enough.

But it was not enough for God. God’s story of the world gives the world a rescue plan, Jesus’ life death and resurrection set in place worldwide aftershocks, sin was trampled. Forgiveness and redemption won and continues to win over sin and decay. Death is vanquished and hope secured.

Each time we have to make a choice between good and bad, or to choose to create or destroy, we are walking in the way of Christ when we take the road of life, but walking in the pathway of the nuclear attack every time we choose badly. For each bad choice smooths the long path to a nuclear attack, each bad choice makes the next one easier to take.

For me, I wonder how God views our world. How God weeps at our inhumanity. How God sees the person whose finger is poised to destruction, and weeps with love for them. Lord have mercy on us. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Proclamation of Hope

We light this candle to remind us that when God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, he defeated the power of death, and his light shines in the midst of the darkness of this world.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

The Lord is the strength of my life.

All The Lord is my light and my salvation;

The Lord is the strength of my life.

The light shines in the darkness

And the darkness has not overcome it.

All The Lord is the strength of my life.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

All The Lord is my light and my salvation;

The Lord is the strength of my life.

Laying Down the Past

Prayers of Intercession Michelle Brown

Lord Jesus, today we commemorate the feast of your Transfiguration, when you revealed your unimaginable and infinite glory to Peter, James and John. It inspired them to follow you, not as it then seemed to shared glory but to the blood-stained cross and the tomb and to sufferings of their own on the Way of the Cross. We pray that we too may follow in your footsteps, through grace, and to rise each time we fall and fail in our love towards others and to you. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We are created by you, we owe all that we are and can be to you, without need of burnt offerings. And yet we mar your image in us. For on this day we also commemorate the anniversary of the nuclear holocaust - a burnt offering of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – to secure peace. We join our words of prayer to those inscribed on the stone at the site of the blast in Hiroshima: ‘Yet those who died still cry out to heaven and earth, even to those who do not remember the headlines or the news from that day: Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.’ Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Lord, we know that life is messy and that we find ourselves in situations of dilemma and darkness that we never dreamt would face us. Help us to learn the lessons of the past, to avert such horrors from happening again. Help us not to fight fire with fire and become what we hate. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We remember those in regions torn by tension and war, by disaster, famine, poverty and disease, for refugees, for those persecuted for their faith or because of their witness to justice and peace. We ask that they may not be broken by their bodies’ pain or by the deafness of the world to their cries but come to see hope and know that they are heard by you and those you inspire to do good. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Loving Father, into your hands we commend our earth and all life, ever threatened with disaster and sickness, yet enduringly beautiful and wondrous. In the name of your Son, our Saviour, and in the animating power of the Spirit, strengthen our will for peace and justice; increase our faith and work for your kingdom where we are transfigured, where “love and faithfulness will meet, righteousness and peace will embrace” and may your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven, where all is made pure and whole and all tears shall cease.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers, for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The prayers end with this Collect

Lighten our darkness, Lord, we pray, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of your only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. All Amen.

The Collect for the day:

Almighty God, who sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church: open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love and joy and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.

https://hiroshimaforpeace.com/en/hiroshima75/history-hiroshima/ Church OF England Liturgy Common Worship

The Peace

Words of introduction to the peace are used concluding with:

The peace of the Lord be always with you

And also with you.

A prayer is said over the bread and wine

Blessed be God, by whose grace creation is renewed,
by whose love heaven is opened,
by whose mercy we offer our sacrifice of praise.
Blessed be God for ever.

The Eucharistic Prayer

The Lord is here His Spirit is with us.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks and praise.

It is always right to give you thanks, God our Creator, loving and faithful, holy and strong. You made us and the whole universe, and filled your world with life.
You sent your Son to live among us, Jesus our Saviour, Mary’s child. He suffered on the cross; he died to save us from our sins; he rose in glory from the dead.
You send your Spirit to bring new life to the world and clothe us with power from on high. And so we join the angels to celebrate and say:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Father, on the night before he died, Jesus shared a meal with his friends. He took the bread, and thanked you. He broke it, and gave it to them, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this to remember me.

After the meal, Jesus took the cup of wine. He thanked you, and gave it to them, saying: Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, the new promise of God’s unfailing love. Do this to remember me.

Great is the mystery of faith

Jesus Christ has died. Jesus Christ is risen.

Jesus Christ will come again.

Father, as we bring this bread and wine, and remember his death and resurrection, send your Holy Spirit, that we who share these gifts may be fed by Christ’s body and his blood.

Pour your Spirit on us that we may love one another, work for the healing of the earth, and share the good news of Jesus, as we wait for his coming in glory. For honour and praise belong to you, Father, with Jesus your Son, and the Holy Spirit: one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

We break the bread of life, and that life is the light of the world.
God here among us, light in the midst of us,
bring us to light and life.

Giving of Communion

Christ is the true bread which has come down from heaven.
Lord, give us this bread always.

St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

The priest receives the bread and wine on behalf of the community

Final Prayer and Blessing

Faithful God, in baptism you have adopted us as your children,
made us members of the body of Christ and chosen us as inheritors of your kingdom: we thank you that in this Eucharist you renew your promises within us, empower us by your Spirit to witness and to serve, and send us out as disciples of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing Prayers

God the Creator of the world give you seeds to sow and time to harvest, Jesus our Lord and Saviour help you to weed your garden and nourish the good seed, Holy Life Breathing Spirit, sweep away all the brambles and weeds that obstruct our lives and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us and remain with us always. Amen.

Jesus, Lord of time, hold us in your eternity.
Jesus, image of God, travel with us the life of faith.
Jesus, friend of sinners, heal the brokenness of our world.
Jesus, Lord of tomorrow, draw us into your future. Amen.

Go and live the welcome of God, the peace of God and the love of God

We go in peace and love to welcome God in one another. Amen.

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