The one day of the year

For three hundred and sixty four days of the year they are just names on a board, part of the beautiful architecture of our church.

Names that we walk past with barely a sideways glance.

But once a year, on the Sunday closest to Anzac Day, these brave men's names are read out, slowly and with dignity and gratitude, as part of our church service.

For one day a year these names on a board come alive to us, and as we listen to the long recitation we can see them in our minds. Young men with mischievous grins and a sense of adventure and calling, hugging mothers, wives and children as they set off to fight a war half a world away.

Men in their prime of life who would never return to their heartbroken families.

As long as we have breath...

We will remember them.