 |
User Login
Important Information
Your Basket
Blitz Prayer
 In September 1940 Britain was in the midst of a desperate struggle – the Battle of Britain. This year is the 70th anniversary of that battle and also of the evacuation from Dunkirk. Whilst there have been many commemorative events held and articles written, few have mentioned the two calls made by King George VI for national days of prayer. The first of these was held on Sunday 26th May, when most of the British Army was in danger of being destroyed on the French side of the English Channel. The second was held on Sunday 8th September, when the Royal Air Force had taken a pounding from the German Luftwaffe, and seemed to be on the verge of a defeat that would leave the way open for invasion. Thus both calls for prayer were made at times of major crisis.
26th May 1940
The first national day of prayer is given a brief mention on the BBC’s history website [1], but it has been left to military history enthusiasts like Andrew Etherington [2], or local newspaper archives like that of Beccles Newspapers [3], or excerpts from magazines like those preserved by Enderby Parish [4] to provide more detail of what took place. These accounts reveal that there was a huge response around Britain, with ‘millions of men and women gathering together in tens of thousands of churches and chapels throughout the country and all round the world.’ [3] Within days a sequence of 3 miracles had enabled the evacuation of more than 335,000 men from Dunkirk – something that Winston Churchill described to the House of Commons as:
8th September 1940
When the second crisis developed during August 1940 King George VI called for another national day of prayer to be held on Sunday 8th September. Local groups like the Broseley Local History Society [6] have stored much of the detail that is available about the day; and it has been left to Christian authors, or groups such as the Armed Forces Christian Union [7], to link the prayers of the nation to the crucial events of the following week. At a crowded service in Westminster Abbey, the final prayer began:
“Remember, O God, for good, these watchmen; who by day and by night climb into the air. Let thy hand lead them, we beseech thee, and thy right hand hold them.”
Many prayers had been said on other days too – Britain was enduring a long period of brutal assault that had started with attacks on shipping almost 2 months previously. So it was on Saturday 7th September, the day before the national prayers, that the German Luftwaffe switched its attack to the city of London. BBC documentary videos capture some of the effectiveness and the horror of that attack [8, 9]. But most commentators see the switch as a catastrophic blunder by the Germans, a blunder that allowed the Royal Air Force to recover and fight back.
Yet not many of the commentators have linked the prayers of the nation on 8th September to the crucial week that followed. The RAF fought back so effectively that they saw the turning-point of the battle just one week later. According to Douglas Bader:
‘15th September 1940 was the day that the Battle was won. It was a Sunday.’ [10]
On that day it was reported that 176 enemy aircraft were destroyed [11], and the RAF fighter pilots began to realise that the enemy bomber crews were not pressing on to their targets, but were starting to jettison their bombs, then turn and head back across the Channel [12].
Prayer in Times of Crisis
Martyn Lloyd-Jones kept a diary that yielded some very matter-of-fact statements about those days. His entry for 8th September noted:
‘It being National Day of Prayer, at 11 o’clock I gave a brief address and we had prayer.
Whole service lasted 45 minutes. Warning at 12.30. All clear at 1.30.
Preached again at 6. Warning at 8 so down to lounge.’ [13]
The ‘warnings’ were the sound of air raid sirens, and the ‘all clear’ was the other sound that came from those same sirens when the danger had passed. These diary entries provide a significant contrast to the depth of his preaching at the time - he addressed the issues of those difficult days head-on.
In 1939 he published a book titled ‘Why Does God Allow War?’ which contained five sermons [14]. The first of the five was on the perplexing activity which we call prayer, and he paid particular attention to the devastating impact upon someone’s faith that often resulted when prayers for the safety of a loved-one were not fulfilled. The second sermon went on to consider our reactions in times of crisis, and what those reactions reveal about us.
 But that book is not the only source of his wartime sermons, for a recent book titled ‘The Christian in an Age of Terror’ brings together another 25 sermons, of which 18 were preached during the Second World War and the other 7 shortly afterwards [15]. Once again they focused on crucial issues, e.g. the threat of religious persecution, and the need to stand firm in the faith – rather more difficult when bombs are raining down than during times of peace! And so these sermons were published recently as highly relevant to our own time, with its combination of terrorist attacks and renewed religious persecution. This persecution was the subject of a House of Commons debate in December 2007 on:
‘... the relentless assault, mostly by stealth, on this nation’s
much-loved Christian heritage and traditions’ [16].
Perhaps it is time for some more national days of prayer.
References
[1] War underway, Britain in the Early Years of World War Two, BBC website
[2] May 26th, 1940, Andrew Etherington webpage
[3] 1940 Beccles & Bungay, Beccles Newspapers 1st June 1940
[4] Thanksgiving for the safe return of men from Dunkirk, Enderby Parish Magazine
[5] We Shall Fight on the Beaches, Winston Churchill, 4th June 1940, House of Commons
[6] Jackfield United Church Parade, from: Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News 1940,
[7] Pray 4 Our Forces (from the Armed Forces Christian Union)
[8] Andrew Marr details the first stage of the London Blitz (Video)
[9] Londoners remember the first days of the Blitz (Video)
[10] Fight for the Sky, Douglas Bader, Sidgwick Jackson, London 1940
[11] Battle of Britain Campaign Diary, 15th September 1940
[12] The Trumpet Sounds for Britain, Volumes 1, 2 and 3, David E. Gardner,
Jesus is Alive! Ministries
[13] D Martyn Lloyd-Jones - The Fight of Faith 1939 – 1981, Iain H Murray,
Banner of Truth, 1990
[14] Why Does God Allow War? Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Crossway, 2003
[15] The Christian in an Age of Terror, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Kregel, 2008
[16] Christianophobia, Hansard, Commons Debate, 5th Dec 2007
...
|