Remembrance Sunday: Revd "Tubby" Clayton and the abiding values of TocH

SERMON ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

10 NOVEMBER 2019

“On the night before he died he took bread”

How these words are etched onto our hearts.

On the night before he died a young man received bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ.  He was shot dead in the mud of Flanders the next day.

He had received Holy Communion in a chapel converted from an attic room known as the “Upper Room” in Poperinge Belgium, a small town just west of Ypres. The house, re-named Talbot House had become a refuge of peace under Revd Philip Clayton. A place where for a brief moment soldiers of all ranks could escape the brutal reality of war. A spiritual sanctuary.

At the outbreak of war, Clayton was aged 30 serving in Portsmouth. He volunteered for the Army Chaplaincy unit and went to France as an unknown curate. His biographer puts in like this “[i]Then suddenly and without warning, like Paul on the Damascus Road he came face-to-face with God and was told what he must do. That work, as we shall see, he so nobly accomplished that he returned from France in a few years with his name revered in every land that speaks the English tongue.”

Today, we think of members of our own families who served or gave their lives in the field of conflict. I would like us also to reflect on the life of the remarkable Philip (known as “Tubby” – he was rather portly!) Clayton in our act of remembrance. For two reasons:

·       His whole life was defined by the conflict. He devote it to reconciliation, to renewal and doing God’s work. He is a perfect example of how to live “the afterwards” that follows a period of mass destruction and how to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

·       Second, we read that Tubby Clayton’s name “was revered in every land that speaks the English tongue.” These words were written in 1972. Yet I am pretty sure that today few below the age of 50 will have heard of him [Robin].I believe his work should not be forgotten and he has much to teach us.

What of Clayton’s ministry in the Great War? And in the aftermath and the Second World War?

What was it like to experience a visit to Talbot House?

This is an account of such a visit.

How in the early spring of 1916, a man came away from the trenches after a grim day witnessing destruction descending upon his men. Torrential rain, bitter cold and the evening. As he made his way back to HQ, he felt that the Salient was doomed, its fate certain.

He decided to divert to Talbot House. He entered the hall with its sign “Abandon Rank all ye who enter here.” Had he come to see the Chaplain he was asked. “No I have come just to try to say my prayers.” and without more ado he ascended to the Upper Room. Here he saw one officer and three men kneeling at benches. He knelt down and prayed, as he had never prayed before that Almighty God would give him comfort, self-reliance, courage and would take away despair. He never knew how long it was before the answer came; but come it did, and he found himself, as he described it, then being upheld. At first came quiet, a sense of peace, confidence revived. He felt as if an overwhelming burden had been lifted from him and that he was free and strong once more. He rose from prayer refreshed, renewed; knelt again to render parting thanks, descended the stairs and walked alone to HQ.

This was Lord Cavan, speaking many years later of that evening. He revealed he had been on the brink of resigning  his position as a General. He later went on to become head of the Army.

At Talbot House, thousands of soldiers were sustained by prayer and the Eucharist, and by light entertainment but Clayton didn’t just let soldiers come to him.

Because the gift of the Eucharist and the impact on all who received it cannot be overstated, he went out to the frontline to give Holy Communion which was how his war ended in extraordinary circumstances.

On Monday 11 November he had crossed into the deserted town of Oudenarde, which had just been evacuated by the Germans. He passed the bodies of American soldiers floating in the river and was looking for inhabitants. He spied a shop with a display of German mouth organs in the window, got the surprised owner to open up, purchased the entire supply and handed them out to anyone he met. Then came the calls of “Ceasefire” and Clayton felt he had heard God’s voice “Behold I make all things new.”

The Aftermath of the Great War

War had created an extraordinary bond between those who had fought and survived. On returning home, many found they craved for that feeling of togetherness, common purpose and sense of service inspired by the Christian message. They wanted it to continue to play a large part in their lives.

So Clayton was encouraged to found the TocH movement (Radio code for Talbot House). It caught the mood of the moment. Thousands joined, drawn to the four points of what became known as the TocH compass. They are:

FELLOWSHIP –to love widely

SERVICE – to build bravely

FAIRMINDEDNESS – to think fairly

THE KINGDOM OF GOD – to witness humbly (to spread the Gospel without preaching it).

TocH grew rapidly, supported by wealthy benefactors, including the Lord Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame, the Alexander sisters who lived just down the road from St. George’s in Aubrey House, and the Royal Family (Edward Prince of Wales had been a frequent visitor to Talbot House in the war).

Talbot Houses, places of refuge opened across the nation, and then spawned in Canada, the US and all the other Dominions. Clayton, who had been appointed Vicar of All Hallows by the Tower, spent much of his time abroad promoting the movement, but still finding time to champion the Tower Hill Improvement Scheme–physically making it a better place to look much like it looks today.

The Second World War

Yet with the advent of the Second World War, his work was only half done. In December 1940, his church was bombed twice to demolish it almost in entirety. Much energy and fund raising in a time of enormous post war shortages would be needed to return All Hallows to its former glory. And so it was.

Clayton’s life reminds us that death and destruction are never the end of the story. There is always an “afterwards”, newness of life, the opportunity for reconciliation whatever crisis befalls us. The renewal of our great cities after the wars is confirmation. Think of the rebuilding of Ypres, the flowering of pre-war cherry trees in Hiroshima, and more recently the gatherings of countries that were allied against Japan in the recent Rugby World Cup.

The “afterwards” is the gift to the inheritors of peace, but there is a terrible cost in the form of lives lost and for survivors of conflict, their lives are defined by it.

As Christians our faith is that “afterwards” for those who have died comes in the form of eternal life.

For survivors and as inheritors, we give thanks to God for this and we commemorate those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Reflecting on the example of those who paid the ultimate price, as we leave our church, let us strive for the values championed by TocH:

FELLOWSHIP

SERVICE

FAIRMINDEDNESS

and THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Let us bridge the gap between heaven and earth, as Tubby Clayton sought  to do and “go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

[i] Clayton of TocH  by Tresham Lever 1972