An address given at the final service of the Royal Leicester Regiment Tigers’ Association in June 2024.
From the polite but significant ‘thank you’ to the person serving you in the coffee shop, to the thanksgiving service for a 300-year-old institution – this is more than social convention – this is how we remember who we are, what values have shaped us and our hopes for the future.
It’s an honour to preach at today’s thanksgiving service – the final service for the Royal Tigers Association. Founded in 1688, it was initially known as the 17th Regiment of Foot, before becoming the Leicestershire Regiment and then the Royal Leicestershire Regiment – commonly known as the Tigers. It served with distinction all around the world, in multiple wars as well as peacekeeping missions, and came to have a particular connection with India – hence the word Hindoostan on the Regimental badge. How appropriate then that the Regiment was given freedom of the city of Leicester in 1944.
So today we give thanks for all those who have served in the Regiment over nearly 300 years, as well as the Association which has supported veterans and their families, and those who continue to serve in the Royal Anglican Regiment into which the Tigers were merged in 1964. We give thanks for all those they served and protected, and for the peace we enjoy today. It is right and good to give thanks.
And our Bible readings today, remind us of this importance. Our first reading, dating from several thousand years ago, is a reminder that every good gift comes from God, and a reminder that when we are settled, enjoying peace and prosperity, we can easily forget all that has gone before.
I had my own very simple reminder of this recently. A friend tested positive for Covid – something many of us assume is part of our history – but this friend, who came down with flu-like symptoms, was then rushed into hospital, struggling to breathe. Their life was in serious danger – although I’m pleased to report they have now made a full recovery. But it is easy, is it not, to live life as if we are immortal as if nothing bad will ever happen to us, as if the peace and prosperity of our time will last forever. But the reality is that this can change in an instant. So what does it look like to live a life of gratitude, to take nothing for granted?
Our Bible reading suggests that this is about developing habits of gratitude – counting our blessings; giving thanks to God; working for justice in this world, and sharing our gifts with others.
We have a proud tradition in this country of living out these values. They are part of who we are as a nation. Yet, I dare to suggest to you that we are in danger of losing them. Just as our peace is threatened by all that is going on in Ukraine and in the Middle East; so also our values are threatened by a form of individualism and nationalism which says, “As long as I am alright, I don’t need to worry about my neighbour.” This is a serious mistake and one we need to counter at every level of society.
The Royal Anglian Regiment motto comes from the Bible “strength from within”. Our strength as a nation comes from the values that have shaped us over countless generations.
Our second reading takes a different tack. This is Saint Paul, writing to a particular church in Corinth and reminding them that even though our physical bodies may be growing old and wasting away, yet inwardly we can be renewed through the love of God. “We walk by faith, not by sight” he says, “for all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ.” This is about having a different perspective of life – realising that what is on the inside, shapes what we are on the outside.
I keep trying to say this to my children, but I’m not sure they listen to me. They are all young adults now – making their own way in life - but like all parents, I offer occasional words of advice – with no idea whether they take any notice. But in a world which is obsessed with outward appearance, with image and media – I’ve tried to say that what is on the inside is far more important. If our hearts and minds are being renewed through the love of God, and if we are filled with a sense of gratitude for all we have, this will shape our actions in this world. Indeed it will even shape the way that we grow old, as we realise that there is little we can do to stop the ageing process, but there is a lot that we can do to be renewed in our grace, our love, our patience and our kindness.
This is of course at the heart of all the world’s religions. And as today we remember that people of all faiths and none have served in the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, so today we give thanks for them and pray that their influence may last through the ages.
I was very struck that when the Regimental Standard was handed over earlier in the service, Captain Smith asked that it be kept in this Holy Church “for evermore”. What an extraordinarily poignant moment – and a reminder to us, that our actions and influence outlast our own time here on earth. This Standard will hang in this church long after all of us are gone. I pray that future generations will give thanks for our actions, in the same way as we give thanks for the generations past.
+Martyn Leicester