大象传媒

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This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast. It may include editorial notes prepared by the producer, and minor spelling and other errors that were corrected before the radio broadcast.

It may contain gaps to be filled in at the time so that prayers may reflect the needs of the world, and changes may also be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events.

大象传媒 RADIO 4:听 It鈥檚 now ten past eight. Sunday Worship this morning celebrates the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and we go direct now to Odiham Parish Church in Hampshire. It鈥檚 introduced by the Vicar the Reverend Alison Brown.

ALISON:
Good morning. Welcome to this Parish Church of All Saints.鈥�

Around this time eight hundred years ago, a reluctant King John set out from Odiham Castle, making for nearby Runnymede鈥� The document to which he unwillingly gave his royal seal of approval was Magna Carta: the Great Charter on which so much of our Law and way of life is founded. Of course the principles of Justice and Liberty this Charter codified for Kings and rulers, were always at the very heart of the teaching of Jesus: the King of kings.

To celebrate this momentous event in our history, we鈥檝e been celebrating throughout May with processions and re-enactments bringing alive King John鈥檚 time especially for the children, who have loved it! But this morning, slightly more seriously, Master of the Temple in London鈥檚 law courts, The Rev鈥檇 Robin Griffith-Jones will be our preacher.听 Our worship begins with a hymn which defines a relationship between God and our national life - Judge Eternal Throned In Splendour.
HYMN听 Judge Eternal Throned In Splendour听 听听c.2:30

ALISON:
听[From the castle here in Odiham - built by King John himself - the angry, defensive and bankrupt monarch set out for one of the most fateful weeks in the history of England and of the world.听 At Runnymede, the king鈥檚 men set up the royal pavilions - high, like circus tops 鈥� which towered over the mass of baronial tents already pitched on the meadow鈥�although it鈥檚 likely that the king withdrew to nearby Windsor Castle each night, feeling unsafe in the midst of recalcitrant barons and their multitude of knights 鈥� all armed to the teeth!听 At the end of five days of tense negotiations, the king 鈥� advised by seven Bishops and two Archbishops 鈥� reluctantly put his seal to the Great Charter of the Liberties of England.]
At least thirteen copies of Magna Carta were made: four are still extant and can be seen exhibited at the British Library - and at Salisbury and Lincoln Cathedrals, where they have been faithfully preserved ever since that summer of 1215.听 But although we don鈥檛 claim Odiham as the birthplace of Magna Carta - we do like to believe that the prayers said by and for King John on the morning he set forth from Odiham to Runnymede, just might have had an influence on that historic event.

And so we pray and confess our sins:

Eternal God, in whose perfect realm no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, and no strength known but the strength of love: so guide and inspire the work of those who seek your kingdom that all your people may find their security in that love which casts out fear and in the fellowship revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever:
ALL:听 Amen

THE CONFESSION
GWYNNETH MOORE:
Jesus saw the city and wept over it, because it did not recognise the time of God鈥檚 coming. We confess our part in the self-centredness, blindness and sin of the life of our communities. Lord God, our maker and our redeemer, this is your world and we are your people: come among us and save us. We have wilfully misused your gifts of creation;
ALL:听 Lord be merciful forgive us our sin.

We have seen the ill-treatment of others and have not gone to their aid;
ALL:听 Lord be merciful forgive us our sin.

We have condoned evil and dishonesty and failed to strive for justice;
ALL:听 Lord be merciful forgive us our sin.

We have heard the good news of Christ, but have failed to share it with others;
ALL:听听 Lord be merciful forgive us our sin.

We have not loved you with all our heart, nor our neighbours as ourselves;
ALL:听听 Lord be merciful forgive us our sin.
THE ABSOLUTION
ALISON:
Almighty God, who in Jesus Christ has given us a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, forgive you your sins, open your eyes to God鈥檚 truth, strengthen you to do God鈥檚 will and give you the joy of his kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
ALL:听听 Amen.听听

ALISON:
Magna Carta marked the first step in the establishment of human rights and a fair justice system in this country, something which we all value but which is still denied to many. So as we give thanks for our own freedom and democracy, we think of others who long for Christ鈥檚 light to shine through their darkness, bringing peace, truth and hope. 听听听听听听听听听听听
HYMN听Christ, be our light!听 听c.3:50听
鈥�
READING
JOHN WALKER:听听听听听听
A reading from Chapter 2 of the New Testament Letter of James.
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, 鈥淵ou shall love your neighbour as yourself.鈥�
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 鈥淕o in peace; keep warm and eat your fill鈥�, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead.
The word of the Lord.
ALL:听听听 Thanks be to God. 听听听听听听听听
鈥�
ALISON:
We鈥檙e about to hear an address by The Rev鈥檇 Robin Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple and an authority on Magna Carta 鈥� but first, to emphasise the need for Justice at the heart of any well-ordered society, throughout history - the choir sing the ancient words of Psalm 42, set to music by contemporary composer, James MacMillan.

CHOIR:听 Give Me Justice (James MacMillan)听听c.3:00

Sermon
In: 听听鈥淪t James writes, 鈥淵ou do well if you鈥︹��..鈥�
Out: 听听鈥溾��in 2115, by a generation yet unborn.鈥�

顿耻谤:听听6鈥�14鈥� (short)听[7鈥�43鈥� long version]
(hymn next)
PRE-REC - ADDRESS
ROBIN :听
St James writes, 鈥淵ou do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, 鈥淵ou shall love your neighbour as yourself.鈥�
On Monday 15 June 1215 the King John sealed his agreement with the barons 鈥� and tomorrow morning, Monday, 800 years later to the day, Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the Royal Family will be at Runnymede.听 In the name of the nation three people will address Her Majesty and the gathered guests: the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Master of the Rolls, who is the judge in charge of civil justice in England and Wales; and the Prime Minister. In 1215 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, was one of the principal mediators between John and the barons; 鈥榯he Master of the Rolls鈥� is an office first recorded in the 13th century; and the Prime Minister inherits an office that has emerged over recent centuries. It is in itself a token of the continuity of government in this country, that these three will tomorrow address a direct descendent of King John. A token of the strength of our evolving constitution that they will do so in unqualified loyalty to the Sovereign who has served her people from the Throne for over 60 years. And a token of Magna Carta鈥檚 own significance, that its most famous words are on the statute book to this day:
[39] No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

[40] To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.

Anniversaries have a civic value. They remind us as nations and communities who we are, and can reinforce that identity. All of us in England and throughout the Common Law world who share in the Charter鈥檚 legacy can claim a share in its history too, even if our own ancestors 鈥� whether 800 years ago or 80 鈥� had no connection with England. Equality before the law, fair trial, constitutional and fiscal restraints upon the executive: all these can be traced in a direct line back to Magna Carta. And all of us who enjoy and value these rights are united in the debt we owe to the generations of politicians and jurists who have secured and sustained and developed those rights. What we owe them, and what we share in consequence with each other all over the world, is little less than civilization itself.
What we share is not just Magna Carta, but the checks and balances on power that have since been built on its foundation. On the tortuous and contested journey towards the rights we enjoy today, Magna Carta is now an icon of that journey鈥檚 start, not of its destination. [[The Charter鈥檚 beneficiaries were the 鈥榝ree men鈥� of England: over half England鈥檚 households were probably free by 1215 鈥撎� the Charter was not an oligarchic coup 鈥� but we were a long way from the protection that the law now gives to all those who live here. The rights of noblewomen were extended in the Charter, but remained to our modern ears derisory. The two clauses on the Jews will send a shiver down our spine; the 13th century was not a good century to be Jewish in England, and Magna Carta only deepened their oppression.
Even the first of those two great clauses on justice may have been designed simply to give the barons the rights in court before the king himself (who was under the notorious influence of his cronies from France) that the barons鈥� own tenants enjoyed before the barons. The clause鈥檚 importance grew over the centuries. Judgment on barons by baronial equals was now due process subject to Habeas Corpus, the rule that nobody can be held in prison without a charge being formally laid against him or her in court.
Should we resent or mock such evolution? Certainly not.]] Those great clauses on justice, in their 17th century sense, have spread round the world in every Common Law constitution and in every Human Rights instrument of the 20th century. They are the bedrock on which, 800 years after Runnymede, much of the world鈥檚 freedom is built.听

And why should the Church, here in Odiham and throughout the country, be celebrating the Charter? As we are hearing throughout this service, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury was central to the drafting of Magna Carta and to its sealing. He was applying to the country鈥檚 constitution the fundamental principles of kingship that Langton himself had discovered and expounded in Scripture. Two archbishops and seven bishops 鈥� and, I am glad to say, my own predecessor as Master of the Temple at the Temple Church! 鈥� advised the King to grant the Charter. The Charter imposed baronial control over the King鈥檚 sheriffs; to keep the Charter safe from the sheriffs, its copies were entrusted to the Cathedrals. [[From 1225 onwards the Charter鈥檚 promulgation was accompanied by the Church鈥檚 rituals of excommunication imposed on anyone who broke the Charter鈥檚 terms. By 1253, the sentence of this excommunication was read out in parish churches across England, on Sundays and feast-days, accompanied by lighted candles and the ringing of bells.]] In 1279, John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, [[ordered his clergy to explain the sentence to their parishioners and]] had copies of Magna Carta fixed to church doors. In the fourteenth century, the Charter was included in a manual for parish priests. It was now part of the clergyman鈥檚 job description to know the charter, to publicise and enforce it. Here was faith inspired, at all levels of the Church, to the good works on which depended the peace and well-being of an entire nation.听 鈥楥ome, Holy Ghost,鈥� wrote Stephen Langton.听 It is no surprise if we in the Church discern the work of the Holy Spirit up and down the country in the preservation and reinforcement of the Charter, all those years ago.

The late Sir James Holt, doyen of historians of the Charter, wrote in 1992:
The men who were responsible for the Great Charter of 1215 asserted one great principle. In their view the realm was more than a geographic or administrative unit. It was a community. As such, it was capable of possessing rights and liberties which could be asserted against any member of the community, even and especially against the King.

It is not the Sovereign now who threatens our rights and liberties; on the contrary, she will tomorrow represent their most powerful protection. We in the Church threaten no excommunication now, wield no candles or curses against those who breach the Charter鈥檚 terms. Lessons drawn from so long ago are more rhetorical than practical. But the Church鈥檚 part in the creation, promulgation and enforcement of the Charter offers an inspiration to the Church today. We are still called to build out of our country鈥檚 disparate components a single, peaceable and just community, with all the courage and insight of Archbishop Stephen Langton himself. Few of us will ever re-shape our nation or our world. But we too have a duty, informed and animated by our faith, to speak up in our ordinary, daily lives for justice and against oppression, to foster freedom, to treat rich and poor, friend and stranger alike. So will we obey the cardinal rule by which Jesus lived and for which he died, 鈥淵ou shall love your neighbour as yourself.鈥�
May we bequeath to our children and grandchildren a polity of freedoms so secure that the Charter on which they are built can be rightly celebrated at its next centenary, in 2115, by a generation yet unborn.听

HYMN听 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
听(TO BE CUT IF SIGNIFICANTLY OVER DURATION)

ALISON:
As we鈥檝e heard, one of the king鈥檚 chief advisors at Runnymede was Stephen Langton.听 He was Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, after having just spent eight years in exile because he was the Pope鈥檚 鈥� but not King John鈥檚 鈥� choice of Archbishop.听 During his exile, Langton had come up with ideas of how a nation should be governed justly 鈥� all of which involved curbing the power of the King and increasing the rights of the church and laity.听 These principles 鈥� some of them based on Biblical precedent for protection against wicked Kings of Israel in Old Testament times 鈥� struck at the very heart of King John鈥檚 autocratic, arbitrary, and arrogant behaviour that had seen him almost bankrupt England and so many of his barons turn against him.听 It was Langton who was a prime mover in persuading the reluctant King to set his seal to this charter of rights, conceding that a just monarch should not be above the Law, but should be subject to the Law.

Despite managing to persuade the King, Langton hadn鈥檛 been born to the role of politician: he was an academic and a prolific writer of histories, sermons, poetry - and the prayer sequence we鈥檙e about to hear:听 鈥榁eni, Sancte Spiritus:听 Come, Holy Spirit, send forth the heavenly radiance of your light.听 Come, father of the poor, come, giver of gifts, come, light of the heart.听 Greatest comforter, sweet guest of the soul, sweet consolation.鈥�

An anthem based on this prayer has been specially commissioned by the citizens of this village in order to celebrate this 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It鈥檚 composed by Malcolm Archer,听 Director of Chapel music at Winchester College.听 During this, The Rev鈥檇 Peter Dyson will lead us in prayers recorded in the ruins of King John鈥檚 Castle here in Odiham.

CHOIR:听 Veni, Sancte Spiritus听 (Malcolm Archer)听听c.6:00

PRE-REC (STARTING HALF WAY THROUGH THE ANTHEM鈥�)
[Prayers led by Peter Dyson - pre-recorded in the ruins of Odiham Castle]
PRAYERS
In: 听听鈥淐ome, Holy Spirit, grant us in labour 鈥︹��..鈥�
Out: 听听鈥溾��In your mercy, hear our prayers, now and always.鈥�

顿耻谤:听听

Come, Holy Spirit, grant us in labour, rest, in heat, temperance, in tears, solace.听 O most blessed light, fill the inmost hearts of your faithful.听 Amen.

O God our creator, whose good earth is entrusted to our care and delight and tenderness, we pray: may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
For all who are in captivity to debt, whose lives are cramped by fear from which there is no turning except through abundant harvest. For all who labour in poverty, who are oppressed by unjust laws, who are silenced for speaking the truth, who long for a harvest of justice. And we pray for those in many parts of the world, who are imprisoned without trial or redress.

For all who are in captivity to greed and waste and boredom, whose harvest joy is choked with things they do not need. Turn us again from our captivity and restore our vision that our mouth may be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.听

Gracious God,
We pray for peace in our communities this day.
We commit to you all who work for peace and an end to tensions,
For calm in our streets and cities,
That people may go about their lives in safety and peace.
We commit to you those who work to uphold law and justice.
We pray for an end to fear,
For comfort and support to those who suffer, especially the sick and the dying.
In your mercy, hear our prayers,
now and always.
[??ALL:听 Amen??]

ALISON:

听

We sum up all our prayers as Jesus Christ himself has taught us:

ALL:听 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 BLESSING
ALISON:
Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honour everyone; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father; the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.听
ALL:听听 Amen.

The words of our final hymn 鈥楬ow shall we sing salvation鈥檚 song鈥�, were written by Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith and set to music by a former Bristol Cathedral Chorister, David Manners.听 Both were inspired to remind us of the Christian duty to uphold those rights, liberties and freedoms that even today form the basis of our Laws and protect two billion people across the English-speaking and Common Law world from tyranny鈥�
HYMN听How shall we sing salvation鈥檚 song听c.3:15

ORGAN VOLUNTARY: Prelude in E flat 鈥� JS Bach听c.1鈥�00鈥�