大象传媒

Radio 4 Opening Announcement:
大象传媒 Radio 4. And now it鈥檚 time for Sunday Worship which is an edited recording of a communion service held last Sunday at the Buxton Festival.听 It鈥檚 sung to the music of Schubert (his Mass in C) and Mozart - by the Buxton Madrigal Singers with soloists from the Festival Opera Company.听 The celebrant is Canon Stephen Shipley and the preacher is the Rector of Buxton, the Revd John Hudghton.听听 The service begins with the hymn: 鈥楶raise the Lord, ye heavens adore him.鈥�

Hymn:听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 (Tune: Austria)

Praise the Lord! ye heavens adore him;

Welcome by Canon Stephen Shipley

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.

Good morning and welcome to the Parish Church of St John the Baptist here in Buxton on the edge of Derbyshire鈥檚 Peak District.听 Many thousands of people visit our attractive spa town for a rich variety of musical and literary events during the Buxton Festival and听 the Fringe, and this is one of three special services . The beautiful Edwardian theatre just across the road from here is the venue for many lesser known operas, and this church is the setting for many concerts.听听 But on Sunday mornings we come together to give thanks to God for the way music and the arts kindle our hearts and open our minds to his divine mystery. We pray that as those gifts enhance and renew our lives, so we may glorify God in a fuller dedication of ourselves.

Jesus said: 鈥業 am the light of the world.听 Whoever follows me shall never walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.鈥櫶� Let us therefore bring our sins into his light and confess them in penitence and faith.
Please sit quietly
Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy)听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Schubert听听听

Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent,
have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.听听 Amen.

The New Testament Reading

A reading from the Book of Revelation:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22: 1-4)

This is the word of the Lord:
Thanks be to God.

Hymn:听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 (Tune: St Cecilia)听听听听
Please stand

Thy kingdom come, O God,

The Gospel听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 听听听听听听听听
Please remain standing

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke:
Glory to you, O Lord.

Then Jesus told this parable: 鈥楢 man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 鈥淪ee here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?鈥� He replied, 鈥淪ir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.鈥� 鈥櫶�

Jesus said therefore, 鈥榃hat is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.鈥櫶� (Luke 13: 6-9, 18-19)

This is the Gospel of the Lord:听听听听听听
Praise to you, O Christ.

The Sermon 鈥� The Revd John Hudghton听听听听听听听听听听听听 听听听听听听听听听听听

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.听 Amen.
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Being a gardener I relate to these parables we鈥檝e heard this morning.听 We have the contrasting frustration of a failing cultivated fruit tree which has absorbed effort and resources and the success of a flourishing weed almost coming out of nowhere.
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The fig tree in Jesus鈥� first parable was understood to represent Israel: tended and nurtured by the gardener. God purposefully cared for Israel with the intention that his people would be fruitful.听听 The law and the prophets made it clear that he wanted Israel to be a place where the poor were not destitute; where there was social justice for even the least; and a people who would extend blessing to the Gentile world.听 Those whom he prospered were to bless and enrich others.
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So what might Jesus鈥� disapproval of the fig tree say to our world of gross inequality? A world of poverty 鈥� where many are knocking on the doors of Europe.
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Two thousand years ago the nation of Israel was fruitless.听 As in so many parts of the ancient world, desperate poverty and exclusion of all manner of people was the order of the day.听 Born into the wrong circumstances? Contracted disease?听 Made the wrong moral choices in life?听 Then you were outcast.听听 Some religious leaders wouldn鈥檛 even walk on the same side of the road, let alone enter the house of a Gentile or sinner.听
In Jesus鈥� mind, Israel was like a fig tree, luxuriant in foliage, but barren.

Frustratingly we know that the most successful plants are weeds!听听 Without effort I grow prolific crops of horsetail, docks, dandelions and nettles anywhere and everywhere.听 Scholars debate which variety of mustard Jesus was talking about, some were enormous, but one thing is for sure, mustard was a plant prohibited from Jewish gardens.听 It was considered an invasive weed 鈥� viewed perhaps with the same level of disapprobation reserved for Japanese knotweed in Britain today.
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Jesus鈥� listeners might have been shocked as he used a non-kosher plant, a garden nuisance, to illustrate God鈥檚 kingdom.听 This was not just about the plant鈥檚 phenomenal growth, but he was talking about who God was working in and through.听 He鈥檇 gathered around him those rejected by religious society, the common, the poor, those suffering illness, the socially unacceptable and the sexually immoral. Jesus even ministered to Gentiles and penitent tax collectors - all social rejects 鈥� but loved and accepted by God.听听 He made them his disciples, led them to repentance and forgiveness, introduced them to God as Father. He taught them how God could work through them in the world and to spread the good news of God鈥檚 love to others through word and action.听 Jesus modelled an inclusive society. These parables not only challenge society but also the Church. Yesterday鈥檚 Church was the Church of Christendom 鈥� when we thought of ourselves as a Christian country, regardless of people鈥檚 personal commitment.听 There were parts of that Church which were sometimes more like the fig tree than the mustard - soaking up resources, favouring privilege and displaying all the trappings of temporal power. Times have changed though.听 The commitment of those who are part of today鈥檚 Church enriches community often in the most deprived parts of the country.听听
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I see the passing of Christendom as bringing the opportunity for the Church to become the people we were purposed to be: egalitarian, inclusive and as pervasive as those nuisance weeds.听 It鈥檚 not just about creating new structures and activities 鈥� repackaging forms of Church.听 It鈥檚 about being obedient disciples, emulating how Jesus went out and shared the good news with those prepared to listen.听听 Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has described the necessity of a seismic shift 鈥� a shift that transforms the individuals who make up the Church - not just the clergy - to become messengers of the good news in deed and in word.
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So it鈥檚 time for a change.听听 It鈥檚 time for us to get back to being the Church Jesus meant us to be.听 Not a pampered tree, luxuriant in leaf, consuming resources, excluding those we don鈥檛 like and bearing little fruit, but to be like the despised mustard tree 鈥� fast growing, pervasive and universal!听听 Amen.

Credo in unum Deum听 (I believe in one God)听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Schubert听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听