大象传媒

Please note:

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.

Music:听听听 INTROIT 听- Let the people praise thee, O God (Noel de Jongh)

REV HELEN ALEXANDER: Introduction

We are celebrating in Scotland鈥檚 capital city, where the Edinburgh Festival is in full swing. At this time of year people arrive from all parts of the country and from all over the world: flying in over the ancient rocks of Arthur鈥檚 Seat and the Salisbury Crags; or travelling by road or rail from the Highlands of the North, across the iconic bridges that span the River Forth; from the rugged beauty of Argyll and the Hebridean Islands in the West; or from the South through the fertile farmland of East Lothian.听

Sooner or later, people make their way to Edinburgh鈥檚 historic Royal Mile to join the throng of Festival performers, buskers and street vendors that mill around St Giles鈥� Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh that stands with its great West Door wide open in welcome to all.

Enter with us into St Giles鈥� now, in the quiet of early morning before the crowds gather for another day, as we come together for worship in the beauty of this ancient house of pilgrimage and prayer.

We are delighted to have with us one of Scotland鈥檚 great literary ambassadors, the writer and novelist Alexander McCall Smith, who is a familiar figure at the Edinburgh Festival, and internationally renowned for his books.听 He will give the address later in this service.

Join us now in the opening hymn: Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.听

Music: HYMN - Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (Was lebet)听

HELEN:听 Prayer

From the treasury of our hearts, oh Lord, we offer the hopes and longings of our lives; our gifts and graces; our doubts and loves; events and circumstances that trouble our conscience, and also all skill and achievement of which we may be rightly proud.听 And out of that strange mixture of bane and blessing, enable us to give glad thanks for the beauty of eternal grace that is continually offered to us, and the continuing presence of your kind and Holy Spirit of forgiveness, renewal and release.

Bless us gathered here, even as you bless the whole wide world of which we are but part. Draw us out of preoccupation with our own small corner of the earth to a wider vision of the glory of our humanity in all its rich diversity. Help us to be open to receive as well as to give, and teach us that it is in the sharing of our lives with one another that we find true richness and fulfilment.

Eternal fount of grace and creativity and love, quicken our minds with fresh imagination and enlarge our hearts with hope; that reaching for the best within ourselves, our neighbours and our world, we may be drawn ever more completely into partnership with you, one God, creator: Father, Son and Holy Spirit to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.听

Reader: Meg Laing听听 1st Lesson: Isaiah 42. 5 鈥� 9 (or 12) 听

The first lesson is written in the Book of the Prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 42.

听Thus says God, the Lord,
听听听听who created the heavens and stretched them out,
听听听听who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
听听听听and spirit to those who walk in it:
听I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
听听听听I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
听听听听a light to the nations,
听听听听听to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
听听听听from the prison those who sit in darkness.
听I am the Lord, that is my name;
听听听听my glory I give to no other,
听听听听nor my praise to idols.
听See, the former things have come to pass,
听听听听and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
听听听听I tell you of them.

听Sing to the Lord a new song,
听听听听his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
听听听听the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
听听听听the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
听听听听let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
听Let them give glory to the Lord,
听听听听and declare his praise in the coastlands.

Here ends the first lesson.

Meg: The choir will sing Jubilate Deo, a setting of Psalm 100 by Benjamin Britten.

MUSIC:听 Anthem -听 Jubilate Deo ( Britten)

Reader:听 听Aaron Janklow : 2nd Lesson听 St Matthew 13. 31 鈥� 35, 44 鈥� 46, 51, 52

The power of parable is that it conveys the deep, multifaceted meaning and moral, perhaps otherwise inexpressible, that Jesus intends for his followers.听 A lot like art, much more is meant than what is said.听 With this in mind, let us listen to the word of God.听 The Second Lesson is written in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Chapter 13.

听

Jesus put before them a parable: 鈥淭he kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.鈥�

He told them another parable: 鈥淭he kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.鈥�

Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet:

鈥淚 will open my mouth to speak in parables;
听听听听I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.鈥�,,,,,,

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

鈥淎gain, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 听on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it鈥︹��

鈥淗ave you understood all this?鈥� They answered, 鈥淵es.鈥� And he said to them, 鈥淭herefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.鈥�

Here ends the second lesson.

Shortly Alexander McCall Smith will reflect with us on Festival.听 First, lifting our voices in song for the great hope in creation, let us join together in the hymn, Spirit of Love, You Move Within Creation.听

MUSIC:听 Hymn -听 CH4 Spirit of Love, you move within creation (Tune: 鈥楲ord of the Years鈥�)

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH听听 听Address 听听听听听听听

When the Edinburgh Festival comes round each August, I suspect that many of us who live in this city spend at least some time thinking about what the arts mean in our lives. We can hardly avoid the question: the city is filled to capacity with artists from all over the world. Every street, it seems, is thronged with people in costume on their way to a Fringe performance, with worshippers at the shrine of high art going to the opera or ballet, with fire-eaters and mime artists, with those with substantial talent and those with perhaps slightly less, with the whole of artistic humanity rubbing shoulders and jostling for our attention. It鈥檚 a wonderful spectacle that most of Edinburgh鈥檚 citizens very much enjoy, even if some of them like to be a bit po-faced about it and sigh over the disruption to their normal lives.

There are two ways of looking at all this. One is to see the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe as one gigantic party. 听That鈥檚 the view that quite a few people take, and of course there鈥檚 nothing inherently wrong with that, if their constitutions are up to it. But I think that to view these three weeks as being a time of unbridled diversion might obscure an important point about what an arts festival might mean. They are also about something far deeper, far more significant than that. The artistic events of August are also, and most importantly, about the human spirit and its possibilities: they are about many of the things for which this High Kirk and the Church of Scotland stand: they are about love, about the healing power of the arts; they are about brotherhood and sharing and forgiveness.

We might remember the circumstances in which the Festival started back in 1947. The wounds of the Second World War were still raw. Europe had undergone the most profound shock 鈥� it had looked into an abyss, and it had, by the skin of its teeth, survived 鈥� even if victory had left people shaken in their view of humanity. What better time to start a great festival of the arts, a festival designed to dispel the greyness and drabness, the material privation of the immediate post-War world, and light it up for a moment with all the colour and beauty of the arts.

One can imagine how grateful were many of the performers and audiences of that time 鈥� thankful that they had survived, that the nightmare had ended. How better to express this gratitude and relief than through music, theatre, and dance. Such things were a manifestation of the indomitable human spirit: an assertion of value. Conflict and confrontation had had its day, now it was the time of the arts to bring their balm to the wound.

What gives the arts their healing power? That question takes us to the heart of what art does. Art does not just entertain or amuse: art says something about the beautiful, art says something about the human spirit. 听For me, art does not just prefer that we should have a soul 鈥� it demands that we have a soul. If there is no human soul 鈥� if we are merely manifestations of matter, programmed to behave as we do by some purely biological destiny, then art, frankly, makes no sense. If there is no human spirit to move, then the making of art is no different from any other mundane human activity.

But we feel that there is something more than that. A piece of music that moves us does so not just because it obeys the rules of musical composition 鈥� is mathematically correct, so to speak 鈥� but because it speaks to something deep within us. And that to which it speaks, I think, is the spiritual part of ourselves. What precisely is the nature of that part may be a matter of philosophical or theological speculation, but in my view there has to be something there to respond to the notes of a great aria; there has to be something there if we are to be moved by a painting鈥檚 beauty or by the soliloquy of a great actor. Art is talking to something within us 鈥� the self, the soul 鈥� call it what you will 鈥� but it is there within us by virtue of our humanity.

The spirituality of the arts can be found in so many different ways. It can be found in art鈥檚 ability to show us that we can transcend the observable, the concrete, the purely material. That glimpse of something within us, and within others, helps us to see ourselves as something more than a bundle of material appetites. Indeed, an artistic experience reminds us of the shallowness of the material vision and the contrasting depth and richness of things of the soul. Every time we hear something entrancing and elevating by Mozart, some gorgeous motet by Byrd, or listen to the quiet gravity of a piece by Arvo P盲rt, we are reminded of that fact that the materialistic vision of life is so often a small one, cramped and sterile: that art has the ability to transport us to a place where we may sense something about our lives that defies expression but that may nonetheless be felt. Mozart鈥檚 trio, Soave sia il vento, has that effect on me. It conveys a vision of human sympathy that is of such intensity that listening to it becomes an uplifting spiritual experience. Similarly, In Paradisum from Faure鈥檚 Requiem says to me everything that can be said about human hopes for resolution and homecoming, and says it not just at an intellectual level, but in spiritual terms.

The impact of art is surely not that different from a religious experience. It is a glimpsing of something beyond us, something deep and moving, something that makes us wish to embrace others, to celebrate our shared humanity, that draws us to love the other. It inspires agape, that disinterested, unselfish love of others that transcends personal interest and advantage. It reminds us that we must love those with whom we share this brief experience of life. It reminds us that we must cherish this world of which we are given brief tenancy.

The clothes we give to this feeling may differ. Some may call the experience a drawing near to God; others may be uncomfortable with such terminology and talk of fellow-feeling or sympathy, or something of that sort. The important thing, though, is to acknowledge the spiritual and the role that it can play in our lives. The important thing is to open ourselves to it. And in this glorious celebration of art that is all about us here in this city at this time, we see that expression of spirituality at every turn, reassuring us that the world is not just a place of conflict and confrontation, but a place in which the finding of joy is possible. Around the walls of this High Kirk of St Giles the celebration of the human spirit takes place in the street theatre, in the music, in the laughter; within the walls of the kirk, in the recital of the power of love and the celebration of charity, the same thing happens, not just in August, but throughout the year, and down the years.

MUSIC:听 ANTHEM 鈥� O Clap Your Hands (Vaughan Williams)

HELEN + CHOIR:听 听听Litany of Thanksgiving and Intercession

HELEN:听 We offer our glad thanksgiving for the wonder and the beauty of our world: for the vibrancy of nature; for city and landscape; for the glory of a mountain, a river, a tree; our gratitude for the beauty of the human heart and the art of loving kindness that can touch us no matter where we come from; no matter who we are.

CHOIR: The earth is the Lord鈥檚, and the |fullness 鈥�there-|of: 鈺�the world, and |they that |dwell there|in

HELEN:听 For the opportunity that Festival brings to celebrate all that is wholesome and lovely and good; for our delight in the energy of youth, and the wisdom and creativity of makers of music and poetry, drama and song whose artistry can stretch our minds and make our spirits soar ,we lift our hearts in happy thanks.

CHOIR: Let the people |praise thee鈥� O |God; 鈺� let |all the |people |praise thee.

O let the nations be glad and |sing for |joy: 鈺� for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the |nations 鈥�up-|on| earth.

HELEN:听 Mindful as we are of that which is lovely and good, we make our heart-felt prayer for all that is troubled in the world.

We remember people in this city of hospitality and welcome, who mingle with citizens and tourists, yet do not have enough to eat, or a place to rest, or somewhere to call home.

We think of people anywhere and everywhere who are who are fleeing from brutality and war; and those who live with terrorism and its threat, giving thanks for听courage and resourcefulness听in danger.听

CHOIR: Save thy people and |bless thine 鈥� in-|heritance: 鈺� feed them also and |lift them |up for| ever

HELEN:听 We stand in solidarity with all who seek to help where there is need, in small ways and large; and with those whose work it is to provide protection and to make and keep the peace. We join them in desiring that somehow the best of intelligence, humanity and skill may be brought to bear upon situations of deep difficulty throughout the world.

CHOIR: I will hear what the Lord will speak:* for he will speak peace unto his people and |to his |saints; 鈺� but let them not |turn a-|gain to |folly.

HELEN:听 We remember those we love; and those whom we might love a little better.听 We pray for those from whom we may be estranged and for ourselves in relation to them.听 We think of people who are worried or anxious; ill or dying; and those who live with loss. And we remember with thanksgiving those whom we have loved and lost in death whom we will love for ever, committing them and all for whom we pray to the grace and tender mercy of almighty God.听听

CHOIR: I will sing of the mercies of the |Lord for| ever: 鈺� with my mouth will I make known thy |faithfulness 鈥�to |all gen鈥�er-|ations

HELEN:听 Let the light of Christ and of all true and honest faith burn brightly even in the darkest places of the earth, that spirits may be restored and hearts be glad, and the soul of the world be renewed by wisdom, compassion and peace.

CHOIR: Blessed be the Lord God, * the |God of |Israel, 鈺� who a-|lone 鈥�doeth |wondrous |things.

And blessed be his glorious |name for |ever: 鈺� and let the whole earth be filled with his glory *A|men and |A-|men.

HELEN:

We close our service with a hymn of wonder by the 17th century poet and hymn-writer John Mason, 鈥淗ow shall I sing that majesty which angels do admire?鈥�

MUSIC:听 HYMN -听听 How shall I sing that majesty听 (Coe Fen )

- Descant composed by Peter Backhouse.

HELEN:听 Benediction听 (Gaelic Blessing)

Deep peace of the running wave to you,

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

听

The Blessing of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all.听

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MUSIC:听 SUNG AMEN 听听

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MUSIC:听 ORGAN VOLUNTARY 鈥� Widor, Finale, Symphony No2