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.

大象传媒 Radio 4. Time now for Sunday Worship. On Friday the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby welcomed 36 young people to the newly established Community of St. Anselm based at Lambeth Palace as they made a commitment to spend a year in the service of God and the local community.听 The Archbishop鈥檚 Chaplain, the Revd Dr Jo Wells, leads the service which begins with the South African anthem, Babethandaza 鈥淲e are like this, because of prayer鈥�.

Anthem Babethandazo/we are marching

JO
Greeting, and bidding prayer
Welcome to Lambeth Palace - home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the the river Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament. We鈥檙e in the Archbishop鈥檚 Chapel, where worship has taken place since the twelfth century. We鈥檙e amidst a throng of friends and well-wishers, for a special Service of Commitment to welcome 36 young people from 5 different continents ready to take the risk of committing 鈥榓 year in God鈥檚 time鈥� in joining the Community of St Anselm.

This North African prayer from St Augustine gives us the opportunity to name our fears and hopes for new beginnings:

Almighty God: you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.
Grant us purity of heart and strength of purpose: that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing your will, and no weakness hinder us from doing it;
but that in your light we may see light, and in your service find our perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Hymn O for a thousand tongues to sing

JO
Narration: The Prior is the person in charge of a religious house or order. Anders Litzell is our Prior, and he鈥檚 going to tell us about the journey that鈥檚 brought about this new Community.听

ANDERS (Prior)听
Intro to the Community of St Anselm (CoSA)
Archbishop Justin declared at his appointment that his first priority was for the renewal of prayer and religious life across the church. The Community of St Anselm is drawing young Christians aged 20-35 from all over the world for a 10-month 鈥榖oot camp鈥� in religious community. There are both resident and non-resident members. Residents have travelled from the corners of the globe to live at Lambeth Palace and devote themselves full-time to community life. Non-resident members will follow some of the same disciplines while remaining in their homes and jobs. All of them seek to shape their whole being in response to God鈥檚 radical grace, through commitment to a Rule of Life drawn from the sixth-century monastic rule of St Benedict. As well as many hours of prayer and study, they will spend time inspired by St Francis听 in service of the poor and, following St Ignatius, in regular self-examination and retreat.

Archbishop Justin鈥檚 vision is for transformation in church and society through the deep work of the Holy Spirit. That transformation will include of his own work as archbishop, informed and challenged by the presence of young people here at his home-base. We trust it will transform these young lives, to reflect the beauty of God鈥檚 holiness with irrepressible integrity. But even more, we dare to seek for the transformation of our world 鈥� in business, politics, education, healthcare, development - through the work to which God calls and equips each of us as we commit to God and God鈥檚 people in self-giving within our local, national and international communities.

This听 is how the Community of St Anselm鈥檚 Rule of Life begins:听

SR SONIA (DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY)听
Reading from the Community鈥檚 Rule of Life
Jesus said: Come to me 鈥� and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matt 11:28-29)
Jesus, being fully God and fully human, is our example in everything. Our very identity is in Christ and it shapes how we interact with people 鈥� like Jesus we can listen deeply and value the worth of each person, see people like our Father sees them, pray with the deepest assurance. Jesus is our model for life. The way we learn from Jesus is given shape by the inheritance the Holy Spirit has given us in St Benedict, St Francis and St Ignatius.
We choose to offer our whole persons: body, soul and spirit, to be shaped in the likeness of Christ by a complete openness to His Holy Spirit. We hold nothing back: there is no thought or doctrine or attitude or value that is exempt from the transforming presence of our Lord.
JO
We hear now from members of the Community of St. Anselm.

Testimonies (three members, describing why they have come, what they have left behind)
PETER
Hello, my name is Peter Angelica and I am 23 years old. I鈥檓 joining the Community from New York City, where I worked as an analyst for a commercial bank听 As one of the millennials that moved to the City straight after school I have the chance to witness how my peers cope with the realities of working life. Many have quickly fallen into the work-hard, play-hard mentality that is associated with working in finance. Many seem to be constantly looking to rapidly advance in the workplace, with little idea what they鈥檙e racing towards.
Hearing God鈥檚 call to join the Community amidst the noise of New York was not an easy task, even after much thought, prayer and contemplation. But it is answering that call which has required even more faith and trust in God. It has been a challenge to transition from the routine of my life in New York and my work at the bank to the Community, and I have sometimes questioned my decision to do so. But through God鈥檚 love, and the support of my family, friends and those I worked with, I have come to realize the importance of this decision for me and for others.

GEORGE
My name if George Karanja Njiri. I am 28 years old. I come from Nairobi, Kenya. I have just completed my divinity studies at university. I applied to join the Community of St Anselm out of an urge for personal spiritual formation. Having prepared practically and academically for ordained ministry, I felt I needed to step back and seek some spiritual preparation.
The world is getting more globally interconnected and I feel I needed to grasp the cultural and theological diversity that exists apart from my own local understanding. As a member of the Community I will be living, praying, studying and serving with a wide variety of people from different cultures and denominations.
This period is both a personal and a communal sacrifice. I have left behind my own projects and activities in my local diocese, and life-long friends. It is also a sacrifice for my family, for whom I have been a pillar as I am the only son of retired parents, in a family of five. I personally thank them for allowing me to be here and giving me their blessing as I seek to grow spiritually and serve others just as I have been serving them.

FRAN

JO
We are pleased to be joined today by St. Martin鈥檚 Voices.听 They sing an anthem now by the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo 鈥� 鈥楿bi Caritas鈥� 鈥� 鈥榃here there is charity and love God is there.鈥櫶齁o听

Anthem Ubi Caritas (Ola Gjeilo; Norwegian)
Choir (a capella)听
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est
Where there is charity and love, God is there

听
OT reading: Hearing God鈥檚 call; Exod.3
CoSA member (鈥� Aussie accent?)听

A reading from Exodus Chapter 3
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, 鈥業 must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.鈥� When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 鈥楳oses, Moses!鈥� And he said, 鈥楬ere I am.鈥� Then he said, 鈥楥ome no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.鈥� He said further, 鈥業 am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.鈥� And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Gradual O God you search me and know me
(Psalm 139) Bernadette Farrell
Choir/Congregation听

NT reading: Romans 12:1-5
CoSA member 听

A reading from Romans Chapter 12:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God 鈥� what is good and acceptable and perfect.
听听听听听听听听听听 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

Anthem 鈥� Alleluia Fongola
Choir & drums听
Alleluia (x12)
Fongola matoyi mayo, eh edeko oyoka sago elamu
(Literally: Open your ears brother/sister to the word of God)

Gospel reading: John 15: 13-17
Bishop Nicolas Hudson (RC Auxiliary bishop of Westminster)

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

鈥楾his is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one鈥檚 life for one鈥檚 friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Anthem 鈥� Alleluia Fongola
Alleluia (x12)
Fongola matoyi mayo, eh edeko oyoka sago elamu
(Literally: Open your ears brother/sister to the word of God)

Sermon听
ABC听
Religious communities are not new, and they are not rare, they are ancient and current reflections of the love of God seen in the Trinity 鈥� Father, Son and Holy Spirit - , in which people risk everything to seek to emulate that love, a love which is so great that it overflows infinitely into the world from the Father in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, in the sending of the Holy Spirit. Changed by the love which finds and directs us, changed by that grace, we too are to be sources of love and healing.
I received an email yesterday from the Abbot of a Benedictine Community, which described the Community of St Anselm as 鈥渢his amazingly prophetic community which is about to be born鈥�. It is not new, it is far from unique in that many wonderful communities are being born, but I hope and pray that it speaks God鈥檚 truth to itself and the world 鈥� in other words that it is prophetic and I pray that Benedictine Abbot is right.
If it is prophetic it is because it challenges both the church and the world with the grace of God, and does so from Lambeth Palace, which has often in its history been a place not of grace so much as authority, power and even suffering for its victims. There is still the prison in Lollards Tower, rings set into the walls, ancient Latin sentences scratched in the panelling 鈥淐ruel prison of the unhappy followers of Wycliffe鈥� [source: Old and New London: Volume 6. Originally published by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878.] at a time when the bible in English, pioneered by Wickliffe, was a problem for the church. Grace is the most beautiful word in the language of God 鈥� it means love given freely and without expectation of return. All our readings speak of grace, and the vows the new members of this community听 will take in a moment are only able to be fulfilled with grace.
Moses is called to a people who reject him, in a land where those people have no power, and having been rejected once is now on his own. Grace reaches out to those who are nowhere and going nowhere 鈥� to the Lost -听 even when they think they have everything sorted, or that there is no hope. Israel is told by God in the book of Deuteronomy that they were not called because they were strong but because they were weak. Lostness may not be conscious, but it is real and is seen all around us. Lostness is ended when we find a known path and choose to follow it. To the 36 new members of this community beginning a year of service, you will in a moment say that you choose to follow Christ, and you choose to love one another. Moses chose to obey God, albeit after much arguing. In grace God allowed Moses and thus Israel to discover Him, as they were discovered by grace, by the love of God. So God allows you to discover Him, by grace, and so God offers that same grace of finding community, a known way and a true path, to every human being who says yes.
Yet grace in the Exodus story is present in the physical and real. A wilderness, amongst sheep (noisy, smelly and tending to wander) in a bush. Grace is not hidden in holy places, but flaunts itself for us in the open air. In community you will find听 grace in the ordinary, coming up by surprise when you wonder why you are here. Yet the grace of Jesus will find you, and you will discover and be discovered, in the most mundane moments. Say yes with great expectation of burning grace in our midst here, and in all Christian community where the听 Holy Spirit is at work.
The reading from John includes my favourite verse, 鈥測ou did not choose me, but I chose you鈥�. Yet - to each of our 36 new members both from the UK and around the world - you come here because you applied and were invited. Then there is a surprise, that we are each the called and chosen, when we thought we chose, and will choose. Jesus is saying, recognise the authority of God鈥檚 choice, and co-operate with it, so that there is fruit.
We commit to receive each other as a gift. That is a challenge for you, and for all at Lambeth Palace for whom this is a radical change, including me, especially me. You are God鈥檚 gifts to me, and astonishing as it may seem, I to you, and all to each other. If we receive those gifts we will bear fruit, now and in the future for decades even into eternity.
That fruit is seen in change, in being transformed. Paul in our reading from Romans is writing to a church divided, and struggling with age old patterns of behaviour, from seeking power by one group or another, to ancient contempts and even hatreds.
There will be moments of that here, may already be, as from time to time in every Christian community. The thought will cross your mind 鈥渋t鈥檚 because he is from such and such a country鈥�, or because of her background, or ethnicity, or gender.
Do not be conformed to the patterns that we inherit. This community will be prophetic when it allows God to do the transforming, and none of us allows our inherited ways to conform us to certain forms of behaviour. Communities of grace see transformation from what is towards what should be. Grace is something that, being shared, transforms us.
Religious communities are full of grace when they are full of Christ. Yet his presence is realised in the ordinary, and we see often only in retrospect the nail scarred hand that looked at the time like those of our roommate, we realise that our hearts burned within us as he broke bread with us, we notice the burning bush when it is but a memory of a strange moment in a desert week. Community allows Christ to be present graciously in the ordinary, and in doing so all is changed and all is lit with hope and fruit and purpose. We walk amongst orchards of fruit set by others in grace. We consume, and are changed unaware.

JO
We invite those who are members of the Community of St Anselm to stand, as our Archbishop and Abbot invites each member听 to commit to this year of service.听听

The Call and Commitment: Responding to God鈥檚 grace
ABC plus members听
Each member replies - (One voice leads all the members)

Abbot: God calls each of us by name, just as he called Moses. Are you willing for this call 鈥� to follow Christ in Community 鈥� whatever it may cost? You who would love God in this Community: I invite you each to answer the call.
Abbot: N.
N:.I am here (In native language) [N. rises and steps into the aisle, facing the Abbot] (repeat x35; broadcast will merge with Bob Chilcott鈥檚 鈥楤e Thou My Vision鈥�- in background)
Abbot: Are you willing to heed God鈥檚 call and follow Christ in this Community 鈥� to promise love, humility and openness to his Holy Spirit 鈥� wherever it may lead and whatever it may cost?
Members: In God鈥檚 strength, I commit to follow Christ.
Member 1: We will follow Christ; we will prefer him to all things. Empowered by his Spirit we desire to be like him in thought, word and deed 鈥� to the glory of our God and Father.
鈥�
Abbot: Will you open your hearts and choose one another as Christ has chosen you?
Members: In God鈥檚 strength, I commit daily to choose my fellow-members.
Member 2: We receive each other as a gift from God. We choose each other as instruments of God鈥檚 grace. We give ourselves to the pursuit of the likeness of Christ in, with and through one another.
Abbot: Will you give yourselves to the Rule of Life of this Community?
Members: In God鈥檚 strength, I commit to live according to the Rule
Member 3: We receive our shared way of life as a gift and challenge from God; we will learn to live under authority, to live in humility, and to grow in transparency of life before God and each other.
Abbot: You have made your promises to me and to one another before God; the Lord grant you grace to live out your promise in thought, word and deed; by what you do and what you leave undone. The Lord grant you grace to love God with all your heart, and mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself.

Receive the robe that you will wear in prayer; you are clothed in Christ, a new creation. May he who has begun a good work in you bring it to completion.

Chorus King of Kings, majesty (Jarrod Cooper)

听

Intercessions (interspersed with Taize Veni Sancte Spiritus (in Latin, English, French/Spanish)

I invite you to pray for the Community of St Anselm, for the world and for the church. These prayers will be led in English, Spanish and French respectively, each interspersed with a Latin chant that invokes the Holy Spirit to come

Veni Sancte Spiritus

We give thanks for each member offering their life in service to you and to your world through prayer, study and work with the poor. Guide all who share their journey in body, mind or spirit, and especially the families and friends who will support from afar; Give them all the knowledge and confidence in your unfailing love and mercy. May they be enriched by this year and come to know you more deeply.

Veni Sancte Spiritus鈥�

(Intro from Jo to next prayer, if it is not in English鈥�)
We pray with thanksgiving for our world which you created and in which you give us a share; for its beauty and diversity. We pray for those parts of the world where the joy of life is not easily known; for those who flee their homes in search of peace; for those who are affected by natural disaster and illness; for those who live in the confusion of political situations. May they know you are continually with them, holding their right hand.

Veni Sancte Spiritus鈥�

Fr Laurent Fabre, head of CCN leads us in prayer in French for the unity of the Church:

We pray for the renewal of the religious life; for those who have dedicated their lives in prayer to you; for those who will hear your call and take vows of commitment to follow you; for the church and the world to know and understand the joys and advantages of religious life; for communities, new and old, as they seek to bring more people closer to you. Give them hope and a willingness to serve. May they be sustained by your love and filled with the fruits of the Spirit.

Veni Sancte Spiritus鈥�

We join together in a prayer for Christian unity, based on that of Abbot Paul Courturier:
Lord Jesus
Who prayed that we might all be one,
We pray to you for the unity of Christians,
According to your will,
According to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
To experience the suffering caused by division,
To see our sin,
And to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
JO
Lord鈥檚 Prayer Each in our own language, as our Saviour taught us, so we pray:
Our Father鈥�. 听
We join together in our final hymn which acknowledges the loving guidance of God鈥檚 people down the ages. Thy Hand, O God, has Guided

Hymn: Thy hand O God has guided

Members of the Community gather around the altar during the final verse - (assisted by CoSA team)听0

Jesus invited his disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Members of the Community of St Anselm, I invite each of you here gathered to take up a cross which I give you to wear, as you follow Jesus. Put it on each morning and choose the same path. Dare to shape your living in the manner of his dying. Wear it outside these walls and share God鈥檚 deep love, proclaiming the kingdom in word and deed.听ABC

ABC
Blessing
God give you grace to follow St Benedict, St Francis and St Ignatius in faith and hope and love; in discipline, in service and in self-examination. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you, with all whom you love and all whom you encounter, this day, this year, and always. Amen.听

听