大象传媒

大象传媒 Radio 4
Sunday Worship from Virginia Theological Seminary

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 (Episcopal High School Chamber Singers)
Unclouded Day arr. Shaun Kirchner

Ruthanna
Good morning and welcome to Virginia Theological Seminary. Situated in the beautiful town of Alexandria, a few miles south of Washington DC, we are one of America鈥檚 leading Episcopal training colleges, with over two hundred and fifty students. We鈥榬e excited to be in our glorious new Immanuel Chapel, consecrated last month in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

This coming Thursday Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving Day, not only by feasting as families and friends dine together at tables loaded with a harvest of turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie, but also to gather in private homes and houses of worship to give thanks to God for all the blessings of this life.

Let us pray.

We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, especially Paris, and the many places where violence and fear have caused suffering and death. Unite us as one family, that we may seek your truth and your love in this broken world.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the season of Thanksgiving, for the fruits of the earth and for the labours of all those who harvest them.聽 Make us faithful stewards of your world, to the glory of your name; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.聽 Amen.

We begin our service with one of the great thanksgiving hymns, Now thank we all our God.

Hymn: Now thank we all our God

Bible Reading: James 1.17-18,21-27

Ruthanna
We are delighted to welcome the Chamber Singers from the neighbouring Episcopal High School, founded in 1839 as the first high school in Virginia. They will sing the Spiritual 鈥榃ade in the Water鈥�, arranged by American composer Moses Hogan. But first, two of their students will talk about what Thanksgiving means to them.

Episcopal High School students

Episcopal High School Chamber Singers
Wade in the Water 鈥� Spiritual arr. Moses Hogan

Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 8.1-6

Choir: Seek ye first the kingdom of God

Ruthanna
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, sung by the Choir of Virginia Theological Seminary. In a few moments our Preacher will be the Dean and President of our seminary, the Very Revd Ian Markham. But first, we hear words from the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 6, beginning at verse 25.

Reading: Matthew 6:25-33

Choir: Day by day 鈥� Martin How

Sermon (Ian Markham)

And so we arrive at the great American tradition.聽 In 2001 when I moved from Liverpool to the United States it was as curious a Festival to me as it will be to anyone in England. But聽 discovering Thanksgiving has been a delight; it has truly become my favorite holiday.聽聽 This is the holiday where families 鈥� of whatever shape and size and style - simply gather to enjoy being together 鈥� no presents, no Christmas music 鈥� just family and thanksgiving.聽 Countless American families of an amazing diversity of wealth, class, and race characterizing American life today -聽 all sit around their dining room table and are invited to identify at least one thing for which they are thankful.聽 There is a real beauty in the very simplicity of this holiday.

Thanksgiving is a pause in the busyness of life, when one takes stock of all that evokes gratitude. Every time I meet our former students I am grateful for the impact that they are having in towns and cities around this world as they work hard to bring the love of Christ 鈥� often in very practical ways like feeding and clothing 鈥� to those who are hurting.聽 And of course all the community here is grateful for the Consecration of this new Immanuel Chapel at which the Episcopal Church family gathered to celebrate.聽 At Thanksgiving we should pause and simply breathe the words 鈥榯hank you Lord鈥�.

However, it should not just be one day in the year.聽 Thanksgiving 鈥� gratitude 鈥� needs to become a disposition.聽 Learning to look at the world through the lens of gratitude is an attitude 鈥� even a skill that makes all the difference to living.聽 This is the theme of our readings.聽 The Jewish people are told in Deuteronomy to be appreciative of the work of God in the past 鈥� but here鈥檚 the paradox 鈥� be grateful for forty years wandering around the desert 鈥� I mean the desert, this isn鈥檛 the beach or a resort 鈥� it is a journey through the desert.聽 And the context for that lovely opening of our reading from James 鈥渆very perfect gift is from above鈥�.聽 And of course the message of the Gospel is that God provides all the basic things of life, so if it鈥檚 possible, try to quit worrying, and learn to be grateful.聽 Be grateful for the desert, be grateful for trials 鈥� hard or impossible though this may seem - , be grateful for the basic things of life 鈥� like a meal, like clothes.

This is one of the joys of living and participating in a Christian community.聽 We learn a really important skill.聽 We learn to be grateful.聽 We learn to appreciate the gift of breathing, thinking, laughing, and loving.聽 All those basic things that folks don鈥檛 even register as worth a thank you, we should remember that these basic things are miracles.聽 Extraordinary miracles of divine grace.聽 Waking up and breathing is an amazing gift from God.聽 Having the capacity to order the world through thought is a gift unique to human beings.聽 Living aware that someone loves you is certainly a gift we all need to experience.聽 Pause, marvel, and appreciate.聽 But the paradox of the Gospel is deeper than this.聽 In our liturgy, we learn that the skill of gratitude extends to a place where most of us fear to go.聽 We learn to be grateful in a real and puzzling sense even for our difficulties.

Now the difficult and even the tragic is all around us: in our personal and in our national lives. In fact, we have every cause to be fearful 鈥� to take appropriate defensive action, to prepare ourselves for the worst. So in what sense can we 鈥� or should we 鈥� even begin to be grateful for such things?

In the Great Thanksgiving of the Eucharist, the Celebrant thanks God for the death of a young man who died at the hands of an occupying power and yet is, in some puzzling way, the very salvation of the world.聽 In this prayer, we learn a disposition: we learn that even in the most utterly distasteful horror, there is a place for us to begin to find that grace for which we should be grateful.

The disposition of gratitude is grounded in a worldview.聽 It is an act of trust that at the heart of the universe is goodness and love enabling everything to be and sustaining everything that is.聽 And therefore it is an act of trust that sees even in those things that are hardest to bear, we can in time find the grace of God.聽 God is there, even when it is hard to see.聽 God is there in the tears, God is there in the outpouring of love, and God is there as people cope with loss.聽 God is there when people refuse to give into distrust and reprisal leading to cycles of violence. We trust that somewhere and somehow a higher purpose of love is being served through our trials.

Amen.

Anthem (Combined EHS and VTS Choirs)
Christ is made the sure foundation by Dale Wood

Christ is made the sure foundation, with music by Dale Wood, sung by the combined choirs of Virginia Theological Seminary and the Episcopal High School.

Prayers

With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord.

Music: There鈥檚 a wideness in God鈥檚 mercy

We pray for all who witness to God鈥檚 grace in their daily lives, that your people may serve you courageously and wholeheartedly.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for our nation and its leaders. Guide us as we seek peace and justice for all people.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for all who live and work in this community. For our families and loved ones, and the many places we call 鈥渉ome.鈥� In this season of Thanksgiving, help us to be mindful of the many blessings in our lives.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for all who suffer. Give them comfort in their distress and hope when there seems to be none. Let them feel your presence in the midst of their troubles that they might know they are never alone.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Almighty God, to whom our needs are known before we ask: Help us to ask only what accords with your will; and those good things which we dare not, or in our blindness cannot ask, grant us for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Music: There鈥檚 a wideness in God鈥檚 mercy

As our Saviour has taught us, so we pray.

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.

Ruthanna
Our final hymn, is one of the best known American thanksgiving hymns. We gather together.

Hymn: We gather together

Blessing (Ruthanna)

Organ Voluntary
Nun danket alle Gott from Cantata No. 79 - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750); arr. Virgil Fox (1912-1980)