大象传媒

大象传媒 Radio 4. The Bishop of Dorking the Right Reverend Doctor Jo Bailey-Wells is the preacher for Sunday Worship this second week of Lent. The service comes from St Mary's Church in Guildford and is introduced by the Rector the Revd Canon Robert Cotton.
RobertGood morning and welcome to Guildford. 聽At each end of our picturesque cobbled High Street there is one of the two churches of this parish. 聽At the upper end stands Holy Trinity Church: a grand place of ceremony and celebration. 聽From its front door, you can see businesses and banks, an alms-house, a school and the Guildhall. 聽
At the other end of town lies St Mary鈥檚 church, where we are today. 聽This has been a place of prayer since before 1066. 聽Here, in stillness, God can re-order hearts and minds
Lent is as much a season for cleansing and healing as it is for daring and doing. 聽We give up things so that we can have focussed time with God. 聽We take on things so that we can actively spend time for God. 聽This Lent we are challenged by the Archbishop of Canterbury to these two tasks: 聽first, to have our priorities well ordered, rearranged by God鈥檚 healing grace; and, second, to engage daringly in the world so that what we treasure matches what we do, and what we do brings into being what we hope for. 聽
Let us pray.
O God,You are our beginning and our end.You provide a resting place and fill us with dreams.Nourish us now,Strengthen our spiritsAnd use us for the furthering of your kingdom.In Jesus鈥� name we pray. 聽Amen.
Our prayer continues that God will be our all in all: 鈥淔ill thou my life, O Lord my God, in every part with praise, that my whole being may proclaim thy being and thy ways鈥�.
Music: Fill thou my life (t. Richmond)

RobertThe theme the Archbishop takes this second week of Lent is 鈥榃hat we measure controls us.鈥� It鈥檚 an assertion that Bishop Jo will address later and you may be interested to know that there are resources on the Sunday Worship web pages for individual or group use, including this recording of The Archbishop of Canterbury reflecting on what is needed to enthrone God in the centre of our lives:
Archbishop Justin (pre-recorded)The degree to which money - Mammon - is enthroned in each of our lives is uncomfortably revealed by the degree to which we often disproportionally value the things we can readily measure. This can lead to a demeaning of people who do things without economic reward. Mammon brushes past them, spurning them as unimportant, little people.聽The parent or family member who stays at home or refuses a promotion to be with a child with disabilities is not considered to contribute. Yet the sacrifice and care they demonstrate is extraordinary. A spouse who supports their partner at the cost of their own career is seen as second-rate, or lacking ambition.聽So how do we dethrone Mammon in our own lives, and in the lives of our communities and nations? The answer must come through what we measure, what we see and what we hear. Everything is to be assessed through the eyes of Jesus.
ANTHEM: Lord, for thy tender mercies sake - Farrant
Robert鈥淟ord, for thy tender mercies sake鈥�, with music by Richard Farrant, asks God to bring the fragments of our lives together, to forgive and make us whole once again. If we are to become fully the people that God would have us be, then we need to be released from the burdens and troubles that naturally accumulate along our daily journey.聽
Our first reading this morning is taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, after which the suffragan bishop of this diocese, Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, gives the first of three short reflections.
Reading: Luke 19:1-10Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 鈥榋acchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.鈥� So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.聽
All who saw it began to grumble and said, 鈥楬e has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.鈥� Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 鈥楲ook, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.鈥� Then Jesus said to him, 鈥楾oday salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.鈥�
Bishop JoZacchaeus is someone whose whole life depended on controlling what he could count. He measures people up according to their wealth, charges them tax, then counts his gains. He has the authority to exercise control 鈥� to determine what a person owes, and to ensure that they pay it. His life is all about measurement - charging, collecting, counting. It brings him lots of money but not a single friend. Here we meet a person impoverished by his prosperity and warped by complete immersion in a counting culture.
He knows all about how what we measure brings control, precisely because he does a lot of measuring and exerts plenty of control. The problem is that the means of measuring by which he controls others ends up controlling him. 聽He鈥檚 like the addict who thinks she鈥檚 controlling the bottle when in truth the bottle is controlling her. He is lonely, he is trapped: his life is reduced to counting money. Surrounded by riches, he鈥檚 poor.聽
When Jesus offers the opportunity of release from this hamster wheel of despair, he does not hold back. The signs of transformation are dramatic and unprompted: suddenly he鈥檚 eager to give half of everything he owns away and to pay back anyone he has diddled four times the sum. A man who chased pennies is tossing away pounds 鈥� reckless in his new-found freedom.
We鈥檙e na茂ve if we don鈥檛 think the counting culture controls us. So much of life gets reduced to measurable bottom lines: to a number on a league table, to my score on a video game, to my rating on a UCAS form, to the likes on my facebook page, to the points in a research rating, to the votes in a talent show. What might begin as healthy incentive and rewarding competition ends with crude reduction and insidious comparison 鈥� where lives are defined by a series of numbers, a score-card, and quantity seems to triumph over quality.
I remember someone in an interview trying to impress with the 2000 hours she鈥檇 spent in voluntary service. Afterwards the interviewer asked: 鈥業f it really was voluntary, would you need to count?鈥� The danger is that we find ourselves playing a game we detest, obliged to measure ourselves against a scale we don鈥檛 believe in. Trapped. Just like Zacchaeus 鈥� who thought he controlled what he could count, yet found he lost control鈥� and didn鈥檛 count.聽
Psalm 63 (Responsorial)RobertPsalm 63, the song of one who is thirsty, desperately thirsty, longing to be released, waiting achingly for the day when lament is turned into praise.We now hear more words from Chapter 19 of Luke鈥檚 Gospel, another story of the mixing of the temple and mammon.
Reading: Luke 19.45-48Then Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, 鈥業t is written,鈥淢y house shall be a house of prayer鈥�;聽 聽but you have made it a den of robbers.鈥櫬犅燛very day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.聽
Bishop JoWhen life is reduced to how we measure up in quantitative terms, it鈥檚 not just that our lives are cheapened. We also lose the capacity to judge well, to value what we can鈥檛 count. We lose sight of how to value the things that really matter.
Jesus鈥� frustration at the traders in the temple wasn鈥檛 so much with the idea of trade in a place meant for prayer, but with the fact that these folks had turned what lay beyond all material evaluation into a financial transaction. The whole point of worship is that it鈥檚 divine, not human. They鈥檙e touting as a cash deal something that on the one hand is free and on the other hand is priceless.聽
The temple was the sign of God鈥檚 presence with the people: it was the place that embodied the very possibility of reconciliation. These guys are charging that which is not theirs for what they cannot control. They鈥檙e kidding themselves and deceiving others, pretending to have control not only over people but even over God. It鈥檚 a lost cause.聽
When we try translating things of real depth into our culture of measurement and control, we find ourselves just as confused, just as lost. It鈥檚 about as ridiculous as chasing the wind or catching a cloud. 鈥楬ow do I love thee?鈥� asks Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 鈥榣et me count the ways!鈥�. But she can鈥檛 count and she doesn鈥檛 count; her poetry paints pictures designed to stretch the soul to new depth and breadth and height.聽
That which we count and contain and control diminishes us. God鈥檚 love and life does just the opposite: it raises our horizons and expands our possibilities. God鈥檚 gift of reconciliation cannot be counted or contained or controlled. It is young and wild and free, growing the windows of our soul to new depth and breadth and height. Who would settle for less?
Robert
Music: From ashes to the living font

Robert鈥淔rom ashes to the living font, your Church must journey, Lord鈥�, a hymn speaking of that journey into a greater reality of spiritual life: once we hear God鈥檚 voice speaking deep within, we can grow in confidence to use the tools and talents we have been given.聽
Clare Brunet is head teacher of the parish鈥檚 church school. We hear from her in a few moments time, but first we hear from two pupils at the school, Toby and Megan.
Toby
Megan
Clare
RobertToby and Megan now read from the letter to the Colossians chapter 3, beginning at verse 12.
[Toby] As God鈥檚 chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.聽[Megan] Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.聽[Toby] Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.聽[Megan] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.聽[Toby] And be thankful.聽
Bishop JoHow do we live in a culture that evaluates by numbers without turning into a Zacchaeus or a temple money-changer?聽
Paul urges us 鈥榓s God鈥檚 dearly-loved people, to put on the virtues鈥�. That is to say, to inhabit the values of Jesus Christ, in just the way we put on our shirt and socks each morning. Resisting the culture of measurement is a daily intentional practice of shaping our lives around a different set of values. It鈥檚 as simple as getting dressed, and just as routine.聽
I sat down the other day and tried to write down my values. I wish I鈥檇 thought of the list that Paul offers here: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. And if we can live them with others 鈥� as at the local school here in Guildford, or perhaps in your place of work, or your church 鈥� we start to shape the culture of a community, and together reach above and beyond those necessary-yet-insidious bottom lines.
Without a determined attention to live our values, to pursue the virtues, we鈥檙e liable to be swallowed up by numbers. But when our habits take root, they become our second nature, as automatic as tying shoelaces and brushing teeth. They鈥檒l change the way we live and the choices we make 鈥� bringing us to love the things that are beyond measure: taking value in things for their own sake, not for how we might gain from them. Cherishing the simplest things we do, the profoundest.
You are God鈥檚 chosen, holy and dearly loved, says Paul. Which is to say, God values each one of us for our own sake 鈥� not for our effectiveness, not for our scores and successes, not for our usefulness 鈥� simply because we are. God is not interested in counting us or assessing us 鈥� each of us is the pearl of great value, the one for which he gives everything. Each of us is the one 鈥� as if there are no others. Jesus would have died on the cross just for you, just for me. God does not score the effectiveness of Jesus鈥� ministry by counting how many people like Zacchaeus are transformed.聽
Thank God it鈥檚 not about what we measure. But how we鈥檙e transformed.
Anthem Come my way, my truth, my life 鈥� Richard Lloyd
Robert鈥淐ome my way, my truth, my life鈥�, words by George Herbert set to music by Richard Lloyd. The first line could be heard as a mild request. 聽Perhaps today, we can hear it as a robust demand 鈥� we are determined, and we know that we need God鈥檚 grace to live fully.聽
Trusting in the mercy of God, let us pray.
Reader 1Gentle GodHeal our eyes so that we are not deceived by false glamour,Heal our hearts so we are not distracted by what does not satisfy;Fix us in your heart,And our hearts in your life.
Music Through our lives and by our prayers, your kingdom come.
Reader 2Fearless GodPurge from our world all that drowns out human dignity;Shake our indifference,Correct our ways,Overturn our complacencyThat we may more fully love our neighbours, wherever they come from:
Music Through our lives and by our prayers, your kingdom come.
ReaderBeautiful GodSurprise us with joy,Astound us with wonderInfect us with delight;And, with these blessings, may we bless all we meet day by day
Music Through our lives and by our prayers, your kingdom come.

Anthem: Litany to the Holy Spirit 鈥� Peter Hurford
RobertAs Jesus taught us, so we prayOur Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever. 聽Amen.
RobertBishop Jo now leads us in a Blessing
Blessing 鈥� Bishop Jo
Robert鈥淣ever despair of the mercy of God鈥�: so says the Rule of Saint Benedict. 聽The journey towards recognising fully the powers we have been given, and then to use them wisely, will not be complete this side of eternity. 聽But, in the words of our closing hymn, 鈥榯he love of God is broader than the measure of our minds鈥�. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a wideness in God鈥檚 mercy鈥�.
Hymn: There鈥檚 a wideness in God鈥檚 mercy
Organ voluntary