大象传媒

Radio 4 Opening Announcement: 聽 大象传媒 Radio 4. It鈥檚 ten past eight 鈥� time to go live to St Mary鈥檚 Collegiate Parish Church in Warwick for this week鈥檚 Sunday Worship. It鈥檚 led by the Rector, the Revered Dr Vaughan Roberts, and the preacher is the Bishop of Coventry, the Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth. The service begins with an introit by Henry Purcell 鈥� O God, the King of glory.

CHOIR: O God, the King of glory (Purcell)

RECTOR:聽Good morning and welcome to this historic parish church. There鈥檚 been a place of worship here since Saxon times and the renowned Beauchamp Chapel behind me has been described as the finest medieval chapel in England.聽
[St Mary鈥檚 nave was destroyed by fire as the church provided sanctuary for those whose homes had been destroyed by the Great Fire of Warwick in the 17th century. It was rebuilt during the reign of Queen Anne and is now home to several flourishing congregations as well as a thriving choral foundation.]
Our service of choral matins this morning explores the theme of 鈥楾he Lordship of Christ鈥� through music, word, prayer, and transformation. O worship the King all glorious above.聽

聽Hymn: O worship the KingCHOIR, CONGREGATION, ORGAN:聽

RECTOR:聽Beloved, we are come together in the presence of Almighty God and of the whole company of heaven to offer unto him through our Lord Jesus Christ our worship and praise and thanksgiving; to make confession of our sins; to pray, as well for others as for ourselves, that we may know more truly the greatness of God鈥檚 love and shew forth in our lives the fruits of his grace; and to ask on behalf of all men such things as their well-being doth require.
Wherefore let us kneel in silence, and remember God鈥檚 presence with us now.
Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.
ALL: Almighty and most merciful FatherWe have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheepWe have followed too much the devices and desires of our own heartsWe have offended against thy holy lawsWe have left undone those things that we ought to have doneAnd we have done those things which we ought not to have doneAnd there is no health in usBut thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offendersSpare thou them O God which confess their faultsRestore thou them that are penitentAccording to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our LordAnd grant, O most merciful Father, for his sakeThat we may hereafter live a godly, righteous and sober lifeTo the glory of thy holy name.Amen.

BISHOP:聽May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant unto you pardon and forgiveness of all your sins, time for amendment of life, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit.ALL: Amen.

[SUNG]CANTOR: O Lord, open thou our lipsCHOIR: And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise
CANTOR: O God, make speed to save usCHOIR: O Lord, make haste to help us. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.CANTOR: Praise ye the LordCHOIR: The Lord鈥檚 name be praised.

RECTOR:聽In this service of matins we offer our prayers to God through music and words. After our first reading we hear a setting of the Jubilate by Benjamin Britten, but first the choir sings Psalm 93.

Psalm 93CHOIR, ORGAN:聽1 The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel: the Lord hath put on his apparel, and girded himself with strength.2 He hath made the round world so sure: that it cannot be moved.3 Ever since the world began hath thy seat been prepared: thou art from everlasting.4 The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lift up their READER: the floods lift up their waves.5 The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly: but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is mightier.6 Thy testimonies, O Lord, are very sure: holiness becometh thine house for ever.Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy GhostAs it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

READER 1: Vicky Bartholomew
The first lesson is from the book of the prophet Joel 2: 21-27
O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Thanks be to God
Jubilate Deo in C (Britten)CHOIR, ORGAN:聽
O be joyful in the Lord all ye landsServe the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a songBe ye sure that the Lord he is GodIt is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pastureO go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praiseBe thankful unto him and speak good his nameFor the Lord is graciousHis mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation.Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghostas it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

READER 2: Doreen MillsThe second lesson is from the Gospel according to St John 16: 25-33.
Jesus said to his disciples: 鈥淭he hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.鈥� His disciples said, 鈥榊es, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.鈥� Jesus answered them, 鈥楧o you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!鈥�
Thanks be to God

RECTOR: We profess our faith in the words of the creed. I believe in God聽ALL: the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead and buried, He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting.Amen.

RECTOR:聽We鈥檙e delighted that the Bishop of Coventry, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, is our preacher this morning. But first we sing together the hymn: Let all mortal flesh keep silence.聽
Hymn: Let all mortal flesh CHOIR, CONGREGATION, ORGAN:聽
BISHOP: Let all mortal flesh keep silence,聽and with fear and trembling stand;Christ our God to earth descendeth,聽our full homage to demand鈥�.
Powerful words from the ancient liturgy of St James, long associated with Jerusalem, sung by Christians from perhaps the third century. In the first century Jesus Christ stood on the brink of impending death in that same holy city of Jerusalem, saying, 鈥業n the world you may face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world鈥�.聽
It was reasonable to warn his followers that they should expect the sort of opposition that came his way, and perhaps even the same fate that he was soon to suffer. But for Jesus to claim that he had conquered the world sounds utterly bizarre. Forces were gathering, intent on eradicating him from the world鈥檚 stage, consigning him to join other deluded would-be heroes in the tragic annals of Roman occupied Israel, rejected by his people, crushed by the State.
Two weeks ago I was in the Museum of Atheism in St Petersburg. Actually, no longer a Museum: now the State has returned St Isaac鈥檚 Cathedral to the followers of Christ who, for long years of Soviet rule were ridiculed for their outlandish belief that the crucified Christ is the Lord of all life.聽
聽鈥楾his is where I was brought as a child to be told what people once believed, in their delusion鈥�, my host told me as we stood in that magnificent building surrounded by hundreds of joyful, hopeful, expectant believers caught up in the ancient liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church that had outlasted the years.聽
As the service drew to a close, a [glorious] procession moved around the Cathedral and a great cry familiar to every Christian, whatever the language, filled the air: 鈥楢lleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!鈥櫬燳es, Christ has conquered the world 鈥� for as surely as Jesus endured death so he endures throughout history not as a faded memory but as a living reality.聽
His resurrection has conquered death.聽 His ascended presence at the right hand of God challenges every denial of the life, light and love that God intends for the world.聽- His promised return at the end of the world鈥檚 history as we know it will judge the nations by God鈥檚 ways of truth and peace, goodness and justice.
How do we keep firm our faith that Jesus Christ can be trusted, his truth believed, his life lived even when the conditions of our own lives quite apart from the events of world history seem to say the opposite?How do we hold on to the conviction that Christ has, indeed, conquered the world when we feel crushed by the world?
How do we say our prayers when the cold clutch of sadness seems to drive the comfort of God鈥檚 presence from our hearts, leaving only the artefacts of religion devoid of their true meaning?
鈥榃e believe that you came from God鈥�, said the disciples to Jesus.
That is the heart of the Christian confession:聽
鈥楰ing of kings, yet born of Mary: Lord of Lords in human vesture鈥�, as we have sung.聽
God has descended into human history. 鈥榊ou shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord am your God鈥�, came the promise to the people by the prophet of old we heard in our first reading. The promise fulfilled in Jesus who takes on the worst condition of human life, suffering death: a cruel, tortuous, God-forsaken sort of death 鈥� and conquers it.
In very dark days over 75 years ago this town of Warwick could see fire filling the sky above Coventry as the city burned, bombs falling incessantly through a long and terrible night. As the day dawned and the scale of devastation became clear, Coventry鈥檚 people converged on their Cathedral, now ruined by war.
Among them were some remarkable clergy with eyes to see that what looked like abandonment by God was no negation of the Christian story but a challenge to demonstrate its reality, to prove that even here 鈥� most definitely here 鈥� 鈥楪od is in the midst of us鈥�.
鈥榃e believe that you came from God鈥� said the disciples on the eve of Jesus鈥� death. 聽In that same faith, the Cathedral Provost, declared that God would raise up a new Cathedral from the rubble of the old. For in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God had demonstrated his lordship over the world鈥檚 forces of destruction, and declared decisively that life is stronger than death, love more powerful than hate, goodness greater than evil.
Another priest saw that the nails of the medieval roof now lying scattered over the debris, some landing in the shape of the cross. Taking three of them home, he welded them together into a cross of nails, setting the city story of tragedy into a bigger story of triumph. Nails, like those that once held Jesus to a cross, now become the sign of life by which death has been destroyed, and that symbolic act has flowered into a world-wide ministry of reconciliation called the Community of the Cross of Nails.聽
During Holy Week, Coventry Cathedral鈥檚 Canon for Reconciliation, Sarah Hills, joined a pilgrimage of peace in Iraqi-Kurdistan: Christians and Muslims walking together through villages destroyed by ISIS. On Good Friday she presented a Cross of Nails 鈥� now an internationally recognised symbol of hope and peace 鈥� to the desecrated church in the village of Batnaya. It was placed on the ruined altar.
She returned on Easter Sunday to see a building transformed by the presence of Christians bravely returning to their homes and gathering in their Church to celebrate their Easter Mass, proclaiming in their own tongue, 鈥楢lleluia, Christ is risen!鈥�
Yes, Jesus was correct. Those who follow his ways of truth and peace, goodness and justice will be opposed. But the deeper testimony of history 鈥� beginning with his resurrection from the dead 鈥� demonstrates that we can indeed, 鈥榯ake courage, for he has conquered the world!鈥�
SUNG:CANTOR: The Lord be with youCHOIR: And with thy spirit
CANTOR: Let us pray
CHOIR: Lord, have mercy upon us;聽 Christ, have mercy upon us;聽 Lord, have mercy upon us
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.聽 Amen
CANTOR: O Lord, shew thy mercy upon usCHOIR: And grant us thy salvation
CANTOR: O Lord, save the QueenCHOIR: And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee
CANTOR: Endue thy ministers with righteousnessCHOIR: And make thy chosen people joyful
CANTOR: O Lord, save thy peopleCHOIR: And bless thine inheritance
CANTOR: Give peace in our time, O LordCHOIR: Because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou, O God.
CANTOR: O God, make clean our hearts within usCHOIR: And take not thy Holy Spirit from us
CANTOR: O Lord, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.CHOIR: Amen
CANTOR: O God who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies that we, surely trusting in thy defence may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord.聽CHOIR: Amen
CANTOR: O Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.CHOIR: Amen

RECTOR:聽As we approach the Feast of the Ascension the choir sings Vaughan Williams鈥� setting of words from Psalm 47: O clap your hands, all ye people鈥�God is gone up with a shout.

O clap your hands (Vaughan Williams)CHOIR, ORGAN:聽
RECTOR:聽We give thanks for the rule of Christ in our hearts and minds, praying that we may walk in his footsteps and serve his kingdom 鈥�
READER:Christ is the ruler to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth; we own him as our Risen Lord, we yield to him our loving obedience and we dedicate our lives to gracious service; come Living Christ, reign in us and make us agents of your kingdom in the world, to the honour of your name.聽ALL: Amen.
RECTOR:聽We pray for those places where power and authority are abused, and those people who are caught up in the violence of our world 鈥�
READER:O God of all creation, we bring to you in our prayers those who suffer in body, mind or spirit as a result of war, terrorism, hate or the fears that separate nation from nation, race from race, neighbour from neighbour; we remember all who are refugees, those who have lost loved ones, their homes or their livelihoods; have mercy on them O God, and bless all who are seeking to bring help and relief, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.聽ALL: Amen.
RECTOR:聽We pray for the forthcoming election, for all who are standing as candidates and for all who will be sharing in the process of democracy 鈥�READER:Direct the minds and wills, O God, of the people of this land at the present time, that men and women of integrity and ability, trustworthy and compassionate, may be chosen to represent us in parliament; and give to us the blessing of wise and just government, through Jesus our Lord.聽ALL: Amen.
RECTOR:聽And finally, we hold in our hearts before God those we know who are ill or in pain, those who are low in spirits or anxious, those about whom we鈥檙e concerned 鈥�
READER:O God of love, we commend to your merciful care and healing grace those whom we have remembered in our hearts; and we ask you to do for them all that is best according to their need and according to your will, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.聽ALL: Amen.
RECTOR:聽We gather all of our prayers together in the words of the grace.
ALL: The grace of our Lord Jesus ChristAnd the love of GodAnd the fellowship of the Holy SpiritBe with us all evermore. 聽Amen

RECTOR:聽Our final hymn proclaims that Christ has conquered the world, and that he Lord over all. Christ triumphant, ever reigning.

Hymn: Christ triumphantCHOIR, CONGREGATION, ORGAN:聽


BISHOP: God the Father,by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead,strengthen you to walk with him in his risen life;and the blessing of God almighty,the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,be among you and remain with you always.ALL: Amen.

ORGAN: Voluntary (Prelude on 鈥橦yfrydol鈥� 鈥� Vaughan Williams)