大象传媒

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.

OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT

大象传媒 Radio 4. At ten past eight, it鈥檚 time for Sunday Worship which comes from Northern Ireland and is led by Rev David Bruce. The service begins with the hymn 鈥淥 for a thousand tongues to sing鈥�

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MUSIC: O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING

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REV DAVID BRUCE听

Charles Wesley鈥檚 great hymn- O for a thousand tongues to sing my Great Redeemer鈥檚 praise, sung there by about 10,000 people in Belfast at an event hosted by Irish hymn writers听 , Keith and Kristyn Getty called simply 鈥淪ing Belfast鈥�. The new Irish Choir and orchestra were there as well and all the music in today鈥檚 service was recorded at that event.听

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MUSIC COME PEOPLE OF THE RISEN KING

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DAVID Let us pray:

God who is

God of no beginning or end

God - more real than everything we see around us

God on whom all else depends

Constant, righteous Father

You are the stunning, absolute, giver of truth, goodness and beauty.

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Glory to you. You chose and created us

Glory to you. You became human

Glory to you died as our substitute.

Glory to you for resurrection and new life.

Glory to you who makes us holy.

Glory to you for you have promised to return!

It is our delight to sing to you and in this way to display your beauty to the world.

Yet we admit that our singing can be joyless and careless, without enthusiasm

Protect us from devaluing the precious gift of worship in this way

Have mercy on us, we pray

Help us to proclaim your Gospel as we sing.

May our minds by sharpened with the knowledge of your goodness.

May our emotions be warmed by your unconditional love.

And may our voices ever sing your praise.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord听 Amen

READER听 A reading from Isaiah听 Chapter 6

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.听

Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.听

And they were calling to one another: 鈥淗oly, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.鈥澨�

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.听

Woe to me!鈥� I cried. 鈥淚 am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.鈥澨�

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 鈥淪ee, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.鈥�

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 鈥淲hom shall I send? And who will go for us?鈥� And I said, 鈥淗ere am I. Send me!鈥�

The Word of the Lord

MUSIC WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS

DAVID听 Our second reading contains advice given by St Paul, including how to sing!

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READER听 A reading from the Letter to the Ephesians Chapter 5

Be very careful, then, how you live鈥攏ot as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.听 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord鈥檚 will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always听 giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

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DAVID The next hymn speaks of the power of the Cross and then Jonathan Rea, the Musical Director of the New Irish Choir and Orchestra will reflect on why we sing.

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MUSIC听 POWER OF THE CROSS

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JONATHAN REA听

The opening words of Psalm 96:

Sing to the Lord a new song

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, praise His name

Proclaim His salvation day after day.

For Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.

The idea of several thousand people gathering to sing hymns in a huge arena may strike you as a little bit odd.听 Even committed churchgoers would have to admit that there are very few other social situations which require us to stand and sing in rows facing the front of a room.

And yet the conversation about congregational singing has typically been very limited. Think about it. We leave our homes on a Sunday morning, and then spend a large proportion of our time together singing 鈥� it鈥檚 just an assumed part of what we do. People will argue about preferences and styles. But we don鈥檛 often stop to ask why we sing鈥�. And I think we should.

The truth is that every Christian is encouraged to sing, whether operatic tenor, pop diva or tuneless droner. Our joyful noise is defined more by heart quality than by tone quality. So when the Psalmist exhorts us to 鈥渟ing to the Lord鈥� there are many reasons why that鈥檚 a great idea.

Let鈥檚 consider four of them.

1. Singing brings glory to God.

The God who is the absolute standard of beauty, goodness and truth has made us in His image. This God defines Himself as I AM 鈥� He is the very essence of being 鈥� without beginning or end, He is neither confined to time nor to space. No-one is His equal. And we who name Him as our Lord are supposed to spend our time displaying his unique glory to the world around us. Like the angels in Isaiah 6 鈥� our job is to point people in the direction of God and say 鈥淗oly Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts 鈥� the whole earth is full of His glory鈥�.

And we are shown that听 - without a hint of embarrassment听 - God demands that we magnify Him. But it鈥檚 not the sort magnifying that happens with a microscope where we get to see something tiny made bigger than it really is. Instead we magnify God as one would do with a telescope, where our small vision is enlarged so that we may better appreciate His enormity and excellence.

And so when we sing, we have a chance to consider the immense capacity of our Maker. An opportunity to respond to Him with beautifully crafted words, framed to articulate our respect for His divine identity.

We use the breath which He placed inside us to enunciate His beauty, to proclaim His Gospel and to respond to His immeasurable love.听 And in so doing, we capture a greater understanding of the God who longs for us to know Him, to love Him and who graciously invites us to come into His presence with singing.

Singing brings glory to God.

But singing also consolidates our faith.

Long after the words of this sermon are forgotten, many listeners will still recall with affection the hymns of their childhood. Perhaps we learnt about creation from a hymn called 鈥淎ll things bright and beautiful鈥�. Or maybe our first understanding that God delights in us came from 鈥淛esus Loves Me This I Know鈥�. Maybe our understanding of the death of Jesus was sharpened by 鈥淲hen I survey the wondrous cross鈥� or perhaps we celebrate Christ鈥檚 resurrection by singing 鈥淭hine be the Glory鈥�.

When we sing the Gospel we remind ourselves of the core tenets of Christian faith.听 This is why it is important to sing songs and hymns which have depth. It doesn鈥檛 matter whether the compositions are modern or old 鈥� but it really does matter if they don鈥檛 carry enough substance to be edifying. Because there鈥檚 something unique about the rhythm of lyrics that locks them inside our heads. That鈥檚 why the parents of children know the words of lots of songs from kids movies that are played on repeat in their houses.听

Regrettably, many people may never memorise an extended passage of the Bible 鈥� but by singing a core repertoire of carefully curated songs and hymns we will store them in our long-term memory. And they can become an arsenal of powerful defence weapons ,in periods of doubt or distress.

Our singing consolidates our faith.

MUSIC听 He will hold me fast

But more than that Singing blesses our souls.

Six years ago I lay one night in a hospital bed, frightened, bewildered, sleepless, and sore. My future was suddenly on pause. Pain relief had compromised my ability to think straight. I think it was the lowest, loneliest moment I鈥檝e ever had. So I decided to listen to some music, hoping I would soon nod off.

Now I鈥檝e spent my whole life working with music 鈥� and sometimes that makes me a little bit immunised to the emotional impact of melodies and lyrics.

But that night. I had a truly bizarre experience, because my phone randomly selected a song, which I myself had written.听 It was a children鈥檚 hymn, about the idea that God can be trusted to care for us in situations of loneliness or fear. And as the choir sang the gentle melody, my own lyrics came to me with a directness and freshness that soothed my soul in a very profound way. I was too sick at that stage to process the written word 鈥� but the song found its way straight to my heart.听 It brought solace and dispersed my thoughts of doom. And it directed me to a deeper understanding of God鈥檚 care for me.

I am now enjoying good health again, but the power of that moment has never left me.听 The song was written on a normal happy day. But the truth encapsulated in its text was only appreciated when I was at my wit鈥檚 end.

And I think this is one of the reasons why singing is such an important part of Christian expression. God made us in His image 鈥� emotions included. For the vast majority of people, it would seem that songs have a unique power to access the emotional part of our identity in a way that spoken word just can鈥檛.

Singing is a gift to us from our Maker 鈥� a blessing to help us express our deepest emotions.

The Psalms are a great resource for the singing Christian. They articulate a breadth of human experience which makes them helpful in the whole of our lives. The writers are jubilant and demonstrative in their praise听 - but they also aren鈥檛 afraid to ask why God has forgotten them. They seem to have no sense of shyness in setting out their own righteous defence - or praying for the demise of their enemies.听 These 150 songs are unquestionably human.

With society鈥檚 growing awareness of mental health issues, perhaps it鈥檚 worth highlighting the fact that is actually healthy for us to sing and pray in a way which is truthful about who we are.

Singing blesses our souls.

And, finally, Singing encourages others.

The act of singing together to the Lord is wholesome because it asserts our unity as a church 鈥� but there is another dimension too.

I used to think all church singing was supposed to be directed to God. And then I re-read the teaching of St Paul who talks in Ephesians about singing and making melody through psalms hymns and spiritual songs 鈥� to each other.

There are people in our congregations who are overwhelmed with suffering, consumed by doubt or swamped in their own cynical rebellion.听 And there are some who will attend our worship services but who may not actually believe. We should never Let us not underestimate the powerful impact we can have as we share our faith by singing together of the great One who lives, saves and reaches out in grace to all.

And that鈥檚 why I stood in the arena with 9000 others and sang with gusto:

Who is like the Lord our God?

Strong to Save, faithful in love

My debt is paid and the victory won

The Lord is my salvation

Glory be to God the Father

Glory be to God the Son

Glory be to God the Spirit

The Lord is our salvation.

MUSIC THE LORD IS MY SALVATION-

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Intercessions

Let us pray:

We pray for Christians all over the world, asking that they may always be ready to sing your praise, to be obedient to your will, faithful in prayer, generous in giving and service and Christlike in their witness.

We give you thanks for the countless numbers who, throughout the ages, have produced music to your glory and praise. For the inspiration of those who compose it, the skill and devotion of those who perform it, and the gifts you鈥檝e give that help us participate in it.听 We ask for your continued blessing on all who make music to honour you; composers and poets; instrumentalists, conductors and soloists; singers in choirs and congregations - together, may they magnify your glorious name.

We pray for our world and again think of those areas where people are living with hunger, uncertainty, tension and the consequences of violence. Lord may your peace come and,听 those who lead and rule..听 Give us courage to speak up for those whose voice is unheard and for those who live in fear.听

We remember the sick and suffering, the uncertain and the unsure, the hungry and poor, the sad and lonely, the dying and bereaved. May they know you peace and power.听 Help all of us, in love, to ease their pain and distress.

We offer these and all our prayers in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord

Our Father...

DAVID Thank you for joining us for this service of worship and celebration from Belfast. May grace, mercy and peace from Father, Son and Holy Spirit be yours now and evermore. Amen

MUSIC听 IN CHRIST ALONE

Sunday Worship from Belfast was led by Rev David Bruce and the preacher was Jonathan Rea. The Music Director was Fion谩n de Barra. The producer was Bert Tosh.

Next week's Sunday Worship comes live from Tavistock in Devon.