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.

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RADIO 4 OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT:
大象传媒 Radio 4. Time now for Sunday Worship which comes live from St Matthew鈥檚 Church in Westminster. The preacher is the Revd Lucy Winkett and the service is led by the Vicar, Father Philip Chester.

LEADER:
Good morning. Today we celebrate the feast day of our patron, St Matthew. Matthew was a Jew who was doubtless regarded as a collaborator by his fellow Jews. The occupying Roman administration whose rule for good and ill extended throughout the known world needed local lads to do their dirty work. Nothing could be dirtier or more despised than one who collected taxes for the Romans and Matthew was a tax collector.

He was also one of the disciples of Jesus who was numbered among the twelve apostles and whose fame rests primarily on the gospel he wrote to celebrate the life, death and rising of Jesus Christ. And that gospel we have been entrusted with 鈥� a gospel of blessing and blessedness to be proclaimed and lived out in the opportunities of our daily lives.

CHOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: We have a gospel to proclaim (Fulda)

LEADER:
It took the extraordinary charisma of Jesus, who didn鈥檛 judge men and women by conventional stereotypes or prejudices, but by a different set of values, to recognise the divine image beyond the dross of most human lives. In his gospel Matthew himself tells about his first encounter with the one he came to follow as his Lord and Master.

READER 1: Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking along he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him 鈥楩ollow me鈥�. And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples.

When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, 鈥榃hy does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?鈥� But when Jesus heard this he said, 鈥楾hose who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means 鈥淚 desire mercy not sacrifice鈥�. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners鈥�

CHOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: He sat to watch o鈥檈r customs paid (Bow Brickhill)

LEADER:
Our service this morning explores a number of elements in Matthew鈥檚 Gospel which are unique to his authorship. The first takes us forward a number of weeks. For when we celebrate Christmas it is to the gospels of Matthew and Luke that we turn for the stories surrounding Jesus鈥檚 birth. It is they who provide the human detail as heaven and earth join together in worship and adoration. And the story of Jesus鈥檚 birth is not complete without the account of the wise men and their star-following journey which leads them to adore the child Jesus in his stable bed. This beautiful story 鈥� full of wonder and mystery and adoration 鈥� only appears in one gospel 鈥� St Matthew鈥檚.

The choir sings Herbert Howells musical reflection 鈥楬ere is the little door鈥� which imagines the entry of the wise men into the stable at Bethlehem 鈥� just as St Matthew encourages us to do.

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CHOIR: ANTHEM: Here is the little door (Howells)

LEADER:
However, the world into which this sleeping baby is born is a cruel and seemingly heartless world. St John in his gospel thinks of the birth of Jesus as a light 鈥� a light shining in the darkness, which the darkness is not able to overcome.

Jesus as he grew to manhood fulfilled his vocation to be a light in the world, but he knew from the outset just how dark that world was. He saw the dark clouds gathering on the horizon of his own life and he warned his followers of the dark times that awaited them and all who followed him. At one point in Matthew鈥檚 gospel Jesus says:

鈥淏lessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account - just as they persecuted the prophets before you.鈥�

It鈥檚 a dark world and yet that warning to the disciples comes in one of the most uplifting passages in the whole of scripture, what is really the ethical heart of the New Testament. Chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew鈥檚 gospel are called the Sermon on the Mount, which begins with a series of blessings, a recitation of where true happiness lies 鈥� not in wealth, or status, or ownership, or self-centred ambition. True happiness or blessedness
is found in other human qualities.

CHOIR: ANTHEM: The Beatitudes (Martin How)

LEADER:
As we gather with the disciples at the Master鈥檚 feet and listen to his teaching on that mountainside we are also given an insight into Jesus鈥檚 approach to prayer. Prayer was at the heart of his ability to live out the Beatitudes, as he sought to put meekness and mercy and peacableness into the practice of his daily life. Jesus鈥檚 prayer sprang from an intimacy with the God he called Father. It was an intimacy he wanted to share with his friends. He urged them when they prayed, not to make a song and dance of their piety, but to go into their room and shut the door and there the God who sees in secret and knows all secrets would reward them.

We are 鈥榚nfolded in love鈥� as Dame Julian of Norwich described the rapture of her life. That love in which we are enfolded is expressed in the name Jesus gave us with which to address God. When you pray he said call God Father 鈥揂bba dear Father 鈥� for that is how he loves us and how we should love him. And so we say the prayer to our Father-God that Jesus used and taught his disciples to make their own:

ALL:
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,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

LEADER:
One of the disciples who found his life transformed by this idea that the Father-God was closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, and could be approached not with fear and trembling, but with love and trust and openness of heart, was Peter. It seems likely that Peter and Matthew spent a lot of time together after Jesus鈥檚 death and rising, as there are many references to Peter in Matthew鈥檚 gospel that don鈥檛 appear elsewhere in the scriptures.

Perhaps the most famous of these Petrine vignettes in Matthew鈥檚 gospel is the account of Jesus asking his disciples who people thought he was. 鈥榃ho do people say I am?鈥� he asks. The disciples give a variety of answers, until Jesus with a note of impatience asks: 鈥楤ut who do you say that I am?鈥�.

Peter, challenged by Jesus to say what he felt, blurted out what was in his heart:

You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God
And Jesus answered him 鈥楤lessed are you Simon, Son of John, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church...I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

CHOIR: ANTHEM: Tu es Petrus (Palestrina)

LEADER:
It is the most unlikely people, such as Peter and Matthew whom God calls to his service, and upon whom he will build his church. It鈥檚 as though Matthew in his gospel is celebrating a reality that he himself understood better than most 鈥� how God calls women and men - shepherds from the fields, fishermen from their boats, tax collectors from their tax booths, the meek and the merciful, the poor and the hungry 鈥� those who know their need of God, to his service. And then by grace abounding enables them, us
indeed, to fulfil our vocations.

That is what lies behind the blessings from the Sermon on the Mount,and it is what lies behind that other magnificent parable, unique, like the wisemen, to Matthew鈥檚 gospel that comes towards the end of his narrative. Matthew paints a picture of the Son of Man returning as King to sort out the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, the good from the evil

READER 2: Matthew 25:31-40
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 鈥楥ome, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.鈥� Then the righteous will answer him, 鈥楲ord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?鈥� And the king will answer them, 鈥楾ruly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.鈥�

LEADER:
It was St Benedict in the sixth century who wrote a Rule for monks in which he said 鈥楾reat everyone who comes as Christ himself 鈥�. That axiom so catches the spirit of the Beatitudes that it sounds like a saying of the lord Jesus himself. The stranger at our door is in need of our care, our compassion and our love. We don鈥檛 offer hospitality because we are seeking compensation or reward, seeing Christ in others is its own reward. And yet as we bless others in need, so we find that we too are blessed. Our preacher today is the Revd Lucy Winkett, the rector of St James鈥� Church in Piccadilly.

LUCY:
I spoke to a woman who works for the Inland revenue. She said that when she was in church listening to preachers go on about tax collectors she always felt quite sorry for Matthew, and shifted in her seat herself.
听
We often describe Matthew as a tax collector, which does make us think of our own system, but the taxation regime he was part of is not at all like the taxes we are familiar with in the UK today.听 Matthew鈥檚 daily work听 is collecting taxes for an occupying force.听 The tax agents, probably a better description, could in that sense be described as collaborators.听 The government for whom they worked, the Roman Empire, often sequestered the money collected for their own ends.听 The Roman historian Josephus wrote that Pontius Pilate 鈥榮pent money from the sacred treasury in the construction of an aqueduct鈥� that caused a riot among the occupied Jewish population. In helping to collect taxes both for the Empire and for the Temple,听 Matthew and his fellow tax agents are doing jobs necessary to keep the occupation going.听 They are helping to enforce Rome鈥檚 will in an occupied country against their own people.听听

So what is Jesus doing not only talking to him, but inviting him for a meal, and inviting him to join the closest circle?听

What鈥檚 more, Jesus gathered close around him people of polarised political opinions. Matthew, cooperating with the occupation, was in the same group of disciples as 鈥楽imon the Zealot鈥�, a member then of an embryonic party that would eventually call for the violent overthrow of Rome.听 The unity to which Jesus was calling Matthew 鈥� and Simon -听 and us - is deeper than politics and speaks to the deepest rhythms of their, and our, motivations and hopes.

We might say, in our late modernity and society governed by the mechanisms of what economists call a mature capitalism that Jesus鈥檚 society is not recognisable to us enough for the stories to be helpful.听 But one of the most important aspects of the Christian faith is that it is rooted in the world as it is; Matthew鈥檚 society was no less complex or compromised in its way 鈥� and Jesus鈥檚 inclusion of the collaborators in a situation of occupation is profoundly challenging to our own moral attitudes and pronouncements.

The gospel call to Matthew requires us to ask of ourselves; who do we think are the collaborators, the despised ones; the ones colluding with or shoring up a system that is being exposed as oppressive or unjust?听听 Just in this part of central London, what about men who go to the brothels a stone鈥檚 throw from this church and don鈥檛 ask about whether the men or women they find there are trafficked? What about the ones who are trafficking men, women and children, with the false promise of a better life.听 What about the tax avoiders 鈥� the ones who seem to breathe the rarified air above democracy or accountability? Every society has its own groups considered by others to be collaborators with unjust systems or oppressive structures.听

Alongside the society and politics of this, there is a profound spiritual teaching at the heart of this invitation to Matthew from Jesus.听 In addressing Matthew the collaborator, Jesus addresses us too.听 And before we protest, like the religious leaders in the gospel, and say 鈥榶ou shouldn鈥檛 be friends with them鈥�, we realise with a jolt that Jesus鈥檚 invitation to Matthew is an invitation to the collaborator inside all of us.听 This gospel is a profound challenge to us whenever we start to think we are somehow purer than the others.听 Jesus shocks them, and us, by welcoming and inviting the one they oppose, the one they think is wrong, the one they can鈥檛 understand.听听听

The philosopher Gillian Rose wrote about this tendency of human beings to judge one another in ways that God in Christ will always resist. She thought that often, when people are addressing an issue in society,听 we wanted to believe that we ourselves were innocent of society鈥檚 injustices; and really wanted to make sure it was clear that it was 鈥榯hem鈥�, not us, who had messed things up.听 Jesus is fierce in his rebuttal to the ones who criticised him for including Matthew. I desire mercy not sacrifice he said, quoting sentiments in the prophets Hosea and Isaiah.

Matthew by living close to Christ, shows us how the conversation continues between the prophet and the collaborator.听 And this is hugely challenging for us too. Matthew is shown mercy.听 What does this mercy look like when it鈥檚 applied to us who collaborate with what we know to be oppressive or unjust?
听
The gospel of Jesus is extraordinarily challenging in this way. It鈥檚 so easy to be self righteous 鈥� to point fingers at the bad people who do bad things 鈥� the collaborators 鈥� the ones who cooperate with the enemy treacherously traitorously. The ones who betray us.

But the heart of the Christian faith is the sharing of bread and wine, remembering every time we do this, the night that Christ was betrayed and denied by Peter, Matthew鈥檚 friend. Christianity is thankfully 鈥� and mercifully - a religion that takes the messiness of human motives and instincts seriously.听听 The most compromised and fearful parts of ourselves are addressed in a God who was crucified outside the city wall as a non citizen.听 Our aim then in following Christ closely is not so much to achieve some kind of congealing perfection but to throw ourselves on the mercy of God, trusting in God鈥檚 promise of healing.

The disciple Matthew is incredibly helpful and inspiring, because we know ourselves are often a whole jumble of motives and hopes; a mixture of the ones who like Matthew in his gospel, take our dreams seriously, yearn for stories of new birth in challenging circumstances, and long for a way to live our human life, aware of our own need for both intimacy and mercy.听 We are also, like Matthew,听 the ones who collude with systems that hurt rather than free 鈥� and there may be parts of ourselves that we hate; the parts of ourselves that collaborate. We know from the gospel of Matthew that these are the parts given special attention and taken seriously by God. Our confusion is held and addressed and the hope of change offered freely and without condition or coercion.

Matthew鈥檚 gospel, tells us that in the end, Jesus Christ freely placed himself in the hands of the collaborators in order to show us the way to break the cycles of violence and greed in the world.听听 And by doing this showed us a way to live that reveals the uncomfortable truths of our own collaboration with injustice. Like Matthew, we are invited to follow Christ closely, and to know that forgiveness is offered to us even and especially when we are most ashamed of ourselves.

And in living our lives close to this story of Matthew, we will hear every day the challenge of Jesus in the gospel; Go and learn what this means.

CHOIR/ORGAN: ANTHEM: Give us the wings of faith (Bullock)

READER 3:
Let us pray for our world, ourselves and all who are in need, trouble or despair.

Loving Father, on this feast of St Matthew, we pray for your church in all the world that it may be bold in its proclamation of the gospel and its witness to the values of the sermon on the mount. We pray for the Anglican Communion and the Church of England, and for our Christian brothers and sisters of other traditions. As we pray for the successors of the Apostles, we give thanks for Pope Francis, the Patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the leaders of the Churches of the Reformation. We pray for all who live faithful Christian lives in the face of hostility - their reward is great in heaven.

Lord hear us.
ALL: Lord graciously hear us.

READER 4:
Loving Father, we give thanks for those whose lives of compassion and concern for others enable those whom they support to live fuller, freer and more fulfilled lives. We pray especially for those who care for the sick, at home or in hospital or in long term care. We pray for all agencies of relief who care for the homeless, those in prison, the hungry, the anxious and the despairing. We pray for all who are caught up in the cruelty and misery of war, and those who dedicate themselves to the cause of peace - they shall
be called the children of God.

Lord hear us.
ALL: Lord graciously hear us.

READER 5:
Loving Father, we pray for this church, congregation and parish of St Matthew in the city of Westminster, and for our ministry of hospitality and welcome on this busy corner in the heart of London. And surrounded as we are by the Houses of Parliament and the departments of state we pray for our nation; for Her Majesty the Queen and all the royal family, for our politicians especially our members of parliament, at a time of political uncertainty in our nation. We pray for all who strive to see justice prevail even at cost to themselves for the kingdom of God is theirs.

Lord hear us.
ALL: Lord graciously hear us.

LEADER:
And now a prayer of the sixteenth century Spanish mystic St Theresa of Avila. St Theresa recognised that the command which Jesus gave to his disciples, at the end of St Matthew鈥檚 narrative, to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, has been handed on to us in our own time and place.

Christ has no body now but ours. No hands, no feet on earth but ours. Ours are the eyes through which Christ looks with compassion on this world. Ours are the feet with which he walks about doing good. Ours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Ours are the hands, ours are the feet, ours are the eyes, we are his body and Christ has no body now on earth but ours.
And so we pray to the Father through Christ our Lord for the gifts of his Holy Spirit
that we may indeed be Christ鈥檚 body in the world.
Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen

We are to be Christ in the world and so in the words of the great seventeenth century evangelist Charles Wesley we pray that God鈥檚 gifts may be stirred up in us that we may indeed work, speak and think for our Lord Jesus

CHOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: O thou who camest from above (Hereford)

LEADER:
O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist,
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches,
that we may follow in the way of your Son, Jesus Christ
who is alive and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever
ALL: Amen

LEADER:
God give you grace to follow St Matthew and all his saints
in faith and hope and love,
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
be with you and remain with you always.
ALL: Amen

ORGAN: VOLUNTARY:听 Placare Christi Servulis (Dupre)