大象传媒

This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast.聽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,聽and changes may also be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events.

DANIEL:Good morning, and a very warm welcome to St Peter's School in York.聽The School Chapel is a place of stillness amidst the activity of our busy school, where we reflect on how life might be if our hearts were allowed to beat in time with God鈥檚.
Founded in 627AD, our motto is Super Antiquas Vias 鈥� meaning 鈥極ver ancient ways鈥� 鈥撀爓hich is a reminder that we are shaped by the inheritance of the past. That feels particularly true as we gather as a school to mark Holocaust Memorial Day which falls tomorrow.聽It鈥檚 a day for us all to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust; under Nazi persecution in the Second World War, and in the genocides which followed, including those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.聽It also gives us the opportunity to remember the importance of all with whom we share common heritage and humanity, or as this year鈥檚 theme puts it, to 鈥楽tand Together鈥� to make a better future.
Our opening hymn 鈥楾he God of Abraham Praise鈥� is a version of the Jewish hymn 鈥榊igdal,鈥� adapted by the evangelist Thomas Olivers after a visit to the Great Synagogue of London in 1770.聽
鈥僀HOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: The God of Abraham praise (Leoni
鈥僁ANIEL:The words of the hymn, The God of Abraham praise, take us back into the stories of the Old Testament which speak of God reaching out into the world that God created.
God called out to Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses by name and promised that, through them, all the people of the earth would be blessed and come to live in freedom and peace.聽We pray this morning for all who have been victims in moments when humanity has failed to live up to God鈥檚 call, using the words of the prayer for Holocaust Memorial Day:
JENNY:Loving God, we come to you with heavy hearts, remembering the six million Jewish souls murdered during the Holocaust. In the horrors of that history,when so many groups were targeted because of their identity, and in genocides which followed, we recognise destructive prejudices that drive people apart.
Forgive us when we give space to fear, negativity and hatred of others,simply because they are different from us. In the light of God, we see everyone as equally precious manifestations of the Divine, and can know the courage to face the darkness.
Through our prayers and actions, help us to stand together with those who are suffering, so that light may banish all darkness, love will prevail over hate and good will triumph over evil.ALL: Amen.DANIEL:聽聽This year sees the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a camp that was the site of just under a million Jewish deaths. But here in York,聽we are mindful that our Jewish brothers and sisters have suffered persecution for what they believe and who they are through long periods of their history.聽 The ruins of Clifford鈥檚 Tower 鈥� nearby, at the point where the Rivers Foss and Ouse join 鈥撀爓as burnt down during a notorious massacre of the Jewish community by the Christian community of York in 1190. It stands as a reminder to those who live in or visit the city of the destructive nature of prejudice.聽 Psalm 121 is originally a Jewish song that cries out to God in anguish.聽 聽
CHOIR: Psalm 121 (Walford-Davies)
DANIEL:Amongst those also killed by the Nazis were Roma and Sinti people, those with disabilities, homosexuals, and others who opposed the regime. As we look back through the pages of history, we can see that all too often the nations of the world fail to honour the common humanity that we see in the face of every person we meet.聽Atrocities such as the Holocaust happen when we see people only by the colour of their skin, by their race or religion, their sex or sexuality. But we are called to reach out to others by name as God does, to listen to the story they tell and allow ourselves to be challenged and changed by every person we encounter. My colleague, Jane Dawson, now shares the first part of the stories of two people who lived through the Holocaust.
JANE:聽When one hears the word holocaust it brings to mind Auschwitz, Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau and all the terribly familiar names of the places where unspeakable atrocities happened during the 2nd World War.聽In the stories I would like to share, the place names are less familiar but the stories are much the same.
A Jewish doctor, Julius, was living in Mannheim in Southern Germany and he had one daughter, Ruth, who was 11 years old in 1938.聽聽As conditions became more and more difficult for Jews, particularly for those in professions like his, he decided that the time had come to make arrangements for them to leave the country.聽聽This was not an easy task and it was only with great difficulty that he contacted relatives in America and arranged to send Ruth to them, promising that he would follow as soon as possible.聽 Ruth left Mannheim by train and crossed the North Sea by ferry eventually arriving in Hull.聽聽As an 11 year old travelling alone she was confused and thought, after the long and stormy journey, that she had reached America.聽聽At that time there were thousands of children being shipped out of Germany as part of the 'kinder transport' and even though she was obviously not in America she was swept up with all the other children and ended up staying in Hull where a family took her in.
鈥僊eanwhile in Germany Julius was trying to make plans to follow Ruth to America, where he thought she was heading -聽there were no easy means of communications in that distressing time and it wasn't until much later he discovered that she was in Hull.聽 What he couldn鈥檛 begin to realise was that he was not going to be able to follow his daughter and his situation was going to get much worse.
DANIEL:Throughout their history, the ancient Jews of the Old Testament called out to God in moments of darkness such as this. Would things always be this way? Where was God in the suffering that split their families apart?聽What hope could they have for their future? Again and again they remembered the promises made over their history and looked forward to a time when division would end. Our Head Master, Mr Jeremy Walker, reads from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 11.聽
鈥僇EREMY:A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.聽The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.聽The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.聽The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder鈥檚 den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.聽
DANIEL:Over the years that have followed the Holocaust, many people have sought an answer to the question of how to hold fast to a belief that God really is bringing in a time of justice, harmony and peace. The Austrian neurologist Viktor Frankl,聽himself a survivor of Auschwitz, went on to write that the only way to preserve a sense of hope during the experiences of camp life was to cling to a sense of purpose and meaning. For him it was a book he wished to finish writing and a wife he wished to see again.聽Our own stories of what makes us the people that we are keeps the light of hope shining even in the darkness of suffering. 鈥淲hat is to give light must endure burning,鈥� as Frankl so eloquently put it.聽
鈥僀HOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: Lead, Kindly Ligh

DANIEL:Viktor Frankl did eventually go on to finish the book that gave him a sense of purpose during his time in camp.聽In English, the book is called 鈥楳an鈥檚 Search for Meaning鈥� and it tells of his experiences in camp and how finding something to live for is so vitally important in every life, even those who are聽 living in the bleakest conditions.聽Quoting Nietzsche, Frankl says repeatedly 鈥渢hose who have a why to live, can put up with almost any how.鈥澛�
For Julius and Ruth, perhaps it was their loyalty to their family. Jane Dawson takes up the story once again.聽
鈥僇ANE:On 22 October 1940 in Mannheim the Jews were only given a few hours to pack, and in their panic,聽brought useless things such as plates and cooking implements, leaving behind the most essential:聽medicine, warm clothes, sturdy shoes, omissions they were soon to regret.
As they were assembled and then hustled onto trains the most perceptive deportees soon realised that they were quite simply being expelled from their homes and sent like cattle to an unknown destination;聽that they had lost everything, and that there now opened up before them a period of uncertainty and suffering that they could not begin to imagine.
The convoy, Julius amongst them, was sent to the South West of France where the Vichy government was in charge and they were apparently more than happy to accommodate the Nazi regime and assist with their evil deportation plans.聽聽Everyone was marshalled out and loaded onto tarpaulin-covered lorries, which drove them through the cold rain to Gurs, a place that might well have been pleasant in the sun and in different circumstances, but now housed a work camp,聽built before the war for Spanish and French prisoners, now empty.
What the deportees found as they climbed down from the lorries was a grim township of rain-sodden wooden huts, dilapidated by damp and overuse,聽rows of blocks separated by mud, and overwhelmed French officials unable to cope, randomly applying a welter of regulations. No arrangements had been made for food. Sanitation was deplorable.
It is impossible to imagine their situation, dragged away from their homes, sent on a distressing journey to a country they didn't know and reaching a place that horrified all their sensibilities.聽Two questions encapsulate the feelings of the deportees who were forced to make these dreadful journeys during the holocaust.聽 'What have we done to deserve this miserable fate? Why is this happening?'聽聽
DANIEL:In moments of the greatest hardship, God鈥檚 people have always sought to cry out in words and music.聽Psalm 23 addresses God as Adonai ro鈥檌, the loving shepherd who keeps us safe in the darkness.聽Our soloist this morning is William Miles-Kingston, one of 大象传媒 Radio 2鈥檚 current Young Choristers of the Year.聽
CHOIR/ORGAN: ANTHEM: Psalm 23 (Howard Goodall)
鈥僁ANIEL:In his book based on his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz, Viktor Frankl would go on to write that camp life conferred onto its inmates a sort of 鈥減rovisional existence,鈥澛爄n which individuals are stripped of their identity, value and humanity long before they lose their lives.聽And he went on to ask how in seeing a sense of purpose in life whether we might have to allow ourselves to see a purpose in suffering too.聽Learning from the evils that have fractured our societies in the past must bring us to a greater willingness to stand with all who face identity-based violence in the future.聽Ailsa and Percy read from the fourth Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke, an account of the life of someone who was often referred to as 鈥榬abbi鈥�.聽
AILSA:Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.聽When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.聽
鈥働ERCY:He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 鈥楾he Spirit of the Lord is upon me,聽because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord鈥檚 favour.鈥櫬燗nd he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.聽Then he began to say to them, 鈥楾oday this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.鈥�
DANIEL:Jesus sets out for us a vision of a better future that we are called to join in working for today.聽Moving into that future can only begin with honest remembrance.聽聽That means somehow coming to accept that humanity is capable of not only acts of the greatest beauty and creativity but also the greatest atrocities. And, in a world in which the struggle for human dignity is still constant and costly,聽honest remembrance also means understanding that our stories are unavoidably shaped by the stories of the past.聽Jane Dawson completes the story of Julius and Ruth.聽
鈥僇ANE:Julius was not a well man when he arrived at the camp and with the poor conditions and illnesses that were prevalent,聽along with many others he only survived a few months.聽聽
In Hull, Ruth received a few letters from her father and although she had no idea where he was when the letters stopped she had to accept that he was dead.聽Her part in this journey had now ended: her life in England was not easy at first, how could it be for a child in a country that considered her to be an alien?聽But she had begun a new journey and like many other Jewish refugees she grew up to live a happy and healthy family life,聽with a loving husband, children and grandchildren, until she died last year at the age of 91.聽 This story is my story;聽I am part of that family; Ruth was my mother and Julius was my grandfather.
DANIEL:Today it鈥檚 perhaps difficult to comprehend the brutality of the holocaust. But the stories of the past are our story.聽We too are called to find a sense of purpose and meaning that drives us on in the midst of suffering. We too are called to stand alongside those who are excluded or violated because of the people that they are.聽And we too see the face of God in both friend and stranger.聽
鈥僀HOIR/ORGAN/ALL: HYMN: Lord of all power, I give you my will (Slane)
DANIEL:Let us pray for all who suffer as a result of conflict and ask that God may give us peace as we tell the story of a world renewed.
ETHAN:Saviour of the world, be present in all places of suffering, violence and pain, bring hope even in the darkest night and inspire us to continue your work of reconciliation today.聽We pray for the honouring of human rights and that justice and compassion may reign in all nations; that divided, fractured communities may learn to live in safety and tranquillity.Lord, in your mercyALL: Hear our prayer.
鈥僀HARLOTTE:We remember how you came to scatter the proud and to challenge the unjust power structures of our world.聽Open our hearts that we may be generous to others, knowing that because we cannot change the world alone all people are precious in your sight.Lord, in your mercyALL: Hear our prayer.
ETHAN:Open our hearts that we might enjoy the beauty that we find all around us,聽forgive us in those moments when we lose our sense of wonder and act to destroy rather than create.聽Help us not to be blind to the needs of our world and inspire us to live in harmony with your creation and the people you have entrusted it to.聽Lord, in your mercyALL: Hear our prayer.
CHARLOTTE:We remember how you taught Christians, in the face of Jesus, that all people are our neighbours.聽Forgive Christians too when we have persecuted those who are different from themselves.Help us to see your face in both friend and stranger that we may be more troubled by the plight of the poor, more despairing at the cry of the hungry and more moved by the pain of the sick and grieving.聽Lord, in your mercyALL: Hear our prayer.
DANIEL:Standing together with the church throughout the world, we pray the words that Jesus himself taught us:
ALL:Our 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.Amen.
CHOIR/ORGAN: ANTHEM: Gaelic Blessing (John Rutter)
鈥僁ANIEL:Go forth into the world in peace. Be of good courage.聽Hold fast that which is good. Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted.聽Show love to everyone. Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit; and the blessing of almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.聽ALL: Amen.聽
ORGAN: VOLUNTARY: Organ Sonata No. 2 (Allegro Maestoso) (Mendelssohn)聽