大象传媒

GILBERT

Good morning.听 This must be one of the strangest broadcasts I have ever made.

听

I am sitting at my desk at home in Edinburgh with a big duvet over my head, talking into my mobile phone, which is recording my voice.听 The duvet is supposed to reduce the echoes in the room, to make me sound closer, the way a proper recording studio would do. 听But in the midst of the COVID pandemic, the use of the recording studio is being limited.

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Of course, this programme is called 鈥淪unday Worship鈥�, and just like a normal Sunday Service every now and then a choir will start singing.听 And other voices will appear, coming and going, just like normal Sunday Worship.

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You鈥檒l hear the voice of spiritual director, Anne Buhrmann, who is under her own duvet a few miles to the west of here, in Scotland鈥檚 central belt.

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And a beautiful mirage in sound will be created, the illusion that we鈥檙e all gathered together, speakers and singers, sharing a space, neighbouring each other, greeting each other, breathing the same air, singing from the same hymn sheet, and maybe going for a cup of coffee afterwards.听 Or sharing a pint.

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But sadly we鈥檙e not doing any of that 鈥� in various ways we鈥檙e having to deal with many limitations at the moment. 听I鈥檓 in my office under a duvet.听 听I haven鈥檛 even got a wee choir in here with me, under my duvet.听 I am quite alone.

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But hearing people singing together still lifts my spirits, and so perhaps on Advent Sunday next year I will be shoulder to shoulder with fellow-worshippers, belting out the great Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

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MUSIC:听 HYMN 鈥� O COME, O COME EMMANUEL (Tune: Veni Emmanuel)
From 大象传媒 archives

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ANNE

Let us pray:

Loving God, you created us in your own image and likeness.听听

From the beginning, you saw all that you had made

and behold, it was good.听听

You placed your new-formed Adam, humanity,

in the centre of a garden, blessed with fruit and fertility.

All the good things of the earth surrounded him,

听听听听听听听听听听听 but he was alone.

And you spoke your word: 鈥業t is not good that man should be alone鈥�.

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You made us for love, for communion, for friendship.

You made us for solidarity and mutual understanding.

听听听听听听听听听听听 It is not good that we should be alone.

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Look with mercy on your people,

听听听听听听听听听听听 on all who are alone and isolated,

听听听听听听听听听听听 on all who are bereaved,

听听听听听听听听听听听 on us who are unable to spend time with our loved ones,

听听听听听听听听听听听 on us who are anxious, who have lost work and income,

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Give strength and courage to your people, comfort and patience,

and the knowledge of your abiding presence.听 Amen.

听

MUSIC:听 JESUS, REMEMBER ME

From CD 鈥楾aiz茅 Chant 鈥� Jesus Remember Me鈥� Track 1

Performed by St Thomas鈥� Music Group directed by Margaret Rizza

Label: Alliance 1901592

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GILBERT

Our story begins in a garden then.听 Adam was one, and one is alone.听 And then we were two.

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And as the story goes on the human race expands听 - 听听Adam and Eve expelled from the garden, and their sons, Cain and Abel, living on the land.听 Cain is a settled farmer, growing crops; Abel is a shepherd, probably nomadic 鈥� and Cain murders his brother Abel.听 Jealousy and then violence... and after this act of violence Cain is cast out, and goes off and builds himself a city.听 Isn鈥檛 that interesting?听听 In this biblical myth of human origins, the first city comes about as a result of violence.听 A man kills his brother, and he establishes a city.

听

I wonder if it is significant that the ancient foundation myth of Rome has a similar theme.听听 You remember that story: the two brothers Romulus and Remus identify a site to set up their new city.听听 And while they are digging the sacred foundation ditch, Romulus kills his brother.听听 Again the city is built on bloodshed.

听

There is this deep ambivalence about the city.

We are not meant to be alone;

听听听听听听听听听听听 we must build communities, shared lives, and places to share those lives.

听听听听听听听听听听听 So the city is a place of good news, of human flourishing and fulfilment.

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But when we come together, it is not always in peace and friendship.

When we built a city to live together,

it is always meant to be a place of friendship.

But it may become a place of violence,

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As the prophet Habakkuk says (2:12):

听听听听听听听听听听听 Woe to him who builds a town with blood,

听听听听听听听听听听听 and founds a city on injustice.

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For that is our city.听 Always ambiguous.听

听听听听听听听听听听听 Always a celebration of common life, of shared enjoyment, of co-operation,

听听听听听听听听听听听 but also capable of violence 鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 violence against the stranger for example, as in the city of Sodom, where innocent strangers were violated and murdered.

or the cities which the prophet Amos denounced, where the rich built ever greater palaces, joining house to house, relaxing on their ivory couches, while the poor starved and were sold into slavery.

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The city in the Bible is not simply a place, then.听

It鈥檚 not just a physical collection of buildings,

with its surrounding wall, and the gates going in and out.

The biblical city is a symbol of the human condition,

with all its ambivalence, all its celebration and all its suffering,

听听听听听听听听听听听 all its beauty, and all its ugly oppression.

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Think of the role of Jerusalem, for example.听

Think of all the psalms that praise that city:

God鈥檚 holy mountain, they call it.听

This is the joy of all the earth....

It is the place of the Temple, where God dwells with his people (48),

where the thrones of divine justice are established,

where all the tribes gather in peace (122).

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But it is also the city over which Jesus wept.

听听听听听听听听听听听 where he protested: Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

听听听听听听听听听听听 murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to you (Luke 14)...

听听听听听听听听听听听 Behold!听 Your house is forsaken.

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And it is the city where he himself is sentenced to death.

听听听听听听听听听听听 The city which rejects him,

the city he is taken out of, to be crucified outside the walls.

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MUSIC:听 INSTRUMENTAL and AGNUS DEI: FACTUS HOMO听 Tracks 12 & 13

From CD Canty: Felix Femina 鈥� Scottish Medieval Polyphony

(13th Century Scottish Polyphony from the St Andrews Music Book)

Label Gaudeamus CD GAU 360

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GILBERT

That city, Jerusalem, remains at the heart of Christian imagination.听 听听Wherever you are.

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I was on the tiny Hebridean island of Iona not so long ago, perched on the wild Atlantic coast of Scotland.听听 It鈥檚 the island where St Columba founded a monastery in the sixth century, where monks worked and prayed for a thousand years.听 Archaeologists have recently begun to understand something important about the layout of the early monastery, which was a cluster of several small buildings within a vallum or boundary wall.听听 These small buildings were laid out according to a pattern.听 They were laid out in imitation of the important sites in Jerusalem听 - there was Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and the tomb where his body lay and from which he rose, the place where his cross was supposed to have been found.听 Three thousand miles away, the Gaelic-speaking monks of Iona, out on the Atlantic edge of Europe, were recreating Jerusalem.听 Laying out their buildings to represent that city, making it present.

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Whenever you entered the church on Iona, you were entering Jerusalem.听 You might sing the psalm:

听

ANNE

How I rejoiced when they told me,

鈥淐ome and let us go to God鈥檚 house.鈥�

And now our feet are standing

within your gates, O Jerusalem.

听

GILBERT

In this complex of wooden buildings and stone cells, the Iona monks spent hours each day singing psalms 鈥� that鈥檚 the music of the Jerusalem temple.听 Here they heard Christ teaching; they gathered at the table of the Lord鈥檚 supper as he gave them himself in the signs of bread and wine.听 They stood at the foot of his cross, and they witnessed his rising in Jerusalem.

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The distance in time and space has collapsed.听 You are in Jerusalem.

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MUSIC: 听I REJOICED WHEN I HEARD THEM SAY (SHALOM) 鈥� Bernadette Farrell

From 大象传媒 Archives

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GILBERT

On Iona, it wasn鈥檛 only monks who found themselves in the holy city.听 Pilgrims came here too 鈥� as they still do today.听 Leaving their familiar places, the familiar activities, uprooting and displacing themselves to find themselves in this 鈥楯erusalem of the wild Atlantic鈥�.

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And of course, pilgrims went not only to Iona. All churches represent Jerusalem in some way.听 And every journey to any church was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.听 It might be your daily journey, or your weekly journey to your own parish church a ten minute walk away.听听 Or it might be a pilgrimage of several years, and thousands of miles of walking.

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Tomorrow we will be celebrating the feast of St Andrew, especially here in Scotland, where he鈥檚 our national patron.听 听Some of our music this morning comes from a 13th-century manuscript called the St Andrews Music Book, recreated now by Canty and William Taylor.听 In the Middle Ages his relics and his Cathedral in Fife attracted great numbers of pilgrims.听 The whole layout of the medieval town of St Andrews is a highly focussed liturgical landscape with roads leading pilgrims towards the church, drawing them towards the relics of the apostle.

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Andrew wasn鈥檛 just one of the apostles.听 He was the first one to be called, according to John鈥檚 Gospel.听 听He and the rest of them joined Jesus on his fateful pilgrimage to Jerusalem, that holy city, and then as the newly formed church began to spread and to preach this new Gospel, Andrew went north to Greece, to Patras 鈥� an important city in the Mediterranean world 鈥� where he was crucified, just as Peter and Paul ended up in the city of Rome and they were put to death.听 Always the draw to the city, to the place where people gather, where community is formed, but also the place of confrontation and rejection.

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The town of St Andrews today, is still an important market town in this part of Scotland, with a fine university, and at the heart of it all the ruined cathedral with its bare broken arches 鈥� 鈥榣ike the rib-cage of some dead god鈥�, as the poet Joseph Clancy said.

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Pilgrims today may imagine the voices of their predecessors who found their Jerusalem moments here.

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MUSIC:听 INSTRUMENTAL and GLORIA: PER PRECEM PIISIMAM听 Tracks 4 & 5

From CD Canty: Felix Femina 鈥� Scottish Medieval Polyphony

Label Gaudeamus CD GAU 360

听

GILBERT

We鈥檝e spoken a lot about Jerusalem, but that city represents all of us.听 It is every city, every human community.

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The Greek word for city 鈥� the word we find in the New Testament 鈥� is 蟺蠈位喂蟼.

It鈥檚 the origin of our word 鈥榩olitical鈥�, 鈥榩olitics鈥�.听

And politics is simply the art of creating and organising a human community, a polis.听

It鈥檚 the natural outcome of that original blessing,

remember - it is not good for us to be alone.

听听听听听听听听听听听 And if we鈥檙e not going to be alone, we must organise our lives together.

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But just as Jerusalem is ambiguous 鈥� both a city of peace, and a city of violence 鈥� so is our politics.听 That always unresolved question: how must we live together?听听 If we are made for friendship and communion, how do we organise our lives to make that happen?听

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Jesus actually talks quite a lot about politics.听 He talks about the kingdom of God for example.听 Kingdom is a pretty political concept.听听听 And they asked him a question when he was in Jerusalem 鈥� a question about paying tax.听 Tax!听 It doesn鈥檛 get much more political than that.

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ANNE 听Matthew 22: 15-21

Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to trap him in his talk.听 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, 鈥淭eacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man, for you do not regard the position of men.听 Tell us, then, what you think.听 Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, 鈥淲hy do you put me to the test, you hypocrites?听 Show me the money for the tax.鈥澨� And they brought him a coin.听听 And Jesus said, 鈥淲hose likeness and inscription is this?鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 They said, 鈥淐aesar鈥檚.鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 Then he said to them, 鈥淩ender therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar鈥檚, and to God the things that are God鈥檚.鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 When they heard it, they marvelled, and they left him and went away.

听

GILBERT

This is a very dense little story.听 It looks like a straightforward question about tax 鈥� to pay or not to pay?听 But there鈥檚 much more going on here than that.

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Some people have read it as a way of separating politics from religion.听 So you pay tax to Caesar, and you let him deal with the supposedly worldly things related to tax 鈥搕he economy, government, the armed forces, enforcing the law, the management of the city or the polis; and then to God you can give religious things 鈥� prayer, spiritual experience, personal morality.

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But that, I鈥檓 afraid, is to completely miss the point of the story.

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Jesus points to the coin and asks, 鈥渨hose image is on it?鈥澨� The word he uses here is eikon.听 It bears the icon or image of Caesar, they all say.听 So Jesus replies, 鈥榬ender unto Caesar what is Caesar鈥檚鈥�.听听 It is Caesar鈥檚 because it bears his image.

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You render unto Caesar what bears Caesar鈥檚 image.

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So what do you render unto God?听听 The implication here is surely that you render unto God what bears God鈥檚 image.

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And what is it that bears God鈥檚 image?听听 All of Jesus鈥檚 listeners know perfectly well it鈥檚 impossible for anyone to make an image of God.听 That鈥檚 idolatry.听 But God has made something in his own image 鈥� right back at the beginning we are told that God created Adam in his own image: 鈥榠n the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.鈥�

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So human beings bear the image of God.听 And only human beings, every one of us.听听 And that鈥檚 the answer to the question 鈥榳hat do you render unto God?鈥�.听听 You render unto God what bears the image of God, just as you render unto Caesar the coin that bears his image.

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MUSIC:听 UBI CARITAS ET AMOR 听- PAUL MEALOR

From album A Tender Light Track 1

Label: Decca 2781149

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But it鈥檚 hard to know what it means to 鈥榬ender human beings unto God鈥�..... How do you do that?听听 But one thing it must means is that human beings, made in the image of God, do not belong to Caesar.听听

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Human lives and flourishing - they do not belong to the nation-state, or to the party, or to the market.听听 Human beings may not be sacrificed to the institutions and the practices that we have created.听 We may not treat human beings as instrumental, as something to be used 鈥� not for power, not for our profit, not for our pleasure.

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To treat a human being as instrumental or disposable, is to give to Caesar what belongs to God.听

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To render human beings, who bear God鈥檚 image, to God, is simply this: to render them to no-one and to nothing at all.听听 There is nothing so important that it justifies our dehumanising of other people.听 听

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And conversely there is nothing that humanises us more than to recognise and reverence that image of God in another person.

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MUSIC:听 OH THE LIFE OF THE WORLD IS A JOY AND A TREASURE (Tune: Life of the World)

Choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow; From 大象传媒 Archives

听

ANNE

The good news - restoration is possible, and a promise of God. Our cities, like our spiritual condition, need repair. If we let God plant us, blessings will come. It takes hard work, sowing and reaping good things for ourselves and others. These take tending. But God is there with us, welcoming our collaboration and co-responsibility, helping us rebuild, creating new cities, different cities. Cities of blessing, as God intended.

He's there with us, blessing us, fixing one broken window, one broken spirit at a time.

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MUSIC:听 JESUS, REMEMBER ME

From CD 鈥楾aiz茅 Chant 鈥� Jesus Remember Me鈥� Track 1

Performed by St Thomas鈥� Music Group directed by Margaret Rizza

Label: Alliance 1901592

听

So let us pray:

For our communities, and those committed to them. For those working, often anonymously, to build cities that genuinely bless us all, where we can live together as God intended, and at peace. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For those making important decisions for our communities, who understand the moral validity those decisions require. For those naming the destructive effect of our collective selfishness and taking action for the common good. For those tired of weary political formulas we have heard for decades and for those hard put to justify them. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For those in positions of influence locally and all those offering positive leadership. For those advocating for necessary change in their neighbourhoods, and听hitting obstacles. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.听

For those in our communities aware of their vulnerabilities and their need for others, who let us share life with them. For those who struggle to admit weakness, despite the strain of life, and are suffering alone. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.听

For those unmoved by the plight of others, for the aloof and the cynical. For those who embody community. For the inviters, and those who spread God鈥檚 joy. For all those community builders who sacrifice for others around them, not counting the cost. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.听

When we know things in us need to change, but we鈥檙e not sure how, it鈥檚 often good to go back to basics. 听In prayer too, I鈥檓 thinking now of the Lord鈥檚 Prayer.听 It offers us all the building material for life Jesus knew we would need. 听Relationship, humility, acknowledgement of our needs, contrition, forgiveness.听 God can build with those.

So we pray:

Anne and Gilbert together
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth 听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,
The power and the glory
For ever and ever
Amen

GILBERT

For me the strangest thing about this COVID pandemic has been what it has done to my understanding my own body.听听

听

All my life I have understood reasonably well how to use physical gestures as expressions of love and friendship, as ways of building up the city, ways of belonging to other people.

We all do this all the time.

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The hug or the kiss you give in greeting or farewell.

The hand-shake on being introduced to someone.

The time spent sharing food or drink.

The gatherings of people in church, or mosque; in synagogue or gurdwara, in social club or night club....听 singing together.

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My father is 93 years old, and lives in Glasgow, only an hour鈥檚 drive away.听 But I haven鈥檛 seen him face-to-face for about five months.

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Because all the things we used to do to express our love are now a threat to the people we love.

People used to kiss someone because we loved them.

Now we talk to them by phone or on Zoom, because we love them.

We used to shake someone鈥檚 hand because we valued them and their company.

And now we stand two metres away and hide behind a mask, because we value them.

We used to gather around the bedside of the dying, to touch them, to hold their hands, to say farewell.

听听听听听听听听听听听 And now we gaze through a window, as brave nurses in protective equipment perform those last ministries of kindness.

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Our very bodies, our gestures, have become strange to us.听 Un-natural.

We are moving through a landscape that has been made strange by danger, so that loving one another looks and feels, physically, very different from what we are used to.

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Perhaps moving our bodies through this new landscape is also a kind of pilgrimage.

It鈥檚 involved a kind of leave-taking, at least for the present, from our familiar world.

It asks us to invent a whole new language of love, in a land made strange by a virus.

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In the midst of all this I try to remind myself, no matter how strange these new gestures of love may feel, no matter how frustrating it is, it is still love.听 It is still this love, no matter how improvised it is in our strange new circumstances, that builds the city, that makes us human.听 And as that ancient hymn reminds us, Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Where there is love and loving kindness, there is God.

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MUSIC:听 UBI CARITAS ET AMOR Op. 10 No. 1 鈥� MAURICE DURUFL脡

From album Hallelujah 鈥� Great Sacred听 Choruses CD1 Track 19

Label: EMI

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GILBERT - Blessing

Until we can gather together, face to face,

until we can sing together side by side,

until we can recover something of our normality

may God reveal himself to each of us

in the love we have for one another.

And in that love, may we find freedom and peace.

And may God bless all, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Gilbert and Anne: Amen

听

MUSIC:听 CITY OF GOD, HOW BROAD, HOW FAR (Tune: Richmond)

From album Famous Hymns of Praise, Choir of St Mary鈥檚 Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, directed by Dennis Townhill. Organist: Peter Backhouse

Label: Priory PRCD 376