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Radio 4 Sunday Worship 鈥� 17 Oct 2021

Opening Hymn: Morning has Broken听 听

JM: Welcome to Ely Cathedral, Ship of the Fens 鈥� floating with grace and power above its long flat landscape of fields, villages and waterways. Built upon the site of a seventh century monastery for men and women established by our remarkable foundress, St Etheldreda, this has been a place of prayer for thirteen hundred and fifty years.听

For most of those years 鈥� certainly since the rise of the Norman Cathedral -听 the voices lifted to God here have been the voices of men and boys.听 But in the life of our Cathedral, as of many Cathedrals around the country, it is now ordinary that both female and male voices lead in prayer and song together, just as their Anglo-Saxon forebears did. It鈥檚 fitting, then, that today we mark thirty years of the establishment of girl choristers in Cathedrals, since Salisbury Cathedral admitted girls to its Foundation in 1991.

My name is Jessica Martin, and I am one of four resident clergy at the Cathedral. The well-known hymn you just heard, 鈥楳orning has Broken鈥�, sets words by the children鈥檚 author and hymnodist Eleanor Farjeon. Today鈥檚 service is a sung morning Office, incorporating some elements of Choral Mattins.听 All its musical settings are by women, and the choir of girl choristers and lay clerks is conducted by the girls鈥� Director of Music, Sarah MacDonald.听 The sung responses bringing our attention towards God are by Sarah, composed especially for today鈥檚 worship.听 They will be followed by a psalm, psalm 84: its words yearn towards the sacred house of the Lord as a place of nurture, a place where to meet God is to come home.

Lauds Responses (Malling Abbey):听

Psalm: Psalm 84.1-7听

Please stand for the Gloria听

JM: We hear now a prayer of joy from the Old Testament.听 It is sung by Hannah, a woman who had longed so passionately for a child that when she prayed about it to God in the Temple the priest mistook her for a drunk and tried to throw her out. The child that she went on to bear was Samuel, one of the greatest of the prophets, and the song she sings celebrates the favour God shows to those people silenced by the structures of human power.

Old Testament Lesson: 1 Samuel 2.1-8听 Canon James Garrard

Hannah prayed and said, 鈥淢y heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honour. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord鈥檚, and on them he has set the world.听

Here endeth the Lesson.

JM: We hear now the 鈥楳agnificat鈥�, the Song of Mary, where the young woman who has been chosen to bear God鈥檚 Son lifts her voice in joy. She draws on her forerunner Hannah鈥檚 prayer, praising the Lord who lifts the poor from the dust, and singing for all who are voiceless.

Canticle: Magnificat, set Joanna Forbes L鈥橢strange听

JM: We hear now a story of two sisters, who had very different ideas about how to welcome Jesus into their home.

New Testament Lesson: Luke 10.38-end Canon James Reveley听

Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord鈥檚 feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, 鈥淟ord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.鈥� But the Lord answered her, 鈥淢artha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.鈥澨�

Here endeth the Lesson.

We stand to sing Charlotte Elliott鈥檚 hymn of self-dedication, 鈥楯ust as I am鈥�.

Hymn: Just as I am NEH 294 (omit v 2)

Apostles鈥� Creed:

[All sit]

Anthem 1: Sarah MacDonald setting Judith versified Tomalin 鈥楢 New Psalme鈥�

JM: We hear now an anthem, written by Sarah MacDonald and first performed in the transitional Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2020. It sets words of joy and deliverance from the Book of Judith:

Sermon: Canon Jessica Martin

Mary 鈥榮at at the Lord鈥檚 feet, and listened to what he was saying鈥�.

This is a service full of the songs of women. But the image at the centre of it is this one: a woman who sits,听 and listens, and receives.听 Mary is, for a brief space, without tasks or duties.听 She is in a space freed of the endless, invisible busy-ness of making sure everyone else around her is fed, comfortable, clean, clothed, of oiling the squeaky wheels of relationships so that her people are not too grumpy with each other. She has put all that down, just for a little, to sit at the feet of God and receive his gift.听听

The tasks will be back, because they always are.听 It won鈥檛 take long for someone in her household to complain that Mary put down the housework for an hour. No domestic task ever stays done, and all leisure moments 鈥� as this Gospel story itself reminds us 鈥� are dependent on someone else鈥檚 invisible labour. Ask Martha what she thought of it all!听 But, for this moment, Mary鈥檚 hands are folded in her lap and her soul dwells in the endless now of God鈥檚 presence.

The Christian life is built around the idea of service.听 Jesus was later to say to his disciples that each of them was called to be 鈥榯he servant of all鈥�.听 He demonstrated how literally he meant that by doing a menial, physical task for them: he washed his disciples feet, dirtied as they had been by walking all day on dusty roads.听 Jesus was extremely good at noticing invisible carers, and skilled at the drama of bringing them into the light and notice of those people who, up until then, were taking them completely for granted. The word 鈥榮ervice鈥� now describes all Christian worship, really because Jesus dignified caring for others as no one had ever done before.听

Yet in the story of Mary we see the other side of Jesus鈥檚 readiness to notice the people others would, as a matter of course, disregard. For he gives those disregarded others the honour of allowing them, for a moment, to be served - and by God himself! Mary鈥檚 stillness before his gift to her is a well of praise. That well turns into a fountain, springing up into songs of reversal, of the world turned upside down, the world where the invisible carers and toilers are honoured, where voices sing out, no, I am not the person weeping in a corner, as Hannah did as she longed for her child, I am not that person who was told she was not good enough for the Lord鈥檚 house, but the one who brings you prophecy, who expresses the being and will of the Creator of all who spoke, and dwelt with me, who gave me time to sit at his feet, and promised it would not be taken away.

When the disregarded find their voice, they do more than speak.听 They sing.听 To sing is to lift the soul to God, to stand before the Creator with a gift to give, an overflowing of the heart. It is not an accident that the worship of God is made with song. In song the body is its own instrument, resonating with the breath of life God gave each person. Those without anything else to offer, the empty-handed, the powerless, and the dispossessed, still have song.听

Today we praise God that women and men sing together in God鈥檚 house, offering their service which is also the gift of their bodies. The song of Hannah, who found her voice and her dignity, the song of Mary on receiving a gift that magnified her soul, the songs of calling, of skill and of gift, find their place here.听

Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young : even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.听

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : they will be alway praising thee.听

JM: We hear now a song of calling and praise:听 a setting of George Herbert鈥檚 poem 鈥榯he Call鈥� by the composer Gail Randall.听

Anthem 2: Gail Randall 鈥楾he Call鈥� (Herbert)

Prayers: choir member (scripted JM)

Collect for the 20th Sunday after Trinity:

Christina Rossetti:

A Prayer of the St Hilda Community:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.听 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.听 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.听 For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.听 Amen.

JM: We stand to sing our closing hymn, 鈥楤e Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart鈥�.听 This ancient Irish hymn is translated by Mary Byrne and versified by Eleanor Hull.

Closing Hymn: Be Thou my Vision NEH 339 (omit v.4)

Blessing: The Dean