大象传媒

This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission. It may include editorial notes prepared by the producer, and minor spelling and other errors.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.

A Haven for an Emperor

鈥淎t the league of Nations a grave disturbance鈥�Haile Selassie comes to plead for his lost Empire鈥︹��

Music - Ethiopia: Gigi & Abyssinia Infinite聽

Good morning.聽
Following Mussolini鈥檚 invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 Emperor Haile Selassie was forced into exile in Europe, and the Emperor and his family moved to live in Fairfield House in Bath.聽 He remained here until 1940 when he returned to Ethiopia to reign for another three decades.
As we approach the season of Remembrance Our service this morning celebrates the legacy and impact of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I on the city of Bath, and the positive legacy of the haven of protection our country was able to offer both a deposed ruler and the Orthodox faith he embodied in a time of war and oppression in his own country. I鈥檓 Robert Beckford, a professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester Foundation, and this morning I look forward to sharing this very different expression of Christian faith from an ancient Christian culture, with you.聽

Music - Breathe on Me Breathe of God 鈥� The King鈥檚 Singers

During his time living in Bath, Emperor Selassie received a warm welcome from local residents and this generosity was reciprocated when he gave Fairfield House to the city as a gift to be used for elder citizens.聽 For the past 27 years the Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association has been resident in the house.
The house has huge religious significance: for the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, of which Haile Selassie I was both a faithful member and regarded as the 鈥淧rotector and Defender鈥�.聽 And for the Rastafari community who consider Haile Selassie I to be God incarnate, so regard the site as a place of spiritual pilgrimage.
To enable Ethiopians to pray and practise their faith within their own Ethiopian Orthodox tradition a chapel was created at Fairfield House. It contained a sacred tabot 鈥� a replica of the tablets of the law 鈥� sent from Jerusalem, making it the original site of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faith in the UK.聽聽
So many living in exile express their longing for the homeland in music and poetry. This Orthodox chant translates 鈥極 Ethiopia, if I forget you, let my right forget me鈥�.聽 It鈥檚 believed to have been created and sung during prayers at Fairfield House and continues to be sung at the church in Addis Ababa where the sacred tabot from Fairfield was later taken.
God, who is like both mother and father to us all. We thank you for the opportunity of salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ. As we remember the history of Haile Selassie in Bath, we are reminded of the gift of hospitality; that by entertaining strangers, we are showing and sharing the love that we have for you and all of human and creature kind. Inspire us never to miss the point and to always see beyond our limitations and understanding so that we are better able to follow the leading of your Spirit -聽 as it works in this world to transform lives, social structures and renew the environment. These things we ask in your precious name. Amen.
POEM - Excerpts of Standing in His Shoes (by Vanessa Melody)

Music 鈥� The Jordan River (Emahoy Tsegu茅-Maryam Gu猫brou)聽
Music - I am the Vine (Arvo P盲rt) 鈥� Netherlands Chamber Choir聽

The affectionate association between Bath and Ethopian Orthodoxy continues. Last month an Ethiopian Orthodox Church Service took place at Bath Abbey. Much of it was expressed in the Ethiopian liturgical language Ge鈥檈z and in Amharic.聽

Music 鈥� The Lord鈥檚 Prayer (Amharic) Bath Abbey Service 18th September聽

Prayers: The Lord鈥檚 Prayer and The Prayer of Our Lady (English) from Bath Abbey Service 18th September

Music - Oce Nash: Lord鈥檚 Prayer (Konstantin Shvedov) 鈥� Moscow New Choir

To celebrate the relationship between Haile Selassie I and Bath, the Freedom in the City festival has been running since April, with a series of online and in-person events exploring Ethiopian and Rastafari culture.
The project is the brainchild of Dr Shawn Sobers, a University of Western England Associate Professor and Trustee of Fairfield House 鈥� he tells us about the site and it鈥檚 religious significance and history now.聽 But first we hear music, reflective of the worship that would have taken place at Fairfield House when the Emperor was in residence, O Lord! save us your people.聽

Music - O Lord! save us your people 鈥� Traditional Ethiopian Orthodox

Testimony 鈥� Dr Shawn Sobers

Music 鈥� The Deer鈥檚 Cry for chorus (Arvo P盲rt) - The Sixteen
Music - The Beatitudes (Blessed are the Meek) - The Uniques

We hear now from Anansa Auguste 鈥� an Ambassador of Fairfield House.聽 Anansa is a baptised member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.聽 As a singer / song writer her music features Ge鈥檈z chanting reflective of that used in worship.聽 Anansa鈥檚 baptised name is Wolette Maryam.聽 The music we hear during her testimony is from the children鈥檚 choir at St Mary Tserha Zion Church in London.聽
Testimony 鈥� Anansa Auguste

Music 鈥� Children鈥檚 Choir of St Mary Tserha Zion Church
Music 鈥� Rejoice O Virgin (Sergey Rachmaninov) 鈥� Croydon Singers
Music 鈥� Ethiopian Chant 鈥� Anansa Auguste (Dubliminial Records)

Our reading this morning is taken from the Gospel of John, Chapter 5 starting a verse 19.聽 It is read in English by Rev Michael Hundesa, Head of UK and Ireland Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahaedo Church Clergy Association, and highlights of the Amharic setting from the service at Bath Abbey follow.聽聽

Music - Spiegel im Spiegel (Arvo P盲rt) - Tamsin Little

John Chapter 5 begins with the story of Jesus breaking a religious law - by healing a paralysed man at the pool of Bethesda. The healing upsets the religious leaders because while performing the miracle, Jesus commanded the man to "pick up his mat and walk". The initial offence was not the miraculous healing but 'mat carrying' on the Sabbath.聽聽
To answer his accusers, Jesus underlines the complete dependency of his work and mission on his relationship with God his Father. He says, "My father is working 鈥�and I too am working."聽聽
Jesus' response further enrages the religious leaders. To defend himself, Jesus describes the nature of his intimate relationship with God the Father so that his hearers clearly understand that to honour him is to glorify God.聽
In Ignatian spirituality, one of the contemplative exercises devised by the founder, the 16th Century Christian theologian Ignatius of Loyola, is to imagine yourself as a participant in a passage of scripture. The primary purpose is to open the Christian imagination to the experience of God and gain a deeper understanding of faith. When I contemplated this passage as preparation for today鈥檚 address, to my surprise, I found myself not alongside Jesus but instead, in the angry crowd, railing against him for breaking the law.
Why am I with the religious people, I wondered? Surely as a believer and' someone trained in theology,' I should be on the other side and with the disciples. It took me a while to recognise the reason for my positioning in the narrative: it was a case of me, like the crowd missing the point of Jesus鈥� action. An example of what the authors Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo term, "adventures in missing the point." These are moments when we realise that we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing because our self-righteousness leads us to an alliance with the wrong side of an argument, belief system or political movement. Like the religious people complaining about the mat-carrying, our sense of moral superiority obscures the bigger picture of faith and what matters to God.聽
In the history of African Caribbean Christianity, the distinctive Pentecostal and evangelical traditions carried to Britain by the Windrush generation, I believe, concerning Haile Selassie and Rastafari, there have been numerous examples of adventures in missing the point. Moments when African Caribbean Christians complained about matt carrying rather than appreciating the miraculous or signs of God's presence and power.
It's fair to say 鈥� I鈥檝e some personal experience here聽 and a confession to make.聽 As a black Pentecostal Christian, I was introduced to the person and history of Haile Selassie by listening to reggae music.聽 In the late 1970s and early 80s, "Roots reggae, music" exposed me to Rastafari beliefs, including their deification of Haile Selassie I.聽 He was proclaimed "Mighty God" in Bob Marley's song Exodus 鈥� a claim he himself rejected due to his strong stance in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition.聽聽
As for many of the Rastafari community, rereading the Bible from a black perspective led them to view Selassie as Jesus returned to emancipate Africa and its diaspora from a 鈥榥ew鈥� Babylon; black oppression in the postcolonial world. Not everyone in Ethiopia or Africa appreciated this interpretation. Historians of Selassie's reign over Ethiopia present a complex history and accuse him of oppression.
My church taught me to reject the Rastafari deification of Haile Selassie, and by so doing, disavow myself from all aspects of the Rastafari theology. On reflection, this decision was another adventure in missing the point. As at Bethesda 鈥� as Christians - we took Rastafari literally and got bogged down in the 鈥榤at carrying鈥� rather than聽 seeing what God revealed to us through the Movement. As a consequence, there were several gifts from God that we did not grasp.
We did not grasp the importance of the Rastafari affirmation of black history and culture. In the early 20th century and opposed to the negative evaluation of Africa in the western imagination, Rastafarians excavated the memory of glorious African civilisations, and their dynamic cultural traditions and scientific innovations.聽
Neither did we comprehend the significance of Rastafarian eco-theology. With a deep appreciation of self-reliance in food production, many of the original Rastas in the Caribbean had a profound appreciation of environmental care and balance. They understood the danger of ecocide, the destruction of the natural environment, long before it became an issue in African Caribbean churches and wider conscience.
But arguably, the most critical issue that we black Christians failed to recognise was the symbolic value of the image of a black Messiah. Before the advent of the academic study of black theology in mid-20th century America, the Rastas debunked the hegemony of the white Jesus in European art and culture. Their interpretation of scripture exposes the European makeover of the Jewish Jesus. The white Jesus was more than an aesthetic: it signified that whiteness was closer to godliness. We black Christians failed to see that by proclaiming a black African as divine, the Rastas sought to include black people within the Bible's unfolding story rather than blacks being at the peripheries.聽
The story of the man healed at the pool of Bethesda reminds us not to "miss the point" of what God is doing in the world鈥�
One of the cornerstones of Ethiopian Orthodox worship are the chant prayers of the sixth century religious composer and Saint Yared. This is his ancient Prayer for the Departed聽聽

Music 鈥� Prayer for the Department (Saint Yared) Bath Abbey Service 18th September聽

Prayer for the Departed

Music - All-Night Vigil, Op. 37: No. 5, O Lord, You Now Let Your Servant Depart in Peace (Sergey Rachmaninov) - Falk Hoffmann