大象传媒

RADIO 4 OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT:

At ten past eight on 大象传媒 Radio 4 and 大象传媒 Sounds it鈥檚 time now for Sunday Worship.

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MARK:

Good morning and a very warm welcome to the Chapel of St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. I鈥檓 Mark Oakley, the Dean here at St John鈥檚. The College was founded in 1511, and is, today, a diverse and international academic community that enjoys, amongst many other things, a renowned choral tradition, helping to nurture our life together as well as develop the musical talent of our students. In this season of Easter our service begins with the choir singing a work which celebrates the joy of the risen Christ: Look there! the Christ, our Brother, comes.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: Look there! the Christ, our Brother, comes (William Albright)

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MARK:

In a short while, Cambridge will be hosting the triennial conference of the George Herbert Society. Herbert was a poet and priest who lived from 1593 to 1633. He studied here at the university, at our neighbouring Trinity College, and at the end of his first term he wrote to his mother and included a couple of sonnets. Only a fragment of the letter exists today but we can read his words:

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READER 1:

My meaning (dear Mother) is in these sonnets, to declare my resolution to be, that my poor Abilities in Poetry, shall be all, and ever consecrated to God鈥檚 glory.

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MARK:

Although blighted by ill health, Herbert鈥檚 time at Cambridge was productive and eventually he was elected to be the university orator. Later, his life was to take a new direction, towards ordination and parish ministry outside Salisbury, but that early commitment to write poems for God鈥檚 glory never left him. This morning we celebrate his life and poetry within this season of Easter, a season he so loved and wrote about often. And now we sing one of his poems 鈥楶raise鈥�, which begins 鈥楰ing of glorie, king of peace鈥�.

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CHOIR/ORGAN/CONGREGATION: King of glory, King of peace (Gwalchmai)

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MARK:

Most of Herbert鈥檚 170 or so poems are about God, but they are deeply in tune with the shadows of the human heart and the agitated human mind. He refers to his thoughts as a 鈥榗ase of knives鈥� at one point. He uses day to day imagery, and a familiar voice, to help us recognise our own world, and our inner lives, but suggests too how they both wrestle, and are infused, with that other world of distillation and refreshment for which religious faith longs, and which prayer seeks to find a path towards. Often Herbert admits how, when it comes to God, he can be adolescent in his mood and behaviour, banging tables and wanting an argument. In response, God simply is who God is, a friend who, and we find this image in his poems more than once, holds out his hand to us, smiling. In the words of St Augustine, 鈥榩roud humanity can only be saved by the humble God鈥�. In the poem 鈥楾he Dawning鈥�, there is the dawn of the breaking day, but we also hear something dawning in Herbert himself.

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READER 2:

Awake sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns;

听听听听听听 Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth;

Unfold thy forehead gather鈥檇 into frowns:

听听听听听听 Thy Saviour comes, and with him mirth:

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Awake, awake;

And with a thankfull heart his comforts take.

听听听听听听 But thou dost still lament, and pine, and crie;

听听听听听听 And feel his death, but not his victorie.

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Arise sad heart; if thou dost not withstand,

听听听听听听 Christs resurrection thine may be:

Do not by hanging down break from the hand,

听听听听听听 Which as it riseth, raiseth thee:

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 听听听听听Arise, Arise;

And with his buriall-linen drie thine eyes:

听听听听听听 Christ left his grave-clothes, that we might, when grief

听听听听听听 Draws tears, or bloud, not want an handkerchief.

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MARK:

Herbert sees through the half-light that the graveclothes of Christ are there to wipe away his tears and hurt. He knows he musn鈥檛 break from the hand that holds him tight. He tells himself again and again to 鈥榓rise鈥� with Christ, just as in the first part of his poem 鈥楨aster鈥�, Herbert tells his heart to rise with his Lord, knowing that the endless loving commitment of Christ towards him is what will make his own life more 鈥榡ust鈥�, which can mean 鈥榯uned well鈥�, or, in tune with itself. Ralph Vaughan Williams set this poem, appropriately with all the poem鈥檚 musical references, as part of his Five Mystical Songs.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: Rise heart; thy Lord is risen (Vaughan Williams)

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MARK:

The ancient Assyrian people had a word for prayer that was the same word for unclenching a fist. The life with God slowly helps us release the gripped life. Catch yourself this week and see how many times your fist is tight with stress and defence. To be opened out is liberating but often hard and dislocating. It takes self-scrutiny and trust. And the intimacy with God we find in Herbert comes from a confidence in the inviolability of their relationship. This means he can be both reverent and rebellious, devout and derelict, hostile but silenced by love. Herbert is unafraid to reason but unashamed to adore, and in all the honesty, so a relationship with God is forged. In this relationship, as in everything else, honest complexity must never be replaced by a dishonest simplicity. He voices questions and confusions but he knows that he can only ever be loved from the outside, that his life is dependent on receiving goodness and not merely on our control of it. We need to hold the hand that is open to us.

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In the gospels Jesus, with the same love that creates life, takes the sick and the oppressed by the hand and pulls them up. He also holds out his hand to touch those with diseases that made them so isolated by fear. We hear of two such healings now, from chapter 8 of St Matthew鈥檚 gospel, followed by some lines of Herbert: 鈥楾hou that hast given so much to me, Give one thing more, a grateful heart鈥�, set to music by Mary Plumstead.

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READER 3:

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, 鈥淟ord, if you choose, you can make me clean.鈥� He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 鈥淚 do choose. Be made clean!鈥� Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, 鈥淪ee that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.鈥� When Jesus entered Peter鈥檚 house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: A grateful heart (Plumstead)

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For Herbert, our restlessness, the unsatisfied longing of the homesick heart, is the compass that sets us back on the journey towards God. This sense of restlessness is captured in Herbert鈥檚 poem, The Pulley. Here, Herbert imagines God at creation bestowing good things on human beings but deciding to keep rest from them so that they remain restless, their sense of incompleteness prompting them to look out of themselves for a peace the world cannot give.

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READER 1:

When God at first made man,

Having a glass of blessings standing by,

鈥淟et us,鈥� said he, 鈥減our on him all we can.

Let the world鈥檚 riches, which dispers猫d lie,

Contract into a span.鈥�

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So strength first made a way;

Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.

When almost all was out, God made a stay,

Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,

Rest in the bottom lay.

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鈥淔or if I should,鈥� said he,

鈥淏estow this jewel also on my creature,

He would adore my gifts instead of me,

And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;

So both should losers be.

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鈥淵et let him keep the rest,

But keep them with repining restlessness;

Let him be rich and weary, that at least,

If goodness lead him not, yet weariness

May toss him to my breast.鈥�

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MARK:

But what, some four hundred years later, can we learn from Herbert about how to reconnect with God and with our neighbour now? It begins by our heart waking up, rising and taking another鈥檚 hand. If we want to celebrate Easter with integrity there are reconnecting consequences at a very personal and local level: we might need to go and phone the person we have grown distant from, we might need to write to the person we had a row with, we may need to say sorry to someone, or tell them we love them, we may need to see where winter has taken over our heart and how we have grown prickly, how unhappiness may be spreading through us, how we鈥檝e stopped thinking about the moral consequences of how we spend money, trash things easily, forget the unseen, or how we may confuse compassion for justice. A wintered life turns to Spring by such seemingly small movements of resurrected love and will. It is what the other poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, prays for when he writes of Christ: 鈥楲et him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us鈥�. Or, in Herbert鈥檚 words鈥�, 鈥楾each me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see鈥�.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: Teach me My God and King (Michael Rose)

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When he was dying Herbert sent a collection of his handwritten poems, which had never been published in his lifetime, to his friend Nicholas Ferrar at the community of Little Gidding with a note: 鈥渋f he think鈥�, wrote Herbert, 鈥渋t may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be made public; if not, let him burn it鈥�. Ferrar thankfully did not go near the fire. When Herbert sent his poems to his friend he had arranged them in order. The very last one was simply called Love. The message was clear 鈥� for the Christian that must always be the last word.

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READER 2:

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

听听听听听听听听听听听 Guiltie of dust and sinne.

But quick-ey鈥檇 Love, observing me grow slack

听听听听听听听听听听听 From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

听听听听听听听听听听听 If I lack鈥檇 any thing.

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A guest, I answer鈥檇, worthy to be here:

听听听听听听听听听听听 Love said, you shall be he.

I the unkinde, ungratefull? Ah my deare,

听听听听听听听听听听听 I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

听听听听听听听听听听听 Who made the eyes but I?

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Truth Lord, but I have marr鈥檇 them: let my shame

听听听听听听听听听听听 Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?

听听听听听听听听听听听 My deare, then I will serve.

You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:

听听听听听听听听听听听 So I did sit and eat.

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MARK:

It is an unusual religious poem. It never uses the word God but simply 鈥楲ove鈥�. How would our faith change if we did the same? This poem came to mind a few years ago. I was brought up by my grandparents and my grandfather had flown in the Royal Air Force in World War 2; he was a bit of a hero to me but he never spoke about his experiences, except one day mentioning 鈥楧resden鈥� and weeping. I didn鈥檛 understand then as a young boy but I grew up and learned why. He has since died but in 2015 I was asked to preach in the reconstructed Frauenkirche in Dresden. He was very much in my mind. On the way to the train station at the end of my visit the taxi driver asked me why I was in Dresden and I told him I had always wanted to come. 鈥榃hy?鈥� he asked. I took a deep breath; 鈥榖ecause my grandfather was a navigator of a Lancaster bomber and on 14 Feb 1945 I know he flew here as part of the bombing raid and he could never talk to me about it鈥�. The man was quiet and then said 鈥榓h, that was the night my mother was killed鈥�. He pulled over the car and turned the engine off. He then turned round to me, put out his arm and said 鈥榓nd now we shake hands鈥�.

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The taxi driver did what Love does in the poem, smiling, he took my hand. That man, like me, knew the facts. He knew the horrors of the night, he had lived his loss, learned about the thousands dead. But he knew more. He had become wise. We rightly ask what it might mean to be loyal to the past, but the more urgent question is how can we be loyal to the future? As Herbert knew, when love stretches out a hand, new life begins to take shape and a way towards a fresh answer to that question is opened up. It is the way of resurrection.

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听CHOIR/ORGAN/CONGREGATION: A brighter dawn is breaking (Nun lasst uns gott)

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READER 1:

Let us pray.

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We pray for those who reach out their hands to the wounded, to the refugee, to all who are hurting or lost or diminished. And we pray to be such people ourselves.

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We pray for all those who are caught up in the horrors of war, violence, want and oppression. In particular we continue to pray, as we daily do, for the people of Ukraine.

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O Lord our God, whose compassion fails not: support, we entreat you, the people on whom the terrors of invasion have fallen; and if their liberty be lost to the oppressor, let not their spirit and hope be broken, but stayed upon your strength till the day of deliverance; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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Let us gather up all our prayers and hopes in the words which Jesus gave us:

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Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come; thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.鈥�

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.

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MARK:

May God, who is in this world as poetry is in the poem, awaken your heart to the fresh joy of Christ's resurrection, that you may follow George Herbert, and all the saints and friends of God, in the ways of faith, hope, and love; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: Let all the world in ev鈥檙y corner sing (Vaughan Williams)

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RADIO 4 CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENT:

鈥楲et all the world in every corner sing鈥� 鈥� a poem of George Herbert, set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, bringing to a close Sunday Worship which was recorded in the Chapel of St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. It was led by the Dean, The Reverend Dr Mark Oakley. The Director of Music was Andrew Nethsingha, the organ was played by the Herbert Howells Organ Scholar George Herbert, and the producer was Ben Collingwood. The programme is available now on 大象传媒 Sounds from where you can also click through to a copy of the script. If you鈥檇 like to hear more from St John鈥檚 then today鈥檚 大象传媒 Radio 3 Choral Evensong at three o鈥檆lock also comes from the College Chapel. Next week鈥檚 Sunday Worship comes live from Newcastle Cathedral.