Download OUTLINE SCRIPT FOR BBC SERVICE

BBC RADIO 4 “SUNDAY WORSHIP”
LIVE FROM
ST MARY’S CHURCH, SWANSEA (JULY 11TH 2010)
PLEASE NOTE: This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast.
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, and changes may also
be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events.
OPENING ANNO:
And now on Radio 4, it’s time for Sunday Worship which comes live from St. Mary’s Church in
Swansea. The preacher is the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, the Right Reverend John Davies and
the service is led by the Reverend Canon Andrew Vessey.
ITEM 1: INTRODUCTION (Revd Canon Andrew Vessey)
Welcome to St Mary’s. Thank you for joining us in our worship that today will be celebrating the
theme of citizenship. Not only does St Mary’s sit at the heart of Swansea, where it functions as the
Civic Church, but we also provide a support for a whole range of Chaplains who work in our
institutions and agencies. Today is Sea Sunday. In addition to being a place of lovely parks and a
commercial centre for a huge region of Wales, Swansea lies on a beautiful bay. While praying for
those who work at sea on our behalf, and those who care for them, we’ll be thinking this morning
about what makes an earthly citizen and exploring what Christians believe defines its heavenly
counterpart. Our first hymn dips into that language and those sorts of pictures. Blessed city,
heavenly Salem.
ITEM 2: HYMN - BLESSED CITY, HEAVENLY SALEM (CHOIR & ORGAN)
(P.T.O.)
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ITEM 2: HYMN - BLESSED CITY, HEAVENLY SALEM (CHOIR & ORGAN)
Latin (before 9th century)/ tr. John Mason Neale (1818-66)
1. Blessed city, heavenly Salem,
vision dear of peace and love,
who of living stones art builded
in the height of heaven above,
and by angel hosts encircled
as a bride dost earthward move.
2. Christ is made the sure foundation,
Christ the head and corner-stone,
chosen of the Lord, and precious,
binding all the Church in one,
holy Sion's help for ever,
and her confidence alone.
3. To this temple, where we call thee,
come, O Lord of hosts, to-day;
with thy wonted loving-kindness
hear thy servants as they pray;
and thy fullest benediction
shed within its walls alway.
4. Here vouchsafe to all thy servants
what they ask of thee to gain,
what they gain from thee for ever
with the blessed to retain,
and hereafter in thy glory
evermore with thee to reign.
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ITEM 3: LINK (ANDREW VESSEY)
At the heart of the prayers of the church is Jesus, the Man of Prayer, who invited us to join Him in
prayer. In order for us to be renewed as His Body in the world, we shall spend a few moments
thinking about what prevents that renewal. We prepare to share in a Prayer of Penitence, calling
to mind those sins that are our own responsibility, together with those sins of which we are part,
the sins of the church and of the world. But firstly, the words of invitation in a motet by Henry
Purcell: “Thou knowest Lord, the secrets of our hearts”.
ITEM 4: MOTET: ‘THOU KNOWEST LORD, THE SECRETS OF OUR HEARTS’ (CHOIR & ORGAN)
“Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts, shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer, but
spare us Lord, most holy. O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy
judge eternal, suffer us not at our last hour, for any pains of death to fall from Thee.“
ITEM 5: PRAYER OF PENITENCE – LED BY REVD IAN DREW JONES, CURATE
Lord Jesus, when our lives have gone wrong and we don’t know how to put them right:
Forgive us, show us your love and teach us what to do.
When our thinking is confused and we don’t know how to sort it out:
Forgive us, show us your love and teach us what to do.
When our intentions are good but we don’t know how to put them into practice:
Forgive us, show us your love and teach us what to do.
When we have ignored those who are our loved ones and avoid our neighbours, wanting to
protect ourselves:
Forgive us, show us your love and teach us what to do.
When we know we have failed you and we need showing how we have failed:
Forgive us, show us your love and teach us what to do.
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy on you and set you free from sin;
give you strength and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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ITEM 6: FIRST READING – OLD TESTAMENT (JOHN ANTHONY)
Our first reading is from the book of AMOS, Chapter 7, v7-9 : A vision of the judgement of God
against His People
This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a
plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I
said, ‘A plumb-line.’ Then the Lord said,
‘See, I am setting a plumb-line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’
ITEM 7: FIRST ADDRESS – THE BISHOP OF SWANSEA & BRECON, THE RIGHT REVD JOHN DAVIES.
According to the website of the Department for Constitutional Affairs "City status is a rare mark of
distinction granted by the Sovereign.” I was once part of a working group which aimed to secure
that status for the town where I then served. Despite our best efforts, we were unsuccessful; that
‘rare mark of distinction’ was not granted.
We were very disappointed, tried to indentify weaknesses in our approach, determined to try
again should the opportunity arise, which it did some years later.
Reflecting on today’s theme of ‘citizenship’, I thought about some of the things that we had
considered in preparing that unsuccessful bid. We’d looked at what the town had to offer in terms
of its history; we put forward its governmental, industrial and commercial institutions, its
educational establishments, its public facilities and amenities, and its sheer size.
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But, I wondered had we actually overlooked the most important thing of all – people. We hadn’t
talked about citizens; and, perhaps with the exception of a place of outstanding historic beauty or
importance, surely, the merits of a place are best judged by the attributes of those who live there,
who lead and govern it, who influence its daily life.
By attributes I don’t mean material wealth or personal status. I mean goodness, concern for
others; willingness to work to build unity, local pride and well-being; co-operation in creating and
sustaining aspiration and a sense of self-worth in others.
If people with these characteristics are around, it’s probably fair to say that designations such as
city, town or village don’t really matter.
But just as their efforts can create a community for which there will be affection and loyalty,
others with little commitment or no real vision can create the opposite.
It was ever so - the prophet, Amos, lived around 750 B.C. at a time of social and religious vice, and
of double standards in a divided society, with marked contrasts between two groups of people:
the rich, ruling class (who were few in number) and the exploited poor (who were numerous.)
Power was held by a corrupt and greedy executive.
This offended Amos’s sense of God’s justice, and he reacted with indignation, declaring, as we
have just heard in our reading, that as a plumb-line would expose faults in the construction of a
wall, God would expose wrongs and judge harshly those responsible for them.
For Amos, the building blocks of a healthy, earthly society and the raw material of sound
citizenship and lively faith, were men and women of integrity, goodness and decency, with high
personal standards; those who, with vision and commitment, co-operated unselfishly to promote
community and the dignity and well-being of others. Amos demanded such people, and thank
God, they have been around.
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In 1977 a Symposium to look into the Care of the Dying was held in Gwent. A few years later,
Heulwen Egerton, a devout Christian who worked as a nurse tutor at a local hospital resolved to
do something about the scarcity of palliative care. Along with like-minded others, she set up the
Gwent Hospice Project Group, and from that St. David’s Foundation Hospice Care was born. From
a small beginning, it grew to become the largest provider of its type in the UK, providing home
care for countless terminally ill patients and their families. Here were citizenship and faith as firm
partners.
Years later, I was privileged to serve as both a trustee and its chairman, but over a decade before
that Symposium I had, as a child, witnessed the bitingly slow and painful ravaging of my
grandmother’s life by the relentless onslaught of terminal illness. Nothing more powerfully reinforces an understanding of the benefits which flow from the inspired and compassionate actions
of committed individuals with a thirst for justice and a zealous concern for the well-being of
others, than experiences such as that.
And today, for any place, whether city, town or village and for the well-being of its daily life, there
can be no better building blocks than those for which Amos called almost 3000 years ago –
inspired people who, when placed alongside the plumbline of goodness and justice, measure up
as, committed, compassionate and true.
ITEM 8: MY EYES FOR BEAUTY PINE (CHOIR & ORGAN)
P.T.O.
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ITEM 8: MY EYES FOR BEAUTY PINE (CHOIR & ORGAN)
Music: Herbert Howells, Words: Robert Bridges (Publisher: O.U.P.)
ITEM 9: LINK (ANDREW VESSEY)
Those building blocks, which Bishop John has reminded us are needed if society is to flourish,
require inspirational leaders with vision. But this also needs committed people, ready to respond
to God. Wherever we respond to God and He is worshipped, we do so in company with countless
others around the world. Today we might be thinking of those at sea or on duty in military
situations, in different cultures and worshipping God in a multitude of different languages. But,
wherever we are, we can all feel included in this next hymn which imagines us being drawn to the
One who comes to inspire our citizenship. Hills of the north rejoice.
ITEM 10: HYMN : HILLS OF THE NORTH REJOICE (CHOIR & ORGAN)
Georg Weissel tr. Catherine Winkworth 1827 – 1878.
ITEM 11: SECOND READING – NEW TESTAMENT (ROBERT LEONARD)
Our second reading is from Colossians chapter 1 verses 1-6
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and
faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. In
our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of
your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid
up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that
has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing
fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.
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ITEM 12: SECOND ADDRESS (The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Right Revd John Davies)
I suggested earlier that the fundamental building blocks and raw material of a just and true earthly
society are people who demonstrate the quality of citizenship which I believe reflects the love of
God and the will of God, shown in the life of Jesus.
For Christians, demonstrating that citizenship is not an option, it’s an obligation, the proof of real
faith; it’s a fundamental response to the Gospel which we’ve heard described in St. Paul’s Letter to
the Colossians, as the word of truth growing and bearing fruit in the world.
Paul was clear that, for those who lived it out, this Gospel carried within it a hope ‘laid up in
heaven’. In other words, earthly citizenship, of real integrity, is rooted in Gospel values and is a
reflection, although an imperfect one, of ultimate citizenship of the heavenly kingdom yet to
come.
That citizenship, where perfect communion with God will be experienced, is achieved by pursuit of
those Gospel values and rejection of earthly falsehoods, however attractive they might be.
Now this sounds ok, I guess: effort and reward, carrot and stick, something good just over the hill.
But isn’t it just a bit trite - ‘pie in the sky when you die’ – if you’ve been good, that is.
Today, July 11th, the church usually commemorates St Benedict sometimes called the Father of
Western monasticism. His so-called Rule plots a particular pathway to communion with God, and
calls for personal convenience to be subordinated to seeking the will of God and the kingdom of
God. It involves integrity of mind, discipline of action, purity of heart and devotion to Christian
duty. In other words, living faith bearing fruit in loving action.
This same pathway lies ahead of individual Christians. By accepting the call and relevance of the
word of truth, we are invited to follow it, not as grudging slaves, but as joyful servants. We are
guided along it by openness to the Holy Spirit, reliance on the resources of God’s grace, and by the
model of Jesus and the fellowship of faithful Christians. As joyful servants we strive to bring to our
own lives and to others, the fullness and abundance of life which Jesus himself came to bring.
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In this city, it’s easy to see the need for that fullness and abundance to penetrate the darkness and
ease the life-numbing and evident burdens carried by some. Any life, young or old, lived out in
days of misery and grinding hopelessness rather than in days that offer real potential for joy and
hope, is an affront to the ‘word of truth’ and to human dignity. Judged by the plumb-line of
justice, fault-lines are plain to see.
Believing that you can do something to help is no idle fantasy. Everyone can do something to
benefit someone else. Every little helps. It does not demand grand or exotic gestures or huge relief
programmes (though these have their part to play). It can simply mean doing some small act of
goodness anywhere, and doing it with love;
The Port of Swansea, like other South Wales ports, looks out onto the Bristol Channel. On the
Bristol side to the west is Clevedon where, in 1835, an idea was born which led to the formation of
the Mission to Seafarers. John Ashley, an Anglican priest was on the shore with his son who asked
how the people on Flat Holm - a small island in the channel - could go to church. The question
inspired Ashley to minister voluntarily to the people of the island for the next three months and, in
doing so, he came to recognize the needs of the seafarers on sailing vessels in the channel. He
created the Bristol Channel Mission, worked to expand it, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Through its network of chaplains, staff and volunteers, the Mission to Seafarers now reaches out,
in over 200 ports around the world, visiting crew members on their ships, offering welcome and
friendship, and supporting them in times of need. One man’s inspiration has brought benefit to so
many.
Every little helps. Of individual acts of love is built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and everybody
is capable of them. Where we are they happen. Where you are they happen too. And if you make
them happen, well done! Today let us all commit afresh to being a citizen of heaven, by being an
even better citizen on earth.
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ITEM 13: LINK (ANDREW VESSEY)
If we grasp that vision Jesus had of the Kingdom of heaven, then we shall need resources to do the
building work implied by Jesus inviting us to share in establishing heaven here on earth. Part of
that is to be ready to thank God for what He is doing, as well as committing ourselves to catching
up with His work rate! In this morning’s canticle, with words from Psalm 100, the text gathers us
up into the unimaginable joy of making that connection between promise and fulfilment. “ O be
joyful in the Lord all ye lands.” The music was composed by Charles Villiers Stanford.
ITEM 14: CANTICLE (CHOIR & ORGAN)
Charles Villiers Stanford
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence
with a song.
Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his
people and the sheep of his pasture.
O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto
him and speak good of his name.
For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth from generation to
generation.
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ITEM 15: PRAYERS & INTERCESSIONS
(REVD IAN DREW-JONES – CURATE)
And now our prayers Firstly, a prayer for the world and the resolution of the causes which make so many places
uncomfortable, impersonal and lonely.
COLLECT ONE – Mrs Kitty Griffiths
Look mercifully, O Lord our God, upon the world of our day, and heal the sorrows and sufferings of
humanity. Especially we pray for ……………………………………………………………….. Save all nations from
lust of power, from racial hatred and jealousy, from tragedy as a result of war or the outcome of
the violence of nature. Grant that in every place the rule of tyranny may be broken, that the cause
of righteousness triumph and all people catch the vision granted to us by our Saviour of a perfect
society modelled on that heavenly city which has no ending. Amen.
THE CURATE: Revd Ian Drew-Jones
A Prayer for the world-wide church, its agents of mission and compassion, working to bring that
double vision of heaven and earth into a greater existence through our outreach and the gifts of
ministry.
COLLECT TWO – Mrs Anna Vessey
Heavenly Father, you have called your Church to proclaim the gospel in all lands. Help us in
obedience to your call to participate in and support the Christian mission here in our own country
and overseas. We commend to your care the work of the Mission to Seafarers on land and sea, in
harbours and ports the world over. As we pray for the communication of the gospel through the
avenues of mission available to the church, may each of us be prepared to share the gospel of
Christ more fully by what we are, through what we say and by what we do for others; to the glory
of your name. Amen
THE CURATE - Ian Drew-Jones
A Prayer now for those for whom we are concerned today; the sick and the sorrowful, the
vulnerable and fearful;
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COLLECT THREE – Mrs Anita Morgan
Most merciful Father, we remember before you those whom it would be easy for us to forget: We
remember the poor and homeless, the old and the friendless, who are present in every
community and whose suffering demands our attention. Bless all who today will be ministering to
their needs, that they may bring comfort and hope. We ask this in the name and strength of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
THE CURATE: Revd Ian Drew-Jones:
In company with the church triumphant and mindful that Jesus continues to teach us how to pray,
let us share the words we call His Prayer, in thanksgiving and with a new sense of commitment:
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth 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.
ITEM 16: LINK (ANDREW VESSEY)
St Bernard wrote the words of our final hymn which gathers up some of the images we have been
thinking about this morning. He gives us a glimpse of heaven- Jerusalem the golden.
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ITEM 17: FINAL HYMN - JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN (CHOIR & ORGAN)
Bernard of Cluny (12th cent.)/ tr. J. M. Neale (1818-66)
1. Jerusalem the golden,
with milk and honey blest,
beneath thy contemplation
sink heart and voice opprest.
I know not, O I know not
what joys await us there,
what radiancy of glory,
what bliss beyond compare.
2. They stand, those halls of Sion,
all jubilant with song,
and bright with many an angel,
and all the martyr throng;
the Prince is ever with them,
the daylight is serene,
the pastures of the blessed
are decked in glorious sheen.
3. There is the throne of David;
and there, from care released,
the song of them that triumph,
the song of them that feast;
and they, who with their Leader
have conquered in the fight,
for ever and for ever
are clad in robes of white.
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4. O sweet and blessed country,
the home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country
that eager hearts expect!
Jesu, in mercy bring us
to that dear land of rest;
who art, with God the Father
and Spirit, ever blest.
ITEM 18: BLESSINGS (THE BISHOP)
BLESSING
DURATION
Heavenly Father, we offer you thanks and praise for the example of
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your Son, Jesus Christ, who guides us and leads us in the ways of your
kingdom. Faithful to him, and open to your Spirit, may all who are
citizens of the earthly city, grow daily as citizens of your heavenly
kingdom. And may God give us vision and God give us strength to use
our lives to build his kingdom here on earth. May we seek His ways,
may we know his truth may we grow into the fullness of life.
TWO
By our words and by our deeds and in the power of the Spirit, may we
proclaim God’s love made visible in the Lord Jesus Christ.
THREE
May the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen
ITEM 19: ORGAN PLAYOUT: Performed by HUW TREGELLES WILLIAMS
ITEM 20: R4 CLOSING ANNO
Sunday Worship came live from St. Mary’s Church in Swansea and was led by the Rev Canon
Andrew Vessey. The preacher was the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, the Right Reverend John
Davies, the musical director was Dr. William Reynolds and the organist, Huw Tregelles Williams.
The producer was Siân Baker.
The Bishop of Liverpool James Jones is the preacher next week when Sunday Worship comes
from the Buxton Festival.
And just a reminder that Radio 2 is currently looking for its Young Choristers of the Year 2010.
Application forms and full details are available on the Events section of their website.
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