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1) Welcome Call to worship (Stephen Wigley)

Good morning and welcome to Sunday Worship. My name is Stephen Wigley and I鈥檓 Chair of Wales Synod Cymru of the Methodist Church. Today is the Sunday before the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which starts on Wednesday, and so provides an opportunity to reflect both on this theme and the wider impact of the ecumenical movement in bringing Christians together in recent times. But we鈥檙e also still in the season of Epiphany, and the revelation of Christ to the world, so we begin our worship with one of the great hymns of Isaac Watts, 鈥楯oy to the world, the Lord is come.

2) Hymn听 鈥楯oy to the world鈥� 鈥� 麻豆官网首页入口 Archive 鈥� Cambrensis & St David鈥檚 Praise

3) Introduction (Stephen Wigley)

This Wednesday marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It runs from the 18th January, an ancient festival associated with St Peter, to the 25th and the conversion of St Paul, and so incorporates those two great Apostles upon whose ministry the mission of the wider church is founded. Its origins go back to the first half of the 20th century and the vision of the French priest Abbe Paul Couturier who advocated it as a time of prayer 鈥榝or the unity Christ wills by the means he wills鈥�.

The emerging ecumenical movement would have a profound effect on the life of the Christian church in the second half of this last century. It led to unity schemes bringing churches together both around the world and in the United Kingdom, to the emergence of dialogues and growing convergence on doctrine between different traditions, to Covenants and commitments to work ever more closely together in England and Wales and to Local Ecumenical Partnerships, locally agreed schemes where such aspirations could be lived out in practice.

More recently, it can seem as if some of that initial enthusiasm for ecumenism and formal unity schemes has started to wane, as many of the more traditional churches have struggled with a decline in attendance and influence, and the religious picture in Britain becomes ever more complex and diverse.However, my sense is that it has had a profound impact on a more personal and informal level, in terms of deepening relationships with fellow Christians and influencing the shape of ministry and mission in today鈥檚 world. That鈥檚 certainly been my experience and in this morning鈥檚 service we will reflect together on how this may be true for many others too.

4) Bidding prayer (Stephen and Jenny Wigley)听
So as we begin this act of worship, we share in a prayer based on the words of another great Teacher and Doctor of the faith, St. Augustine.

Eternal God, who are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; grant us to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We continue our worship with another Epiphany hymn, one written by the Catholic composer Bernadette Farrell which has become increasingly popular across all traditions, 鈥楥hrist be our light鈥�.听 听

5) Hymn 鈥楥hrist be our light鈥� 鈥� 麻豆官网首页入口 Archive 鈥� Llandaff Cathedral

6) Reading: Isaiah 49.1,5-7听 (Read by Jenny Wigley)
Our Old Testament lesson is taken from the Prophet Isaiah and chapter 49.

Listen to me, O coastlands,pay attention, you peoples from far away!The Lord called me before I was born,while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
And he said to me, 鈥淵ou are my servant,Israel, in whom I will be glorified.鈥滲ut I said, 鈥淚 have laboured in vain,I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;yet surely my cause is with the Lord,and my reward with my God.鈥�

And now the Lord says,who formed me in the womb to be his servant,to bring Jacob back to him,and that Israel might be gathered to him,for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,and my God has become my strength鈥� he says,
鈥淚t is too light a thing that you should be my servantto raise up the tribes of Jacoband to restore the survivors of Israel;I will give you as a light to the nations,that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.鈥�

7) Reflection: 鈥楳y experience of ecumenism鈥� (Stephen Wigley)
That lesson was read by Canon Jenny Wigley, a priest in the Church in Wales. Jenny is also my wife, and the person with whom I have shared in ministry in churches and circuits across Wales over the 36 years since we first met at the ecumenical training centre, Queen鈥檚 College in Birmingham.
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That encounter marks a key stage in my own faith journey, since my background is pretty much as Methodist as you can get. My grandfather, great grandfather and great uncle were all Methodist ministers (as is my brother), I attended Kingswood, the Methodist school founded by John Wesley in Bath and was a member of the John Wesley Society when a student in Oxford.

But however Methodist my background, things started to change when my family moved to Rome in 1969. Discovering churches lit up by candles and decorated with the lives of the saints, meeting pilgrims gathered from all over the world and finding out that if we were quick we could run across the bridge from our little Methodist Church at Ponte St Angelo just in time to receive a Papal blessing in St Peter鈥檚 Square, all these started to make an impression on my understanding of life and faith.

This developed further during my training at Queen鈥檚 College, studying and worshipping with colleagues from Anglican, Methodist and Reformed traditions, going on residential courses with students at the Catholic seminary in Oscott and attending placements in very different settings across Birmingham. The further academic studies I was encouraged to do later involved research into the profound relationship between two of the century鈥檚 greatest theologians, the Protestant Karl Barth and Catholic Hans Urs von Balthasar, and to see how their friendship both deepened their faith and enriched their theology.

All this has meant that while I can鈥檛 and wouldn鈥檛 wish to deny my Methodist roots, these have been profoundly challenged and shaped by the ecumenical encounters and ongoing friendships which have become part of my faith story. These continue to influence me today and challenge me to keep a broader perspective on how God鈥檚 purposes are to be seen at work in the world.

And I sense something of this in our reading from Isaiah, in the prophet鈥檚 reminder that God鈥檚 grace can鈥檛 be restricted to a faithful few, but is there to transform the whole world, that:听鈥淚 will give you as a light to the nations,that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.鈥�

8) Music 鈥楲auda Jerusalem Dominum鈥� from the Monteverdi Vespers 鈥撎� Barbara Borden et al, Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine

9) Link (Stephen)
We鈥檝e just heard Monteverdi鈥檚 setting of Psalm 147 鈥楲auda Jerusalem Dominum鈥�, 鈥楶raise the Lord O Jerusalem鈥�, from his Vespers, a psalm of praise to the God who gathers the outcasts and heals the broken-hearted.

Now my colleague Delyth Liddell, the Co-ordinating Chaplain at Cardiff University will read from Psalm 96 鈥楽ing to the Lord a new song鈥�. Delyth trained ecumenically here in Wales and, as we shall hear, music has played a significant part in her life and faith.

10) Psalm 96 (Read by Delyth Liddell)听 听
O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.听听Sing to the Lord; bless his name;听 tell of his salvation from day to day.听 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples.听For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.

Honour and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.Worship the Lord in holy splendour; tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, 鈥淭he Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. 鈥滾et the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.

11) Reflection: 鈥楲earning new music鈥� (Delyth Liddell & Stephen Wigley)

Bless the Lord My Soul fades up 鈥� The Songs of Taiz茅 Session Singers

Music has always been really important to me in my life and faith. I trained ecumenically and now minister in a similar context in the University, and this has introduced me to a wide variety of religious music from traditional hymns and evensong to contemporary worship songs.听 And it鈥檚 interesting that one of the types of music I feel drawn to in worship comes also from an ecumenical background; that鈥檚 the music of Taiz茅, which I value for its repetitive, meditative nature and which I share often with students in the Chaplaincy.听


Bless the Lord My Soul fades out

I can resonate with Delyth鈥檚 experience. Growing up in a Methodist boarding school with Chapel every day, I had exposure to much traditional hymn-singing alongside occasional forays into Handel鈥檚 Messiah. But it was when an enterprising Music teacher decided that the school choir would give a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers, that I discovered something quite different. I didn鈥檛 know at the time the significance of the Vespers for the development of choral music, but I sensed that this dramatic way of singing, with different voices calling out and responding to each other and undergirded by such majestic bass lines, was something very new which expressed a quite thrilling sense of the presence of God. I suspect that many others will have similar experiences. We鈥檝e become used to hearing new music on radio or on streaming services, we鈥檝e been led by choirs or music groups into enjoying new songs in worship, we鈥檝e even found some of this new material in our hymn books, and almost without recognising it we鈥檝e come to be influenced by the rich traditions of faith which underly them. That鈥檚 part of the wider experience of ecumenism which has influenced us all 鈥� and it resonates with the God who calls us in the words of the Psalmist, to 鈥楽ing a new song to the Lord鈥�, as we hear once more from Monteverdi.听

12) Music听Cantate Domino (Claudio Monteverdi) 鈥� Voces 8

13) Gospel John 1.29-37听 (Read by Gethin Rhys)
Our Gospel is read by another colleague and friend from our time at Queen鈥檚, Gethin Rhys,a United Reformed Church minister who has ministered in a number of ecumenical appointments across听Wales and now serves as Policy Officer for Cyt没n, Churches Together in Wales.听

The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, 鈥淗ere is the Lamb of God who听takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 鈥楢fter me comes a man who ranks ahead of me听because he was before me.鈥� I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that听he might be revealed to Israel.鈥� And John testified, 鈥淚 saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,听and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to听me, 鈥楬e on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.鈥� And Imyself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.鈥澨�

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by听he exclaimed, 鈥淟ook, here is the Lamb of God!鈥� The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed听Jesus.

14) Reflection: 鈥楶ointing towards something bigger鈥� (Stephen Wigley and Gethin Rhys)

One of the things which the ecumenical movement can do is to remind us that we are part of something bigger, to help recapture that broader perspective which lifts our eyes up from those local preoccupations which sometimes overwhelm us. I know that鈥檚 something which has been important to Gethin, and particularly as he attended the World Council of Churches last year.
听
There are a number of interesting responsibilities which go with my role, but for me a real highlight of the year was attending the World Council of Churches General Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany. We received a wonderful welcome from the local churches and the wider community in Baden-W眉rttemberg and Alsace. The mix of people from almost every country in the world was genuinely inspiring and gave a real sense of what it means to belong to a world-wide Church.

That opening of our eyes to something bigger is a theme which I find highlighted in this reading from John鈥檚 Gospel. The crowds have come out drawn to the Baptist, and to his call to repent and be baptised. But once Jesus appears, John knows that his role is to point away from himself and to the one who is to come, the one who is greater than he can ever be.听

For John this is true not just in terms of his own status and self-understanding, it鈥檚 also seen in the way which he directs two of his own followers to go and follow Jesus. I find there a generosity of spirit which is also part of the ecumenical movement at its best; that sense of encouraging people to go to the place which is best for them to find the truth and help they need to enable them to grow in faith.

And in all of these things, we discover that we are upheld by the God who created and sustains all things in his loving embrace; for as Jessye Norman reminds us, 鈥楬e鈥檚 got the whole world in his hands鈥︹��
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15) Music听鈥楬e鈥檚 got the whole word in his hands鈥櫶� 鈥� Jessye Norman etal Traditional (arr. Bonds)听

6) Reflection: Engaging with the world (Stephen Wigley)
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity offers an important opportunity to listen and learn from听one another and to grow in faith. But this is not just for the sake of improving fellowship among believers;听it鈥檚 also a way of coming together from our different traditions to engage with the world around us.

Such engagement has been an important part of ecumenical witness from the start, beginning听with the coming together of different churches across Britain in Ireland after World War 2 to form Christian听Aid, initially to work together helping refugees scattered across Europe, then in time to engage with relief and听Development work across the wider world, and in the 1960鈥檚 helping to inaugurate the work of the听Disasters Emergency Committee in times of humanitarian crisis.

It鈥檚 a commitment that is carried on into this year鈥檚 Week of Prayer, which takes as its theme听鈥楤e-longing: Praying for Unity amid Injustice鈥�. This reflects on the experience of Christians in Minneapolis听and the impact of the Black Lives matter movement, alongside the 30th anniversary of the death of Stephen听Lawrence in London. It seeks to examine and challenge the churches鈥� engagement with matters of racial听injustice; and in the worship material included it picks up the prophet Isaiah鈥檚 call to 鈥楧o good and seekjustice鈥� and Jesus鈥� story of the Good Samaritan.听

This is a challenge which is important to all of us and not least to my own Methodist Church, as we听have committed to a 鈥楯ustice, Dignity & Solidarity鈥� strategy over these next few years. But this year鈥檚听Week of Prayer is one which reminds all of us that to pray is also to engage; to be a good neighbour and听support those who challenge injustice.

It鈥檚 a theme powerfully articulated by the Gospel singer & civil rights activist Mavis Staples, whose听version of 鈥楾his little light of mine鈥� turns a sometime children鈥檚 chorus into a powerful protest song.

17) Song 鈥楾his little light of mine鈥� Mavis Staples CD: We'll Never Turn Back

18) Reflection: Being changed by each other (Stephen Wigley)听 听听
听 听 听 听 听听As we鈥檝e heard this morning, our ecumenical engagements can enrich, challenge and sustain us.听But crucial to all these encounters, and something supported by the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, is听their capacity also to change us: for listening to and learning from each other does not leave any of us听unchanged.

It was the Catholic convert from Anglicanism, John Cardinal Newman, who famously wrote that听鈥楾o live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often鈥�. Coming from my own Methodist tradition听with its Wesleyan understanding of Christian perfection, this is a truth which I both recognise and aspire to,听albeit there is much work still to be done! But I also recognise it requires that deep openness to my fellow听Christian which allows the Holy Spirit to be present in the encounter and for us all to be changed.听听

This is a truth which I find powerfully expressed in the hymn 鈥楥ome down O love divine鈥�; a hymn听written by a 15th century Italian mystic Bianco da Siena, translated by an Anglo-Irish cleric R F Littledale, and听set to a tune composed by the agnostic son of an Anglican vicar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and named after听the vicarage in which he was born, 鈥楧own Ampney鈥�.
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听鈥淔or none can guess its grace, till he become the place听 Wherein the Holy Spirit makes its dwelling.鈥�

19) Hymn 鈥楥ome down O Love divine鈥� 鈥� from 麻豆官网首页入口 Archive 鈥� St Davids Cathedral Pembrokeshire听

20) Prayers

Prompted by God鈥檚 Holy Spirit, we offer our prayers for the Church, the world and God鈥檚 people everywhere.

We pray for churches and congregations across Wales, the United Kingdom and the wider world who will be sharing in this week鈥檚 Prayer for Christian Unity, asking that they be united in seeking justice as well as united in prayer.

We pray for the work of Cyt没n in Wales and for all those involved in the ecumenical instruments both local and international, as well as for those relief & development agencies which seek to bring healing and hope in places of conflict and crisis.

We pray for all those who suffer in the troubled parts of our world and for those in our own country facing times of uncertainty amidst the challenge of rising bills, energy prices and industrial unrest.

We bring all these our thoughts and prayers together, as we share in the prayer which Jesus taught us:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, Now and forever. Amen.

As we come to the end of this service, I am reminded that one of the most precious things we can do for听each other is to share the treasures of the traditions from which we come. So we close with one of the听great, but perhaps less well-known, hymns of Charles Wesley; 鈥楪od of all power and truth and grace鈥�.

21) Hymn听鈥楪od of all power and truth and grace鈥櫶� - from 麻豆官网首页入口 Archive 鈥� Ombersley 鈥� Welsh Camerata

22) Blessing (Stephen Wigley)
May the love of Christ draw us closer to him and to each other, May the power of Christ strengthen us in his service, and may the peace of Christ fill our hearts and this, his world;听And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Be upon us all now and always, Amen.