蜜芽传媒

CANON PRECENTOR - THE REVD CANON ANDREW STEAD:

Good morning and welcome to Lichfield Cathedral on this Sunday following the church鈥檚 celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus into heaven.听 As the introit, sung by our Cathedral Choir, with the incipit sung by one of our choristers, Josie, Highly Commended Chorister in the 蜜芽传媒 Young Chorister of Year Competition 2020, reminds us, we are not left looking up, but we are invited to look forward with hope and joy.听 A hope and joy that rest on the foundation of our loving relationship with Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.听

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INTROIT:听听听听听听听听 The Ascension Antiphon

听听听听听听听听听听听 听听听听听听听听听听听 Richard Lloyd听

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Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? Alleluia!

In like manner as ye have seen him going up into heaven,

so shall he come again. 听Alleluia!

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THE REVD CANON ANDREW STEAD:

Lichfield Cathedral鈥檚 origins date back to the 7th century when our founder St Chad came from Lastingham to this region as first bishop and missionary.听 Chad died in the year 672 from the plague, and this place became one of the three great pilgrimage sites in the middle ages, and since then has stood as a powerful symbol of the enduring loving power of God.听听听 This place has borne over the centuries the marks of the twists and turns of history.听听 In the midst of triumph and disaster people have come to this place bringing with them their thanksgivings and their sorrows 鈥� looking for and finding comfort, assurance, a foundation for hope and a vision for the future.听

This past year, when we all have been journeying through the demands and uncertainties of an international pandemic, we have sought to do all we can as a Cathedral to live faithfully and hopefully.听听 Despite the challenges, we have worked hard, as have so many people across the community, to continue the mission of the cathedral in proclaiming the loving purposes of God and living out our values of holiness, hospitality, healing and hope.听

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Let us pray:

God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

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Our Cathedral choir now sings the great Ascension Day hymn: Hail the day that sees him rise.

HYMN: 听听听听听听听听听听 Hail the day that sees Him rise

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Llanfair

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Charles Wesley 1707-1788, Thomas Cotterill 1779-1823 and others

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THE RT REVD JAN MCFARLANE:

At the heart of Lichfield Cathedral hangs a truly magnificent icon. An icon of Christ 鈥楥rucified, Risen and Lord of All鈥�.

Created by the Bethlehem Icon School, it makes a powerful and thought provoking and inspiring statement of the one in whom we believe: the one who brings healing, reconciliation and hope to an often weary, despairing and divided world.听听

If you sit in the main body of the Cathedral, the nave, your eyes are drawn upwards to the lonely figure of Christ nailed to the cross. A vivid reminder of Good Friday.

This is Jesus who, as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, was not just a carpenter from Nazareth, but who was one with God.

And who used that equality with God not to condemn us and lord it over us, but to become one of us; to live among us; to experience what we experience; to teach us in everyday language what it means to be a beloved child of God; to break bread with us; and then to die for us, dying a humiliating and excruciating death on a harsh wooden cross, carrying on his shoulders the weight of the world鈥檚 sin; the weight of the world鈥檚 proud determination to live independently of God, and the resulting disorder and chaos.

In the haunting words of the Christian writer WH Vanstone, who sees hanging on the cross not a common criminal, but the one we name King of Kings and Lord of Lords:

Here is God: no monarch he,

throned in easy state to reign;

here is God, whose arms of love

aching, spent, the world sustain.

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We have been living through a very long Good Friday. In the past 14 months we have walked through sickness and death, bereavement and isolation, fear and anxiety; loneliness and despair.

And where is God?

The cross tells us that he is there right there in the very heart of it all: bearing the burden with us and for us. We never truly walk alone.

As a student, one of my favourite posters was a cartoon-style drawing of the cross that first Good Friday; Jesus鈥� body carried away to be sealed safely away in a tomb; the Roman soldiers drifting away, job done.

And on the cross, a note has been pinned. It reads, 鈥淭o be continued.鈥�

In our next reading we hear how the story does indeed continue;
in ways those first disciples could never have even begun to imagine鈥�

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READING:听听听听听听听 Luke 24.44-53听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 A reading from the gospel of Luke.

Then Jesus said to the disciples, 鈥楾hese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you鈥攖hat everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.鈥櫶齌hen he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,听and he said to them, 鈥楾hus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,听and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.听You are witnesses of these things.听And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.鈥�

听Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.听While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;听and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

This is the word of the Lord: thanks be to God.

ANTHEM:听听听听听听听 Caelos ascendit hodie

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 C.V. Stanford

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Today into the heavens has ascended Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, Alleluia!
He sits at the Father's right hand, and rules heaven and earth, Alleluia!
Now have been fulfilled all of Father David's songs, Now God is with God, Alleluia!
He sits upon the royal throne of God, in this his greatest triumph, Alleluia!
Let us bless the Lord: Let the Holy Trinity be praised, let us give thanks to the Lord,
Alleluia! Amen.

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THE RT REVD JAN MCFARLANE:

The story continues because we don鈥檛 leave Jesus lying lifeless in the tomb. Early the next morning, Mary finds the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Jesus appears to her, speaks to her, encourages her; and then appears to the other disciples too. And then, just as they鈥檝e got used to the idea that Jesus is indeed, risen from the dead; he鈥檚 gone again: but this time he leaves them so that instead of being with his disciples in one place in one time; he can be with us all, in every place, at every time.

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And so on the reverse of the Lichfield icon we find a very different image : the image of Christ risen and ascended. This is Easter and Ascension Day rolled into one! This is the image you see when, attending a service as a communicant here in Lichfield Cathedral, having received the consecrated bread and wine at the altar rail, you turn to return to your seat. Through Christ鈥檚 death on the cross - through his body and blood - through his death and resurrection - we are reunited with God; 鈥渞ansomed, healed, restored, forgiven.鈥�

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This side of the icon catches the sun rising in the east: glimmers and glows, expands our limited horizons and points us heavenwards.

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And made bold by this sure assurance that death is not the end of the story, and that we as children of God are loved beyond measure, we prepare to journey on - to live out in our daily lives what we have heard and said and sung in our worship.

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Our long, dark, weary and lonely Good Friday is coming to an end. The Prime Minister has announced that tomorrow, we reach stage three of the easing of the lockdown restrictions. Not long to go now.

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A new day is dawning - and the question which now faces us all is 鈥榟ow are we to live鈥�?听

We鈥檝e all been changed by this past year. Like weary travellers, we are not the same as a result of all we鈥檝e experienced in our long Covid journey.

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How will I, how will you, live differently as a result?

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As we, like those first disciples, wait for Pentecost - and in the easing out of lockdown, reflect on the disciples breaking out of closed, locked doors, to live new Spirit-filled lives as followers of, and witnesses to the risen Jesus, we look to our ascended King.

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And we remember that on the night before he died, he had supper with his friends; and then he took a towel and washed their feet. This, he said, is what it means to live as citizens of God鈥檚 Kingdom; we鈥檙e to serve one another, care for one another, not lord it over others as earthly rulers often do - but to be ones who serve.

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READING:听听听听听听听 Philippians 2.5-11

A reading from Saint Paul鈥檚 letter to the Philippians

Let the same mind be in you that was听in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of听God,
听听听did not regard equality with God
听听听as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
听听听taking the form of a slave,
听听听being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
听听听he humbled himself
听听听and became obedient to the point of death鈥�
听听听even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted听him
听听听and gave him the name
听听听that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
听听听every knee should bend,
听听听in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
听听听that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

This is the word of the Lord: thanks be to God.

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ANTHEM: 听听听听听听 Let all the World

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Vaughan Williams

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Let all the world, in every corner, sing: my God and King!

The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly,

The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow,

Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and king!

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Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and king!

The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out;

But, above all, the heart must bear the longest part.

Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and king!

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THE RT REVD JAN MCFARLANE:

On Maundy Thursday this year, we couldn鈥檛 wash one another鈥檚 feet due to Covid restrictions.听 But we opened up our Cathedral as a vaccination centre and while the NHS staff worked from dawn to dusk to deliver vaccines, we disinfected chairs and ordered taxis and pushed wheelchairs and tried to live out what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ : the risen and ascended and glorified king - who kneels in service to wash our feet - and who calls us to do the same.

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The same Jesus, who, in the words of our next hymn, is 鈥淕od the Saviour; Christ the Lord / ever to be worshipped, trusted and adored.鈥澨�听听听

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HYMN: 听听听听听听听听听听 At the name of Jesus

听听听听听听听听听听听 听听听听听听听听听听听 Caroline M Noel 1817-1877

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INTERCESSIONS:

Glory to you, O God, for Christ crucified, risen, ascended and exalted.听 King of kings. Come and rule in our hearts, make us part of your kingdom.听听 Ascended Christ, send us our to proclaim you to the nations, let your church reveal your glory.听 In your power lift up all who are down or despairing, all who have lost, during this past period of time, vision or hope.听

Lord, hear us:听 Lord, graciously hear us.

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Glory to you, O God, king of Glory, come and rule in our lives, that all humanity might become your kingdom.听听 May you reign in peace and love throughout the whole earth deepening and healing the relationships between peoples and nations.听 We pray for a time when no one will be exploited and no one will be neglected.听 We pray for those nations where lives have been torn apart by warfare, injustice, oppression, poverty and disease; praying particularly for the people of the holy land, for Israeli and Palestinian - for a cessation of violence; may your love, justice, peace and freedom be known by all.

Lord, hear us:听 Lord, graciously hear us.

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Glory to you, O God, king of Glory, may your love rule in our hearts, homes and communities.听听 As we look forward to the lifting of the restrictions placed upon us during these times, we pray for all those who give hospitality to others, for those who care for visitors and strangers.听听 We pray that our communities might be strengthened and restored and that all might prosper and flourish within them.听

Lord, hear us:听 Lord, graciously hear us.

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Glory to you, O God, king of Glory, may your healing power be known in all our lives.听 We pray for those who are in need or who are suffering.听 We pray for loved ones who are ill, and we pray for all those who care for them.

Lord, hear us:听 Lord, graciously hear us.

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Glory to you, O God, king of Glory, Glory to the Lord of lords.听听 Glory to him who has ascended.听 O crucified, risen and ascended Christ, all authority in heaven and earth is yours.听 We proclaim you as our Lord.听 We offer you our love.听 We give you our whole lives as we join together and pray the prayer that Jesus himself taught us:

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.听 Amen.

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THE REVD CANON ANDREW STEAD:

The Cathedral choir will now sing the anthem, If ye Love me a setting of words from St John鈥檚 Gospel by Philip Wilby that help us look forward towards Pentecost.听听 The anthem features again Josie, the runner up of the 蜜芽传媒 Young Chorister of the Year competition 2020.

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ANTHEM: 听听听听听听 If ye love me

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Philip Wilby

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If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever; e鈥檈n the Spirit of truth. And ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.

[John 14: 15-18]

BLESSING:

The Lord be with you: and also with you

Christ the King of Glory, who has ascended into heaven,

open your eyes to behold him in majesty,

open you hearts to receive him in love,

and draw you into the hope of the fulness of his kingdom.听

And the blessing of God almighty, the Father,

the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you today and always.听 Amen.

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HYMN: 听听听听听听听听听听 Christ is the King! O friends rejoice 听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Gelobt Sei Gott

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 G. K. A. Bell 1883-1958

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ORGAN POSTLUDE: 听听 Martyn Rawles

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