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Revd Chantal Mason (CM) 鈥� Welcome

A very warm welcome to Bath Abbey. I鈥檓 the Revd Chantal Mason the Vicar Pastor here.

听At the forefront of our minds this morning, (especially as Lent begins) is the situation in Ukraine and the surrounding countries - with now over a million refugees, thousands of lives destroyed, and many living in fear 鈥� and, the continuing aspiration of the Ukrainian people for freedom, security and justice.

And so we begin today with a prayer for Ukraine from the Archbishops鈥� of Canterbury and York:

God of peace and Justice,

We pray for the people of Ukraine today.

We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons.

We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,

that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them.

We pray for those with power over war or peace,

for wisdom, discernment and compassion, to guide their decisions.

Above all, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear,

that you would hold and protect them.

We pray, in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen

听This is the constant backdrop in our minds to our worship this first Sunday of Lent - as we mark the beginning of the Church鈥檚 season of reflection and self-denial. Lent carves out space for us to think and pray - in communion with all who suffer - as we consider the experience of Jesus in the wilderness and the fierce temptations he fought.

Hymn: Forty Days and Forty Nights

Over the next six weeks, many of us will take great care over what we鈥檙e eating and drinking. We鈥檒l exercise more self-discipline. We鈥檒l patrol the fridge and eliminate all luxury items! And we鈥檒l establish new rhythms of prayer. But鈥� we might observe Lent through a different lens, choosing to see the full extent of the physical and human hungers around us. Lent might, then, look less like a purely private devotion, and more of a public statement: Where there is a visible straightening out of our priorities - and an offer of 鈥榬adical hospitality鈥�. As Isaiah 40 v3 reads: 鈥淎 voice cries out: 鈥業n the wilderness 鈥榩repare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God鈥欌��.听

Lent invites us to see the world from a different vantage point; to 鈥榤ake straight鈥� my meandering attitudes and distorted prejudice about those who are different from me. And to develop a 鈥榩assion for hospitality鈥�. In our service this morning we are delighted to welcome Dr Krish Kandiah who will share with us an expansive vision for hospitality. For Lent reminds us, that hospitality begins at home, as I get my own house in order.

Anthem: 鈥楤lessed are the Pure in Heart鈥� by Walford Davies

[Confession, Absolution and the Collect for the First Sunday of Lent]

CM: We acknowledge the truth that our hearts are often full of uninvited guests; dark thoughts, shame and malice. We do not see clearly. All too often we make God in our own image.听 We fail to see others as they truly are, and we hold a distorted view of our own identity and value.

Confession and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him. Let us then renounce our wilfulness and ask His mercy by confessing our sins in penitence and faith.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Lord have mercy.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

Choir: Kyrie eleison.

Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.

Christ have mercy

Choir: Christe eleison.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 Lord have mercy.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 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 Choir: Kyrie eleison. 听

CM: Absolution

CM: The Collect for the 1st Sunday of Lent

CM: Our Bath Abbey choir will now sing the beautiful anthem, 鈥楾hou knowest the secrets of our hearts鈥� by Henry Purcell.

Anthem: Thou knowest the secrets of our hearts by Henry Purcell

CM: 听Our Gospel reading is read by Rebecca Jellis

Rebecca: 听A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4.

Matthew Chapter 4: verses 1-11听

CM: We now join the congregation and the Abbey Choir in singing, 鈥楲ead us Heavenly Father, lead us鈥�

Hymn: Lead us Heavenly Father

Krish prays before the sermon

Sermon: Dr Krish Kandiah

There are just a few of the 50,000 or so meals I have eaten in my lifetime that are mouth-wateringly memorable. That hot bowl of soup taking a break on a long bus journey with strangers through Albania. Eating 鈥淩oti Chanai鈥� from a street seller in Kuala Lumpur with my grandad.听 The first time I ate Christmas dinner with my fianc茅e鈥檚 family. What was most significant and memorable about those occasions was not primarily the amazing flavours or the beautiful locations, but about the people I was with at the time. I close my eyes and I can still see them. Remembering them makes me smile even now.

Sharing a table, eating a meal together is a powerful experience.听 The food between us somehow creates a bond, breaks down barriers, establishes trust, opens a conversation. It doesn鈥檛 just nourish us physically, but socially and spiritually too.

This Lent, through our Radio 4 Lent Series 鈥淎 passion for hospitality鈥�, we are considering what we can do to follow the example of Jesus, whose mealtimes were memorable to the gospel writers not because of what he ate, but who he ate with. The social bonds that he made around the table were with the most unexpected people. Those who others would have overlooked and underestimated. The spiritual benefits that he served up were life-changing. It was a hearty and healthy feast of three-courses: dignity, worth and self-esteem.

Those looking on from a distance turned their noses up in disgust. How could Jesus sit there eating with unsavoury crooks? How could he enjoy his food surrounded by those who were poor and unclean? Jesus swallowed the criticisms of eating far too much with the wrong sort of people on the wrong days of the week. He would rather offend the people who were full of themselves, than avoid those who were physically, socially and spiritually hungry.

There are far too many people in our world today who are hungry. Around the globe millions people go to bed on an empty stomach night after night. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN puts the number undernourished in 2019 at 690 million 鈥� and says the situation is getting worse. In our own communities hundreds of people are resorting to queuing at food banks. Meanwhile in Afghanistan the most devastating famine is tightening its grip on the country right now. Driven by hunger, desperate Afghan parents are being faced with some horrible choices which no human being should ever have to face, situations most of us cannot begin to comprehend. And in case we dared to assume such shocking adversities could never happen in Europe, thousands[PB1]听 of Ukrainian families are today facing food shortages they wouldn鈥檛 have imagined only a week ago. As we watch the horrors of the war unfold hour by hour on the media, we can only pray for a swift end to the suffering.

Many people, in difficult times, turn in desperation to the God of the Bible. We read that he hears our prayers and has compassion on those in distress around the world. We see that Jesus knew what it was like to live in poverty, in a country that had been invaded, overthrown and occupied by a foreign power. Although he knew what it was like to create bonds with people around a full dinner table, he also knew what it was like when there was no food to put on the table. In our reading today Matthew explains that Jesus was hungry. His hunger was not the craving we might feel at 6pm as we smell bacon sizzling under the grill, rice steaming in the pan. His were the hunger pangs of weeks and weeks without anything to eat at all. There he was, the God who created all the food in all the world, choosing to suffer so that he could identify with that Ukrainian family wondering where their next meal will come from, with that man in the queue at the food bank, that Afghan mother, that child trying to sleep on an empty stomach.

Struggling with the physical, social and spiritual temptations raised by his own hunger, in a cruel and broken world, Jesus says:

鈥溾�楳an shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.鈥�

Jesus鈥� words challenge us. Do we pay more attention to what we are going to put into our mouth, or on what comes out of God鈥檚 mouth? Is it just food that we need, or also the wisdom to know how to share it, and who to share it with? Jesus spent his life showing us exactly what this looks like practically: sharing meals with those around us who are economically poor, spiritually thirsty and socially excluded.听 Will we follow his example?

We now hear from the vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, Nicky Gumbel. Nicky鈥檚 best known for his work with the Alpha Course that has seen more than a million people asking questions about the Christian faith over shared meals together 鈥� in the UK and across the English speaking world. Earlier this week I met up with Nicky. He told me about an act of hospitality during the period of the Third Reich by one man who was prepared to stand up to Hitler. That man was no less than the great Nobel laureate Albert Einstein whose Theory of Relativity makes him one of the greatest physicists ever to have lived. Clearly Einstein鈥檚 genius didn鈥檛 diminish his moral bravery. Nicky is certain that Einstein鈥檚 timely interventions ensured the Gumble family鈥檚 survival.

Interview: The Rev鈥檇 Nicky Gumbel

Hymn: When I needed a neighbour

CM: Jeremy Key-Pugh, a Reader at Bath Abbey, will now lead us in our prayers

Prayers

Anthem: Do not be afraid by Philip Stopford

CM: The final blessing

The Organ Voluntary

-END OF SERVICE-

Please note:

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.