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Leader: The Reverend Canon Roger Hall

Good morning, and on this Passion Sunday welcome to the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, here in the Tower of London. I’m Canon Roger Hall. Today is called Passion Sunday because it’s devoted to the contemplation of the suffering of Jesus from the time of his agonizing prayers on the Mount of Olives until his final hours on the cross. Today, the cross seems ever closer. Here on Radio 4 our lent theme has been based upon those words from Matthew 25: verses 34 to 36 and we have now reached verse 36 where it says, ’I was in prison and you visited me’. This week’s Lent materials can be found online at Lent22.com.

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The Tower of London has been a prison for centuries, from one of its earliest prisoners, Bishop Ranulf Flambard Bishop of Durham, who was imprisoned here in 1101 (who by the way, managed to escape) to the Kray twins who were held here in 1957.

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For centuries people lived in fear of the Tower – it was thought that those who entered The Tower, never left the Tower – and for many people, that was certainly true. This small chapel bears testimony to that, with over 1800 bodies buried within it walls. Amongst them are three Queens of England, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey along with St Thomas More and St John Fisher; for many people held prisoner at The Tower life would end as the executioner’s axe fell upon their neck.Ìý

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Even today, the second senior Beefeater is called ‘The Goaler’; he carries the ‘the axe’ on all ceremonial occasions as a reminder of former times.

On this Passion Sunday we reflect on the fact that Jesus was a prisoner, and he would have to face his own cruel death. Not all prisoners have the same courage and fortitude as St Thomas More, St John Fisher.

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Let us Pray.

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HYMN: It is a thing most wonderful (Herongate)

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ROGER:

Close on all out hearts at the moment are the people of Ukraine, especially those who have lost their home and livelihood. In this their darkest hour we hold them in our thoughts and prayers and pray for all those working for true and lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.Ìý

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Recalling the many occasions we have let God down, when our courage and fortitude has failed us, let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, knowing, that by God’s grace he will forgive us.

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CHOIR: ANTHEM: Salvator Mundi (Tallis)

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ROGER:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an exceptional pastor and theologian of the German Lutheran Church who was arrested in 1943 for his anti-Hitler comments. He spent 18 months in Tegel Prison before being transferred to Flossenberg Prison where he was hanged on the 9th April 1945. His letters and papers written whilst he was in prison have been a source of reflection and inspiration to many Christians.

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Here is part of one of his poems written while he was in prison - Who am I?

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The former MP and prisoner Jonathan Aitken, and now Anglican priest, reflects upon his time in prison. He does it in reference to the verses from Matthew’s Gospel which form the basis of our lent theme, and in particular on the verse we focus on today which says ’I was in prison and you visited me’.

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Jonathan Aitkin

Most people don’t visit prisoners. Jesus’s advice was to ‘reach out to the least of these my brethren’, and he picks on prisoners as being the least of these my brethren. And I think it’s the greatest boost to a prisoner’s morale that is imaginable, to see your nearest and dearest, or old friends. I used to be the wing cleaner, and I used to see people sprucing themselves up and shaving, and making great effort to be on good form and looking neat and tidy before their visits because it meant so much to them. Equally, one day I was doing that myself in the prison washroom and a guy said to me ‘got a visit have you Jonno?’, and I said ‘Yes’, and he said ‘you know, I haven’t had a visit for seventeen years’, and then he started crying. And it’s the difference between being visited by people who love you or like you, and being neglected. It’s a big, big gap and a big difference.

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CHOIR: ANTHEM: Drop, drop slow tears (Gibbons)

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ROGER:

A reading from Luke’s gospel chapter 23 beginning to read from verse 32.

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HYMN: O sacred head (Passion Chorale)

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ROGER:

Our preacher this morning is Major Alison Stone, Salvation Army Chaplain at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs.

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ALISON:

I’ve been a Prison Chaplain for 4 years now and in those four years I have met many wonderful people and experienced many things I never would have, without the privilege of being within the prison service.

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It may seem unusual that I think it a privilege to be a Prison Chaplain. Where’s the privilege in wearing keys round my waist and locking myself through the countless gates I go through when I’m visiting the wings. For some the thought of being locked in anywhere is scary and yet within the confines of those prison walls, I have been privileged to meet Jesus on many occasions and so for me, the privilege is great.

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As a Salvation Army Chaplain in a well-known men’s prison in West London, I get asked a lot of questions. Questions from people outside the prison service and those from within. ‘Is it scary?’ ‘What do you do?’ and ‘Why do you do it?’ being the most frequent.

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But life is full of questions, isn’t it? I’ve recently finished a book by the American spiritual writer Philip Yancy called ‘I Was Just Wondering’ and it’s a book full of questions! In a chapter called ‘Born-Again Mathematics’ Yancy questions the ‘mathematical aptitude shown in the Bible’. He references many Biblical accounts where things don’t add up when it comes to our human thinking and the way God thinks.

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One such account was in our earlier Bible reading taken from Luke’s gospel and the thief on the cross next to Jesus. Here was a guy who was on the cross because of the questionable choices he had made and yet in those last minutes of his life, when he voices his guilt and Jesus’ innocence, Jesus offers him forgiveness and the reassurance of a life with him in eternity.

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The question raised is whether stories of last-minute forgiveness may deter us from living good Christian lives. After all, where is the point in living upright, moral lives and fighting the good fight not to give in to the temptations of life only to find that someone who has lived a selfish and immoral life makes it to Heaven after a deathbed confession.

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It's an interesting question to ask, but for me the story of Jesus’ interaction with the penitent thief is a beautiful account of hope and hope is what gets many people through their darkest night. Hope does not remove the dark times of life but instead gives us the courage to face them because something better awaits us.

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That’s certainly true for the men I meet in prison. They still have to serve their sentence in a place that can be pretty hope-less. A place where many questions are asked, but if there’s hope, then those days can become bearable, even good, may be even life changing!

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Some of us may have come across one of those questionnaires where at the end we’re told what our spiritual gifts are. I can remember always feeling terribly disappointed because one of my gifts was always hospitality! When I think back, I realise that my understanding of hospitality was limited. I thought it was just giving someone a good tea when they came to visit and although that’s part of it, hospitality is also entertaining or giving time to those we meet, being hospitable.

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Jesus showed hospitality to the penitent thief as he gave his time and attention to the man hanging beside him, even though he was going through his own agony. That ties into another question I’m often asked; how can I show hospitality to someone who may have committed a dreadful crime?

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Obviously, I can only speak for myself, but when I meet anyone, whether in prison, out on the street, in church or wherever I may be, I meet a person where they are and who they are, at that moment. If it’s someone I know, I may know bits about their past, if it’s a stranger, I may know nothing but when I meet anyone, I make a conscious decision not to judge them and let’s be honest, that isn’t always easy!

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I recently came across one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison poems called, ‘Who Am I?’ We heard it read earlier, and it reminds us that “Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!’

I’m reminded of the story in John chapter 8 of the woman caught in adultery. Brought before Jesus, she should get the desserts the culture of the time believed appropriate, but Jesus merely says ‘If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’

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We’re all sinners, aren’t we? Bonhoeffer’s poem could be one for us all, not just for prisoners surely? We are all God’s children. Some sins are visible, most not so. The consequences of sin may differ, prison sentences for some of the more visible ‘sins’. We may not end up in a physical prison, but we may be in prison mentally, our guilt, like prison bars, keeping us from the fullness of life Jesus died for us all to have.

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Hope and forgiveness are like the keys I wear round my waist on a Wednesday when I’m in the prison. They open the doors to a life of freedom and fulness which is available for us all. There are those who live their lives in physical freedom but who are trapped in their own ‘prisons’ and there are those within physical prison cells who are living lives of ‘freedom’ because they have received God’s forgiveness and live in the knowledge of that.

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Right at the start, I said I am often asked why I do what I do. The answer? I do it for love. God loves me so much that he sent his only son to die on a cross in my place, he did that for me, in fact he did that for us all. That’s something I want everyone to know about and experience for themselves, whether they live in or out of a prison’s walls.

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God bless you.

CHOIR: ANTHEM: God so loved the world (Chilcott)

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PRAYERS:

ALL: 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.

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CHOIR/ORGAN: The royal banners forward go (Gonfalon Royal)

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ROGER:

Christ crucified draw you to himself, so that you find in him a sure ground for faith, a firm support for hope, and the assurance of sins forgiven and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.

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ORGAN: VOLUNTARY

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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.

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