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Opening Announcement:听At ten past eight on Radio 4 and 主播大秀 Sounds it鈥檚 time now for Sunday Worship. The service begins with a setting of words of the Venerable Bede 鈥� 鈥淐hrist is the Morning Star鈥�

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Welcome by the Dean

A very warm welcome to Durham Cathedral, the Shrine of St Cuthbert. This is also the Shrine of the Venerable Bede. I鈥檓 Andrew Tremlett and, as Dean of Durham, I am delighted that we join together this morning to worship God and to mark the millennium of the relocation of Bede鈥檚 remains from Jarrow to Durham in 1022. Some might say that Bede鈥檚 bones were stolen all those years ago听 but, whatever the cause, the effect is that the North East of England now recognises the Galilee Chapel, this spectacular but intimate setting with the tomb of Bede just in front of us in this service, as the final resting place of one of its greatest sons鈥斺�檛he Father of English Learning鈥� as Bede is known. And, as we give thanks for Bede鈥檚 legacy, so we are led in prayer now by Lilian Groves, long-standing volunteer guide at Durham Cathedral and former Vice-Principal of Hild Bede College here in Durham University.

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God our Maker,

whose Son Jesus Christ gave to your servant Bede

grace to drink in with joy

the Word that leads us to know you and to love you:

in your goodness

grant that we also may come at length to you,

the source of all wisdom,

and stand before your face;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

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Dean:听听听 Our hymns this morning are sung a little distance away from 听the Galilee Chapel, in the Quire, where the organ is sited and we now sing our first hymn which echoes Bede鈥檚 own description of Christ as the morning star.

听Hymn听听 Christ is the world鈥檚 true light - Words: G W Brigg, Tune: Rinkart (NEH 494), Melody and bass by J S Bach

听From the ruins of the monastery at Jarrow and St Paul鈥檚 Church, Jarrow

Sarah, Bishop of Jarrow, in conversation with Michael Hampel, Precentor, Durham Cathedral

Choir听听听 Psalm 98: 1 - 7听 (Dom Gregory Murray)

Dean听听听听 In a moment, the Reverend Canon Professor Simon Oliver gives the address but first Professor Karen Kilby, Bede Professor of Catholic Theology here at Durham University, reads from the Book of Ecclesiasticus.

听Reading听听听听听听听听听听听听 Ecclesiasticus 39: 1-3, 8, 9

He who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients, and is concerned with prophecies; he preserves the sayings of the famous and penetrates the subtleties of parables; he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs and is at home with the obscurities of parables. He will show the wisdom of what he has learned, and will glory in the law of the Lord鈥檚 covenant. Many will praise his understanding; it will never be blotted out. His memory will not disappear, and his name will live through all generations.

听Address听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The Reverend Professor Canon Simon Oliver

As Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University, I鈥檓 very aware that we are part of an ancient tradition of learning in north-east England that reaches beyond the foundation of the University in 1832. It includes the medieval monastic school and library of Durham Priory and the great library of the monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow that nourished Bede鈥檚 extraordinary mind in the eighth century. Although he鈥檚 best known for The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, most of Bede鈥檚 surviving works are commentaries on scripture. Scripture would have been the heart of his prayer and study. Bede would have memorised huge portions of the Bible and certainly all 150 psalms.

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Yet Bede belonged to a world which saw that God gives humankind not one book, but two. As well as the book of scripture, God also gives us the book of nature. The natural world, for Bede, is God鈥檚 world and it is saturated with beauty and meaning. It鈥檚 no surprise that in his late teens Bede started writing definitive works on nature and time that could be used in the education of his fellow monks. For Bede, the natural world is a system of signs. In other words, nature is not simply a resource for our use; it bears a meaning for our education. The motive behind studying nature for Bede lay not in the possibility of manipulating it, consuming it, and trading it 鈥� that鈥檚 what we do 鈥� but rather in understanding its meaning and beauty in relation to God. God teaches us through the signs of the book of nature as well as the book of scripture.

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In his study of the book of nature, one of Bede鈥檚 main concerns is how we understand time and the setting of the Church鈥檚 calendar of feasts and fasts. For Bede, there are three kinds of time. First, there鈥檚 customary time 鈥� the kind of dates we set to structure our cultural life. Bank holidays are a good example of customary time that鈥檚 familiar to us today. We could have Bank Holidays at almost any time and it鈥檚 only by custom that they鈥檙e on certain days, even though they look like they鈥檙e timed to coincide with rain. As well as customary time, there is also natural time given by the orbits of the planets which in turn give the cycles of the seasons. The solar year and the lunar month are good examples of natural time. Then there鈥檚 time given by authorities, either human or divine. For example, the division of the week into seven days is not a matter of custom, it鈥檚 a matter of divine authority because the seven-day week is given in the creation story in Genesis. The first day of the week marks the first day of creation, the creation of light. So there are three kinds of time for Bede: customary time such as Bank Holidays, natural time such as the solar year, and time given by authorities such as the seven day week established in Genesis.

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Now, in the generation before Bede there had been great controversy about the timing of Easter according to the Irish method or the Roman method. It was the Roman method that won the day. There was a lot at stake. Having a single method for dating Easter, the principal Christian festival, would ensure the unity of the Kingdom and the unity of the Church. The mathematical calculation of the date of Easter, known as computus in medieval Latin, was extremely complex. So how do we date Easter? Put very simply, we take the spring equinox around 21st March, when day and night are the same length, then calculate the first full moon after the spring equinox, and Easter falls on the Sunday after that full moon. The first full moon is known as the Paschal Moon and it determines the date of the Jewish Passover. Because Jesus was crucified and rose during the Passover festival, maintaining that link between Easter and Passover is crucial.

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Like his contemporaries, Bede thought this dating of Easter is important for many reasons. First, at the spring equinox the day and night are the same length. After that, the days get longer into the summer. The spring equinox is the time when light begins to overcome darkness. Secondly, the first full moon is the time after the equinox when the world is illuminated for a full 24 hours 鈥� during the day by the sun and during the night by the brilliance of the full moon. Again, the light triumphs over darkness, life over death, Christ over the darkness of sin. So dating Easter around the triumph of light over darkness puts it into a cosmic context. Easter is not like Christmas or a saint鈥檚 day for Bede; it鈥檚 not an anniversary. We鈥檙e not simply remembering something that happened two thousand years ago. Easter is a festival with a full cosmic setting. The cosmos 鈥� the sun and the moon 鈥� help us tell the story of light overcoming darkness in Jesus Christ. Easter is both our festival and creation鈥檚 festival. We approach Easter through the darkness of the cross, but the light triumphs as the days lengthen.

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Recently, there鈥檚 been some discussion about fixing the date of Easter, say to the first Sunday in April. In Bede鈥檚 terms, that would be to reduce Easter to customary time 鈥� to a time that fits our diaries better and makes it easier to plan holidays. But for Bede, the date of Easter doesn鈥檛 belong to us and our customs. It belongs to both natural time 鈥� it鈥檚 calculated by cosmic movement 鈥� and authoritative time 鈥� it鈥檚 given by the event of Christ鈥檚 passion and resurrection at Passover. But the point is this: in the dating of Easter, nature instructs us. We are gathered into its cosmic life. In our modern attitude to nature, it鈥檚 we who instruct nature. We manipulate it, exploit it, make it submit to our economic priorities. Nature is made to submit to human custom, to our customary time. Maybe it鈥檚 time we submit more to nature鈥檚 time, to God鈥檚 time. For Bede, in the days of Christ鈥檚 passion, death and resurrection, God鈥檚 two books, of scripture and nature, come together to teach us of the light and love of Christ overcoming the darkness of human sin.

听Hymn听听 Ye watchers and ye holy ones (Words: Athelstan Riley Tune: Lasst uns Erfreuen (NEH 478) Ralph Vaughan Williams)

听Dean听听听听 And now our prayers are led for us by students from the Venerable Bede Church of England Academy in Sunderland.

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O God, the hope of our ancestors:听

look graciously upon your children;

and grant that, taught by your servant Bede,

we may also in our time

discern the working of your providence

and trust in your continuing power

to strengthen and guide us;听

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, world without end. Amen.

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In this place,

hallowed by the prayers of pilgrims down the centuries,

we pray for peace in our world,

especially in the many places of conflict at this time;

for the healing of wounds both in body and spirit;

and for those around us about whom we are concerned:

the sick and the dying, those in torment or distress,

those anxious about the rising cost of living.

May they know your grace and your love in their lives.

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A Prayer of the Venerable Bede

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Open our hearts, O Lord,

and enlighten our minds by the grace of your Holy Spirit,

that we may seek what is well-pleasing to your will;听

and so order our doings after your commandments,

that we may be found ready

to enter into your unending joys;听

through Jesus Christ our Lord.听

Amen.

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Our Father,

who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.听

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.听

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

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听Dean:听Charlie Hardwick, known to millions as Val Pollard from Emmerdale, who lives locally, now reads from Bede鈥檚 History of the English Church and People, where Bede compares the uncertainty of the life without God鈥檚 kingdom to the hope of eternity with God through the Christian life.

Reader: 鈥淵our majesty, King Edwin, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge it seems to me like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner of a winter鈥檚 day with your chiefs and counsellors.听 In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall; outside, the storms of winter snow or rain are raging.听 This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another.听 While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing.听 Therefore if this new teaching has brought any more certain knowledge, it seems only right that we should follow it.鈥澨�

Choir / Organ O Rex gloriae (Music: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)

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Dean听听听听 鈥極 King of glory, Lord of power and might, who has this day as Conqueror ascended into the highest heavens, leave us not comfortless鈥�; music by Palestrina. As the echoes of those words which Bede sang in his last hours to comfort his companions die away, we hear Khaiko Makwela-Wali, a volunteer server here at Durham Cathedral, read from St John鈥檚 Gospel, Chapter 6, the passage which Bede was translating when he died.

Reader:听Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.听 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.听 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.听 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.听 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 鈥淲here are we to buy bread for these people to eat?鈥澨� He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.听 Philip answered him, 鈥淪ix months鈥� wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.鈥澨� One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter鈥檚 brother, said to him, 鈥淭here is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.听 But what are they among so many people?鈥�

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Dean听听听听 Another Cuthbert, Cuthbert the Deacon, wrote an account of Bede鈥檚 death for St Cuthwin and Michael Baldwin, an ordinand from Cranmer Hall here in Durham, reads it to us 听now.

Reader:听And so it happened that as Bede sat upon the floor of his cell, singing 鈥楪lory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit鈥� he breathed his last. And we can believe without hesitation that, inasmuch as he always laboured in this life to the praise of God, so his soul journeyed to the joys of heaven for which he longed.听

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Choir / Organ: Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. (Music: Thomas Tallis)

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Responsory 听听听听听 led by the Dean听

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听 O God, we have heard with our ears,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and our ancestors have told us:

All听听听听听听听 The noble works that you did in their days,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and in the years before them.

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听听 听 听 听 听 听 听听They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 In that day when I gather all nations into my Kingdom.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听 You shall show me the path of life:

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 In your presence is the fullness of joy.

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听The Blessing听听听听听 led by the Dean听 听

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听 God give you grace to share the inheritance

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 of Bede and all the saints in glory;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and the blessing of God almighty,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 be among you and remain with you always.听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Amen.

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Hymn听听 Angel-voices ever singing (Words: Francis Pott, Tune: Angel Voices (NEH 336), Edwin George Monk

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Organ 鈥� Voluntary William Harris鈥� Flourish for an Occasion

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Closing Announcement - Sunday Worship was recorded in Durham Cathedral. The service was led by Dean Andrew Tremlett and the preacher was Canon Professor Simon Oliver. The Master of the Choristers and Organist was Daniel Cook and the Sub-Organist, Joseph Beech. The reader was Charlie Hardwick, and the producer, Philip Billson. Next week Sunday Worship comes from City Church in Cardiff, which is part of the Elim Pentecostal Church.

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