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Script may not be as broadcast and may include various production notes and possible errors. It is provided as a guide only for those who wish to refer to the service content.

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Hymn:

Glasgow Orpheus Choir 鈥� The Lord鈥檚 my Shepherd 听

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Pippa Cramer:

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My name is Pippa Cramer and I work as Pastoral Care and Seniors Minister, here at Holy Trinity Claygate. For anyone who knows me, I am passionate about caring for older people, and I LOVE hymns!

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We have a thriving seniors and pastoral care ministry, which centres around a weekly group called Connections. This has been going now for 12 years 听and focuses on loving and caring for our older friends 鈥� welcoming and coming alongside them.

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Hymns can resonate and connect incredibly well with this older generation, even those with memory impairment .听 Many older people of course have grown up singing and knowing hymns during school assemblies or Sunday School, and I鈥檓 thrilled that today we can focus on and enjoy some of the hymns we love

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This morning we鈥檙e going to be hearing from several of our older friends. Jean explains why the beautiful hymn, , based on Psalm 23, is so special to her and why this is one of the hymns she loves 鈥�

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Hymn:

The Temple Church Choir - The Lord's my Shepherd

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Testimony听 -听 Jean鈥檚 story about The Lord鈥檚 my Shepherd

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Hymn:

The St Philips Boys Choir - The Lord鈥檚 my Shepherd

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Steve Cramer:

Love is the thread running through our worship today鈥� God鈥檚 desire for us to know that we are known and loved by him and his desire for us to know and love him back.听 I鈥檓 Steve Cramer, a member of Holy Trinity Claygate, and one of things I most love about hymns, is their ability to take deep truths 听such as this and then encapsulate them in just a few simple words.

One of the best examples of that kind of hymn is the one we鈥檙e going to hear now: My Song is Love Unknown..听 In it, Samuel Crossman, a 17th century clergyman, takes us through the final week of Jesus life with all the pain, disappointment and sadness that involved.听 And yet, when he comes to summarise that week, he ignores all of those bad things, and instead focuses on something completely different 鈥� and that is Jesus鈥� love: 鈥渓ove to the loveless shown that they might lovely be鈥�.

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Hymn:

Daily Service singers - My Song is Love Unknown

The story of Jesus last week of life, is a hard and violent one, but Samuel Crossman saw that in this brutal story of betrayal and crucifixion, there was in fact a kind of beauty.

That in this story of hatred and anger, there was in fact love

And that in this story of physical death there is the hope of spiritual birth.

Samuel Crossman knew, that at its heart, Christianity is not really about going to church, it鈥檚 not really about singing hymns or reading the bible, it鈥檚 not even really about being good. Those things are all important, but they 鈥檙e not the start or the finishing point鈥攖hat is, and always will be, love: God鈥檚 perfect, unending, unconditional, sacrificial love for you and for me.

And the clearest demonstration of that love, is the crucifixion of Jesus.

But if you are anything like me, you鈥檒l be thinking how can such an arcane, primitive story about an ancient execution have anything to do with love?听 How can one man鈥檚 death so long ago, be relevant to me today?

At the Coronation two weeks ago, above the door as King Charles entered Westminster Abbey, there was a statue of Father Maximilian Kolbe. And I believe that the story of his life and death can help shed a little bit of light on why Jesus chose to die on the cross.

Father Maximilian was a Polish Catholic Priest during the second world war.听 In 1941 he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz.听 Shortly after he arrived, a prisoner managed to escape and to punish those who remained, the camp commandant selected ten prisoners at random to be starved to death.听听 But as they were being taken away to die, one of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, "My wife, my children!"

Immediately Maximilian stepped forward, "I am a Catholic priest鈥� he said 鈥渁nd I wish to die for that man". So, Maximilian was taken in his place and died two weeks later.

41 years on, 150,000 people attended a ceremony in St Peter鈥檚 Square, Rome, to remember what Father Maximilian had done鈥攁nd there amongst them were Francis Gajowniczek, and his wife.

Maximilian鈥檚 death is a wonderful example of sacrificial love in action鈥攈ow in the midst of horror, love can shine a bright light and how one man can substitute his life for another.

But Maximilian himself would be the first to acknowledge that even his generous and noble sacrifice was still just a small imitation of what Jesus achieved on the cross.

Because Christians believe that Jesus did not die for one man and his family, but for all humankind, and that he did this because he loves you and me so much that he wants to save us, to restore us to a loving relationship with God. 鈥� Love to the loveless shown

But that is not the end of the story 鈥� because Jesus鈥� sacrifice goes further, he doesn鈥檛 just want to save our lives, he also gives us the power to transform our lives. His love for us has a purpose鈥攁nd that purpose is to help us become more like him, as Samuel Crossman so beautifully puts it, 鈥渢hat we might lovely be鈥�.

What Crossman knew, and what billions of Christians have known and experienced throughout history, is that at the centre of that story from Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and at the centre of the Christian faith... is love:

God鈥檚 love for us, and as we experience that, our growing love for him.

And that is why our song, is a song of love, our saviours love to us, love to the loveless shown that we might lovely be.听

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Hymn:

Sylvia Burnside, New Irish Choir & Orchestra - My Song is Love Unknown

ALBUM TITLE: No Need to Fear

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Bible reading 2: Hebrews 4:14-16 鈥� read by Chris Kingston 听

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Steve Cramer:

One of the challenges of growing older is that the things we used to find easy, can now seem somewhat harder to do.听 Perhaps, where we used to understand the world around us and our own part in it, we can now be confused and feel out of touch with a world where technology and cultural norms seem to be changing ever more rapidly.

Sociologists often refer to those born before the end of the second world war as the Silent Generation -鈥� as those born after it are often referred to as baby boomers.

The characteristics of the silent generation are a sense of responsibility, of self-sacrifice and the need to earn your place in this world and it was these attributes that helped enable this generation to rebuild the world after 1945.

But if we now find those things harder to do,听 if we no longer feel we can contribute as we once did, and we have reached the stage where we need to learn to accept help as well as offer it, we can begin to lose our confidence and even our sense of value and worth.

But as we were just hearing, the wonderful thing about God鈥檚 love is that we don鈥檛 have to earn it.

In the same way as Franek Gajowniczek did nothing for Father Maximilian to earn his love and his sacrifice, so we don鈥檛 have to do anything to earn God鈥檚 love.听 The Bible tells us that no matter how hard we try or how good we are, we cannot make God love us any more, or any less, than he already does.听 His love is given freely and unconditionally to each one of us, no matter what we have or haven鈥檛 done.

And the passage that Chris just read for us so beautifully from the book of Hebrews tells us that, because of that, we don鈥檛 need to be ashamed or nervous when we approach God but rather, we can approach Him with confidence.

Not an arrogant confidence in ourselves and what we鈥檝e done, but confident in God and what he鈥檚 done.

Confident that if we ask, he will lead us by the hand through the rest of our lives and beyond.

And that is exactly what Charles Wesley discovered and why he wrote our next hymn based on this passage.听

And it is that acceptance and confidence that my friend Audrey has found, but I鈥檒l let her tell you her story and why And Can it Be is her favourite hymn.听

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Testimony听 -听 Audrey鈥檚 story about And can it Be!

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Hymn:

The London Fox Choir 听- And Can It Be

ALBUM TITLE : Pam Rhodes: Love So Amazing

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Pippa Cramer:

We are all getting older and we鈥檙e all living longer 鈥� The longer we live, the wiser we become and greater the positive impact we can have on those around us and in society.听

Sadly though, there seems to be a common belief, that as we do grow older, we become less useful; that this world is somehow, only made for the young. As such, we so often see older people overlooked and marginalised.

This breaks my heart. We have SO much to learn from our elders, all of whom have enormous amounts of life experience and wisdom, and all of whom deserve our respect, our love and care 鈥μ� I LONG for the profile of this incredible generation to be raised .. and for older people to be valued and respected as they deserve - in our families, our communities, our churches and in society generally.

Some of our greatest biblical heroes all went on some of their greatest adventures at a time when most of us today would be settling into retirement.

When we live our lives for God, our journey and our purpose certainly does not end here.听 鈥� he longs to use us at ANY age, and at ANY stage!

I KNOW that God has such a special place in His heart for those who are older, and I hope and pray that this would increasingly be the case within our hearts too.听 Wouldn鈥檛 it be amazing if our society began to stand up for the injustice of ageism? It might sound like a tall order, but perhaps in fact it all just starts with us as individuals. Looking out for the one, loving and caring for the elderly neighbour who no one visits, and ultimately welcoming the older generation more into our communities and churches. Who knows, by doing so, we might learn things about this life that would benefit us in ways that we would never have thought possible.

I鈥檇 love now to introduce Elizabeth who is married to Mike. They both come to Connections, our weekly group for seniors, as well as church on a Sunday. Mike has dementia, and even though communication is now very hard for him - the spoken word especially .. we have learnt much from him and are inspired by his positive outlook on life, his humour, and his laugh .

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Testimony - Elizabeth & Mike鈥檚 story 听听听

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Hymn:

The Daily Service Singers - Thine be the Glory

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Pippa Cramer - Intercessions and Lord鈥檚 prayer music runs under

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Dear Father

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We thank you for your amazing love. We thank you so much for what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago, thank you for his life, his sacrificial death, and his resurrection that we learn about in the hymn, My Song is Love Unknown.

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Malcolm Rheinlander

Please help me to receive and accept your love in my life and help me to allow you to change me, so that, I might be lovely in your eyes鈥�.

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Pippa

Please help me to show your love to those around me, especially to those who are marginalized, lonely and on the fringes. Please reveal how we, as a society, can stand up for seniors and help them to know how loved, respected, valued and cared for they are.

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Malcolm

We pray that each one of us, wherever we are today, whatever we are facing, whatever age we are, would know how much you love us and how much you care for us. We ask you to give us more of your heart, and help us to share your love and care with those around us, especially our older friends and neighbours.

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In Jesus鈥� name we pray,

Amen.听

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Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.听听

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Hymn:

All Souls Orchestra - Lord for the Years

ALBUM TITLE : Best of Prom Praise