91Èȱ¬

Music: Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer
St David’s Cathedral Pembrokeshire
91Èȱ¬ Recording

Dean:
Good morning. And, after that rousing start, it’s good to be able to welcome you to Brecon Cathedral for a service recorded, of course, with strict adherence to the current Covid rules and guidelines.

As we begin to look ahead to the light at the end of the Covid tunnel, I hope very much that you will find today’s service a source of nourishment and challenge. Through words and recorded music, we’ll be focussing first upon our calling and discipleship and then upon both as found in the life and witness of St David, Patron Saint of Wales. 

To begin, we turn to prayer:
Father, you call us and all your people to bear witness to your ways of love and service through faithfulness to the example and teachings of your Son Jesus Christ: called to be faithful, may our hearts and minds be drawn to him in such a way that, despite human foolishness, weakness and frailties, we may be instruments of your purposes, following the paths trodden, down the ages, by the saints of our faith. We ask for strength to be faithful to your call, though the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Our second hymn is a prayer for faithful answering of God’s call, and steadfast, calm witness to his ways. ‘Dear Lord, and Father of mankind’.

Music: Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind
National Youth Choir of Wales
91Èȱ¬ Recording

Dean:
In our first reading from scripture, we find ourselves with the people of Israel on the journey through the Wilderness of Sinai, and with Moses facing a challenge of leadership:

Gill:  A reading from the book of Numbers.

Moses said to the LORD, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’ So the LORD said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!

Archbishop:
The point? It’s there in Moses’s words at the end of that passage: ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.’ Prophecy here isn’t the shorthand term for predicting the future; it means acting for God, speaking for God, witnessing to God, and Moses makes it pretty clear that doing this isn’t the sole preserve of leaders, but it’s a calling shared by all the Lord’s people. Joshua, we heard, was unduly concerned for Moses - ‘jealous’ for his sake as the reading put it - fearing that Moses authority and maybe his as Moses’s right-hand man, were threatened by shared leadership. ‘Perhaps’, he thought, ‘our roles will be diminished by an outbreak of prophetic activity among the people’. But Moses will have none of it – if only all the Lord’s people fully played their individual parts, what a difference they might see.

And it’s a similar focus, one on everyone fully playing a part as faithful disciples, as friends of Jesus, that we find in our second reading taken from the very end of the Gospel according to St John. The setting here isn’t the wilderness, but it’s the beach, the beach after Easter and the story of the miraculous catch of fish followed by breakfast. The Risen Christ with his friends, friends who, we must remember, promised much but didn’t always deliver; friends who were called to faithful discipleship, but sometimes fell way short. Among them Peter. Peter the Rock. Peter the promiser – I’ll never leave you; I’ll never deny you; - Peter who did both! And here, he’s being reminded that he denied Jesus three times by being asked three times whether he loves Jesus. Let’s listen to that reading now.
Gill:A reading from the Gospel according to St John. 

[Jesus] said to [Peter] the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’

Archbishop:
‘Follow me’ is a familiar invitation from Jesus. It comes here, on the beach, as a call to faithfulness in the new, post-Easter world, and it is, of course, an echo from the day when, on that same beach, Jesus had spotted four ordinary men, four fishermen – Simon and Andrew, James and John – and thought that fishing for people might be something they could be used for, and he issued that same invitation: ‘Follow me’.

They accepted it and, by doing so, embarked on a turbulent journey of challenges, opportunities, successes and failures. Accepting that same invitation is likely to lead us on a similar journey, composed of that same mixture of challenges, opportunities, successes and failures. There will be times of security and serenity; but there will also be times of darkness and anxiety; but we must be faithful and not fear. The familiar words of Psalm 23 are about journeying through such times, following the Lord, following the Shepherd, who’s made visible in Christ: the Good Shepherd. We hear those familiar words now in the setting known as ‘Brother James’s Air.’ 

Psalm: The Lord’s My Shepherd (Brother James’ Air)
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge / Sioned Williams, Harp
CD: 50 Best Hymns (Warner Classics)

Archbishop:
Let’s return now to that second reading and reflect upon the point being made, that Jesus hasn’t got perfect people to call and to use - but chooses ordinary, flawed, frail people, people like you and me to be his prophets, to speak and to act in his name – to tend the flock, to feed the sheep, to follow him.

And when Peter, perhaps encouraged that he’s been forgiven or better understood, tries to move the conversation on, and to ask ‘What about him?’ - the disciple following them along the beach- he’s pretty much put in his place, with what amounts to ‘Never mind about him. Mind your own business, and listen to me, and get on with what I’ve just asked you to do’!
You and I, frail and flawed and ordinary, are to hear the voice of Jesus: asking, calling us to something extraordinary – to that faithful discipleship and determined witness to the Gospel’s agenda. It demands attentiveness to him, love for him and life with him. Hearing his voice, being attentive to his teachings and grasping how those teachings have the capacity and potential to change lives and so to change the world, can and should inspire us.

The next of our hymns reminds us of both that voice and some of those teachings – ‘I heard the voice of Jesus say.’

Music: I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say
91Èȱ¬ National Chorus of Wales
91Èȱ¬ Recording

Archbishop:
One who heard the voice and responded to the call with discipline and faithfulness was David, Patron Saint of Wales, whose Feast Day we keep on March 1st. Schooled in the faith and drawn to the life of the religious community, David was an inspirational leader. He founded some ten monasteries including those at Menevia (which we now know as St Davids) and Glastonbury. Various legends and myths attach to David, and it‘s sometimes difficult to separate these from hard fact, but it’s clear that he was a great leader, a faithful disciple and a revered, respected teacher of the faith. He encouraged those around him and those whom he taught to embrace discipline, hard work, faithful discipleship and the loving service of others through attentiveness to the faith and to what he called ‘the little things’, the little things that matter and which can change lives for the better. Among the words to his companions in his final sermon were:

‘Byddwch lawen a chadwch eich ffyd a'ch credd, a gwnewch y petheu bychain a glywsoch ac y welsoch gennyf i.’‘Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about.’

In just over two months’ time I will be retiring after almost thirty-seven years travelling the journey of ordained ministry, and I end those years as an Archbishop. Extraordinary for someone who still thinks of himself as and has tried to remain an ordinary person. That journey was triggered at a Thursday evening choir practice in the parish church where, for a number of very happy years, I was the organist and choirmaster. 

As part of my role I used to talk at choir practice to the younger choristers about bible readings set for the upcoming Sunday and how some of the hymns chosen for the services linked with those readings. One of the clergy overheard me, and later took me aside, said that he had been listening, and asked whether I’d ever thought about being ordained. 
At the time I was a solicitor with, as some put it, very good prospects. In other words, the future was pretty well mapped out. But sometimes, as we’ve seen so often this past year, our best-laid plans go in a different direction than the one we might have anticipated. My journey certainly did, and ever since it’s been one of challenges, opportunities, successes and failures, just like the other journeys I’ve spoken about, the disciples’ journeys, all our journeys.

What I’ve noticed through it all is that it’s so often the simple encounters and simple conversations, in ordinary places at ordinary times – those little things as David put it – which, have mattered the most. As we look ahead to the hope of a post-lockdown future, it’s worth remembering the power of every simple moment to change each of our journeys, and how doing the little things, the simple things for others can change their journeys too. A simple conversation with me on that Thursday changed my journey.

Before we turn to our prayers, now another hymn, one which praises David and all the saints and prays that we, as today’s disciples, might have some of that burning zeal and robust faith that made them who they were: ‘We praise thy name, all-holy Lord’. 

Music: We Praise Thy Name All-Holy Lord
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Choir
CD: Complete New English Hymnal Vol 15 (Priory Records)

PRAYERS - Gill:
Father God, we give thanks for the example of St. David who encouraged those around him to serve others with love and in a way which could change lives for the better. 
As we celebrate St David’s day we pray for the people of Wales, the government of Wales and for all the Welsh church communities. We ask for wisdom amongst our church and political leaders as they search for new ways of cooperation and a vision for the future post pandemic.

We remember in our prayers this morning those who in this pandemic are living in isolation and those who are separated from their family and friends. We pray for those in prison and those who are in residential and nursing care who have been without visitors for many months. May they and their families and friends know the comfort of your love in the pain of separation that they experience.

We remember all those who throughout this Pandemic have reached out to others showing love in so many ways. Those who in their communities have provided food, support and been in regular contact with those who are isolated and alone. 
Today our world is learning to adapt to the challenges of a worldwide pandemic: we pray for a closer working across the governments of the world to enable resources such as vaccines, food and medicines to be distributed fairly and safely. We pray for churches across the world as they work as St David did to encourage the spread of love, care, and concern for those in need. 

We remember before you all those we are personally concerned about and ask your blessing on them.

We especially think at this time of those who grieve, and we have confidence you weep with them. 

We pray for all God’s people that they like St David will encourage others to witness faithfully to the Gospel.  

We close our prayers with the words our Saviour taught us:

Lord’s Prayer

Dean:
Our final hymn commits to continuing witness by the Lord’s people, the prophets, the disciples and saints of today, witnessing faithfully to the Gospel, rooted in Christ and building the kingdom in our nation.

Music: Lord Who In thy Perfect Wisdom
Bangor Cathedral
91Èȱ¬ Recording

Archbishop:

May the wisdom of God the Father inform your minds;May the love of God the Son, inflame your hearts;May the grace of God the Holy Spirt enlighten your whole being;That, as God’s children, you may be faithful prophets, disciples and saints for today’s world.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you and remain with you now and always. AMEN.

Organ playout: Mendelssohn Sonata No. 3
Paul Hayward