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REV DR MAGGIE McTERNAN

Good morning and welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow. I am the Rev Dr Maggie McTernan, one of the clergy here.Ìý

This is a congregation of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and a number of people have been involved in the General Election as candidates and activists for different political parties. Others have been involved in the running of the election – as polling clerks and counters tallying up the votes. Others can be found commenting in the media about what the rest of us have been doing as the election has run its course.Ìý

Some of us feel a bit breathless from the last six weeks of campaigning, during which this country has heard pledge after pledge and promise after promise as we came to make up our minds as to how to vote.Ìý

That is all done now.Ìý

And so the time has come to take stock and look to the future.Ìý

In this service we celebrate the common good – the things that all who hope for a better world dream of. Our prayer is that people will come together during the years to come, to achieve great things. And with that thought in our minds, the Vice Provost, the Rev Canon Oliver Brewer Lennon introduces our opening hymn.Ìý

REV CANON OLIVER BREWER LENNON
This is a year in which many nations will go to the polls. Political campaigning is underway in many of the largest democracies of the world. More people will vote this year than in any year in human history.Ìý

Our first hymn calls us all to pray for the nations of the world. For healing and goodness to characterize our common life and for care and hope to be the themes that inhabit people’s hearts so that war and hatred might be banished from the face of the earth.Ìý

OPENING HYMN: FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS (Tune:Ìý Westminster Abbey)

For the healing of the nations, God, we pray with one accord …Ìý

VERY REV KELVIN HOLDSWORTH - COLLECT

Eternal God, by your grace
we are accepted and called to your service.
Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit
and make us worthy of our calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for even.

ALL: AmenÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

MAGGIE

The first reading that we have today is part of the story of the people of Israel wrestling with how to be governed. In it the elders decide to anoint David as king following the death of Saul.

It contains within it that enduring biblical image of leadership – that of the leader being called to be a shepherd of their people.

Care and nurture are central to this idea of how someone should exercise power. Being a shepherd is a tough life and anyone living a public life these days can find it tough too. As we hear of the Biblical people of Israel making their leadership choice, let us in our day give thanks for all who offer themselves for public office for the best of reasons, and reflect on what we need to do for them to allow them to do good for the world.

KELVIN - 1ST READING: 2 Samuel 5.1-5, 9-10

A reading from the second book of Samuel.

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, ‘Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years. David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inwards. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

For the Word of God in Scripture, for the word of God among us.

ALL: Thanks be to God

OLIVER

All our hopes must come from somewhere. We believe that the Holy Spirit inspires, nourishes and challenges us. Being able to imagine and dream is one of the ways in which we are made in the image and likeness of God and in our canticle this morning, the Holy Spirit seems to be a on a great quest to inspire us to bring about change in this world. The Holy Spirit here is seen as a great disrupter of complacency. To know the Spirit is to know a God who calls us into working for justice wherever it is most needed.

Sal McDougall sets words by Francis Gerald Downing that breathe new meaning into the ancient hymn Veni Creator Spiritus.

CHOIR:Ìý ANTHEM:Ìý RAGE, WISDOM - Sal McDougall

Rage, Wisdom, and our lives inflame, so living never rests the same …

OLIVER

In our gospel reading today we hear of people being called to something new.
Fresh from the experience of being dismissed as irrelevant by people in his home town, Jesus starts going out into the world to teach. And the work is such that he starts to send others out too. Two by two the disciples go out to call the world to repent – a call to people to turn themselves around and live in a new way.

MAGGIE – GOSPEL READING: Mark 6.1-13
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
ALL: Glory to Christ our Saviour.

Jesus came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel!
ALL: Praise to Christ our Lord.

OLIVER

God still calls people to go out into the world and make all things new – a call to see the things that are wrong and to put them right. A call to reject the idea that hunger is normal and that war is inevitable. Our next hymn cries out to the heavens for a whole new world order.Ìý After we’ve sung it, our preacher today the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth will reflect on the great longings for a better world about which we sing.

HYMNÌý Let Streams of Living Water – William Whitla - Tune: Thaxted (Gustav Holst)

Let streams of living justice flow down upon the earth;

give freedom’s light to captives, let all the poor have worth …

KELVIN

The thing that I remember most is crawling around on the floor. That and the feeling in my stomach. People refer to stomach churning moments. I never knew what that felt like until that moment.

I asked people to pick up all their bags and coats and shuffle their chairs. And I got down on my hands and knees just to check one more time that nothing had gone missing.

I was looking for a bundle of votes that might, just might,Ìý have fallen off the counting table onto the floor.

20 years or so ago, that bundle of votes meant the difference between victory for me and victory for a political opponent.

The imagined bundle of votes on the floor never existed. Victory wasn’t mine that day and I soon had to concede that someone else had won. Less than 20 votes were between us after weeks of frantic campaigning.

There is something incredibly moving to see votes being counted and stacked up in your favour. And it is gut wrenching – there’s no other word for it, to miss out by just a few votes.

Our procedures for choosing leaders, using stubby pencils to mark slips of paper seem a long way away from David being chosen as King of Israel by the acclaim of the people. But there’s things to learn even from that account.

David and the people entered into a covenant with one another. And that word, Covenant is laden with meaning as it echoes the various times that the bible speaks of a covenant being made between God and the people.

Speaking of the relationship between leaders and those looking for leadership as a covenant relationship is to speak of the trust between them as being nothing other than sacred.

A covenant sets boundaries on what someone can do. Sacred boundaries.

I’m not involved in party politics now. But when election times come around and I get to cast my own vote, I have a strong sense of the deep, deep significance in casting a vote in a land where everyone gets to be involved if they choose. That does feel sacred to me. Who I vote for is my business. The act of voting feels like an immense responsibility – an act of faith in a common desire for our land to be governed well.

And as I vote, there’s one thing that I long for, for all who stand in elections. And that’s also a deeply biblical notion – I long for all those seeking to make decisions on behalf of others, to be blessed with wisdom.

ANTHEM:Ìý CALL OF WISDOMÌý - Will Todd

Lord of wisdom, lord of truth, lord of justice, lord of mercy.Ìý Walk beside us down the years, 'till we see you in your glory …

KELVIN
I’ve stood in quite a few elections. Elections to public office and elections within the church. And looking back, I started doing it by standing in student elections whilst I was in college.

More often than not, things have not gone my way. Losing elections seems to be one of my hobbies.

And I’ve learned you get better at losing elections as time goes on.

I’ve also learned that having wisdom and having a win are not the same thing.

Indeed, many of the biblical writers are, at best, ambivalent about the powerful, but passionate in proclaiming that God’s love is particularly poured out on the powerless and the weak.

In one of the readings that we heard this morning and which will be read in many churches today, we hear of Jesus feeling powerless himself and then starting to send out his disciples to proclaim his message – a message of repentance, a manifesto for changing everything.

Repentance means nothing other than changing everything and turning yourself around to face a new direction.

But those disciples who were sent out with this message were far from being the powerful of their day. They were mixed up, muddled up and much of the time they didn’t seem particularly bright. They were argumentative and squabbled about who was the most important. They got themselves into factions and when Jesus really needed to depend on their loyalty they all ended up running away.

And yet, these were the ones who carried a message of love from God to the world. These were the ones who brought good news to the world. These were the ones who did indeed turn the whole world around with the stories that they spread about the Saviour whom they each knew intimately.

As they carried that message, somehow they knew that God was with them wherever they went. Somehow they knew they were cared for and nourished and beloved. The love they knew, was the grace of God that they had seen in Jesus and which Christians still see and proclaim with confidence and love for the world today.

When everything seems mixed up and muddled up. God still loves us. When there is fighting and division, God still loves us. When we need to know love most. God’s love is right there.

Worship and prayer often connect people with that love. And prayer connects us with all who are in need. My colleagues Oliver and Maggie now lead our prayers for the world.

OLIVER AND MAGGIE

MAGGIE: Let us pray.

As diverse people from various places, let us give thanks for the land in whichÌý we live and pray for all that strengthens our common life and all that will heal division.

Let us pray that we see more clearly the things we have in common, that understanding and empathy may increase among us, fostering cooperation and goodwill.

OLIVER: Let us pray for the Church, that it may stand as a beacon of hope and unity, guiding people in love and truth.

MAGGIE: Let us pray for peace, an end to conflict and violence, and for all victims of war, that they may find safety, healing, and hope.

OLIVER: Let us pray for all activists and campaigners, in all parties, striving for a better world, that their efforts may lead to lasting change for the good of all.

MAGGIE: Let us pray for those newly elected to positions of power, that they may serve with wisdom, integrity, and a deep commitment to fairness.

OLIVER: Let us pray for those who write laws and set agendas, that their decisions may protect the vulnerable and benefit the common good.

MAGGIE: Let us pray for those who over these next months will speak publicly and work to articulate a vision for the future, that they may be heard with open minds and hearts, free from prejudgment, and that their words may inspire constructive dialogue.

OLIVER: Let us pray for those who rely on others to bring healing and support, that comfort and strength be delivered, and that those who serve may be guided with compassion and care.

MAGGIE: And let us pray for the departed, those who have left this world for another, that their memory may inspire us to live with love and purpose.

LORD’S PRAYER - OLIVER & CONGREGATION

OLIVER: So let us join all our prayers with those of our Lord. As our Saviour has taught us, so we pray.

ALL: 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 sinÌýagainst us.
Do not bring us to theÌýtime of trial
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,Ìýthe powerÌýand the glory are yours,
now andÌýfor ever. Amen.

MAGGIE

One of the things that places of worship like this cathedral proclaim to the world time and time again is the goodness of God. Our final hymn picks up that theme. God’s great goodness aye endureth, it says. Goodness – ongoing goodness for ever, is the blessing, the hope and the dream that God wills for all the peoples of the world.

HYMN:Ìý ALL MY HOPE ON GOD IS FOUNDEDÌý (Tune: Michael)Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýÌý

All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew.
Me through change and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
ÌýÌýÌý God unknown,
ÌýÌýÌý he alone
calls my heart to be his own.

God’s great goodness aye endureth,
deep his wisdom passing thought:
splendour, light and life attend him,
beauty springeth out of naught.
ÌýÌýÌý Evermore
ÌýÌýÌý from his store
new-born worlds rise and adore.

Daily doth th’Almighty giver
bounteous gifts on us bestow;
his desire our soul delighteth,
pleasure leads us where we go.
ÌýÌýÌý Love doth stand
ÌýÌýÌý at his hand;
joy doth wait on his command.

Still from earth to God eternal
sacrifice of praise be done,
high above all praises praising
for the gift of Christ his Son.
ÌýÌýÌý Christ doth call
ÌýÌýÌý one and all:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
ye who follow shall not fall.

KELVIN and ALL

Let us pray.
God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

KELVIN

And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the companionship of the Holy Spirit be with us all forever more.

ALL: Amen

ORGAN VOLUNTARY