BBC - BBC Radio 2 Programmes - Wake Up to Wogan, 06/04/2009

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Last broadcast on Mon, 6 Apr 2009, 07:30 on BBC Radio 2.

Synopsis

Ease into the day with Terry Wogan. Includes Pause for Thought.

Pause for Thought

Passover starts this Wednesday night. I’m getting ready to turn into a traditional Jewish mother, and will be frying fish at crack of dawn on Wednesday, having done a vast amount of cooking all tomorrow as well. I absolutely adore it. I love having some forty people around the table, jammed in higgledy piggledy, telling the story of the children of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and the horrors of slavery before they left. The children present sit there wide eyed, with plenty to keep them amused, whilst the adults take it in turns to read until we get to the end and we sing songs that get rowdier and rowdier……

I have no idea how many of our Passover guests really believe in God,

though some certainly do. I have no idea how strongly some of them feel about wanting to maintain the tradition our ancestors have been carrying on in some way for a couple of millennia either. What I do know is that they love it, and join us year after year for what is a true table fellowship. It’s a ritual where we tell a story and we eat, and we give thanks to God for our ability to live in freedom, something we had better value and treasure, for not everyone is so fortunate.

So, this year, we will add to our Seder

something about those who are still enslaved, bonded workers and indentured servants, children caught in a spiral of debt and never ending toil. And we will also celebrate our journey to freedom with a reminder that people all over the world are fleeing home as refugees- we certainly make it hard for them in this country- and that Passover gives us an obligation, more than any other time, to recognise ‘the heart of the stranger’, because, as the text says, ‘YOU were strangers in the land of Egypt’.

So as we rejoice in the festival,

two messages- as modern as can be- will be in our heads whilst we carry on an ancient tradition. And isn’t that how it should always be- reminding ourselves of what is current and important whilst celebrating- but never forgetting others who are not free to celebrate Passover, Easter, Id, or whatever it may be

From Baroness Julia Neuberger

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Los Lobos — La Bamba

Hits Of '87 & '88 Vol.12 (Various)
Keane — Everybody's Changing

(CD Single)
Sugarland — All I Want To Do

(CD Single)
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell — The Onion Song

Soul (Various Artists)
P!nk — Please Don't Leave Me

(CD Single)
Archie Bell & The Drells — Here I Go Again

The Best Northern Soul All-Nighter (V
Phil Collins — Two Hearts

Phil Collins ...Hits
Lunik — Everybody Knows

(CD Single)
Al Stewart — On The Border

Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat
Annie Lennox — Shining Light

The Annie Lennox Collection
Cyndi Lauper — Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Fantastic 80's Disc 1 (Various Artis
Al Green — Just For Me

Lay It Down
The Stranglers — Golden Brown

Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis
Suzy Bogguss — Heartache

Suzy Bogguss - Voices In The Wind
Tony Christie — Every Word She Said

(CD Single)
The Delfonics — Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time

Shades Of Soul (Various Artists)
Mink DeVille — Spanish Stroll

The Greatest Hits Of 1977 (Various)
Beyoncé — Halo

I Am...Sasha Fierce
Leo Sayer — When I Need You

Leo Sayer -The Definitive Hits Collec
Take That — Shine

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Imelda May — Big Bad Handsome Man

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Carpenters — Please Mr Postman

The Carpenters - Yesterday Once More