Palm Sunday is the last Sunday in Lent and commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey in the final days before his Passion. Brian D’Arcy plays appropriate hymns featuring music by “The Choir”, directed by James Whitbourn. The organist is Greg Morris.
Hymns
Ride on ride on in majesty Winchester New
The Choir
There is a green hill far away Horsley
Methodist College Choirs
The royal banners forward go Gonfalon Royal
The Choir
Beneath the cross of Jesus Beneath the cross of Jesus
The Coventry Singers
Sing my tongue Pange Lingua
The Choir
O sacred head sore wounded Passion Chorale
The Bach Choir
Jesu grant me this I pray Song 13
Exon Singers
All glory laud and honour St Theodulph harmony J S Bach
The Choir
Prayers
Tonight we pray for forgiveness, and thank God for the gift of his Passion, death and resurrection.
Lord Jesus you humbled yourself even to death on a cross. Teach us to recognise you in the sick, the poor, the homeless and the rejected.
When we ourselves are weak, may we find hope through the love you have shown us in your suffering.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Lord we ask your blessing on all of us during this Holy Week.
From the Cross you cried out, My God, my God why have you forsaken me.
Lord bless us with hope in our times of despair too.
We believe that by dying, Christ destroyed death forever.
May we be blessed with the gift of everlasting life.
Jesus humbled himself for our sake, may we now share his resurrection.
And may almighty God bless us, and those we love, in this world and in the next.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
29th March 2009: Passion Sunday
Brian D’Arcy introduces hymns for Passion Sunday - the start of the final two weeks in Lent when Christians prepare for the events of Jesus’ suffering and death. The featured choir is the Bradford Youth Choir directed by Christopher McElroy. The organist is Christopher Johns.
Hymns
When I survey Rockingham
Bradford Youth Choir
It is a thing most wonderful Herongate
Portsmouth Grammar School
Praise to you, O Christ our Saviour
Bernadette Farrell
Bradford Youth Choir
As the deer pants for the water Nystrom
Bradford Youth Choir
Stabat Mater
Pergolesi
Bradford Girls’ Choir
Ah, holy Jesu Herzliebster Jesu
Orlando Singers
Were you there (when they crucified my Lord)? Spiritual
Ex Cathedra
Hail Redeemer, King Divine King Divine
Bradford Youth Choir
Prayers
A prayer attributed to an Indian Christian which tells us about the Passion.
“O Tree of Calvary,
send your roots deep down into my heart.
Gather together the soil of my heart,
The sands of my fickleness
The mood of my desires.
Bind them all together,
O Tree of Calvary.
Interlace them with thy strong roots
Entwine them with the network of thy love.”
Lord we ask you to bless us with such a strong faith in the Passion.
May we listen to the cries of the poor
May we help the sick and weary
And may we find inspiration from them.
May we bring food to the hungry and water to the thirsty.
And may their hunger and thirst be satisfied.
We offer all our prayers through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
In our blessing tonight we ask the Lord to be with us in our time of suffering and sickness so that we’ll feel the strength of his Passion when we are weak.
Bless us in these last days of Lent, with courage and with hope.
May those who feel sad or frightened be blessed with healing, with comfort and with peace.
May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ be ever in our hearts and on our lips and may almighty God bless us and keep us safe in this world and in the next.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
For the fourth of his programmes on the religious vows, Brian D’Arcy looks at the vow of stability and celebrates Mothering Sunday with some appropriate music.
Hymns
We sing the praise of him Bow Brickhill
The Parliament Choir
Forty days and forty nights Aus der Tiefe
Choir of Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Shall we not love thee Belmont
The Callington Singers & singers from Stover School
God moves in a mysterious way London New
Blackburn Cathedral
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds St Peter
St Ann’s Hospice Festival Choir
Lord teach us how to pray aright St Hugh
Singers in St Martin’s Church, Dorking
May the mind of Christ my Saviour St Leonards
Methodist College, Belfast
Tell out my soul Woodlands
Choir of St Martin in the Fields, Central London
Prayer
Tonight we pray for mothers everywhere.
May they feel loved, cherished and appreciated for the sacrifices they have made on behalf of their children.
We pray for all families. That the most vulnerable will find support, comfort and guidance. We thank God for the great stability in our own lives. But we also think of those who are constantly on the move, especially those who are anxious, in danger of their lives, or are without homes. May they find stability and security.
We pray for all the sick especially those who have asked for our prayers.
And finally as we journey through Lent may we become more aware of the God of compassion who suffered and died to save us from our sins.
We ask these and all our prayers through Christ Our Lord.
And so in the peace of this lovely Sunday evening, we ask God’s blessing on all we do this week.
May the Lord bless us and keep us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
May God the almighty Father bless us and keep us.
May Jesus Christ, his only Son Our Lord, graciously smile upon us and may the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life grant us peace.
May the Lord be with you wherever you are this night and may almighty God bless us all in this world and in the next,
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
15th March 2009: Lent 3 – Obedience
Brian D’Arcy continues his series of programmes for Lent looking at the religious vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. This week, he explores obedience to the will of God. The music comes from the Charles Wood Summer School recorded in Armagh Methodist Church. The musicians are directed by Adrian Brunt and the organist is Theo Saunders.
Hymns
Lift high the Cross Crucifer
Armagh Methodist Church
God is working his purpose out Benson
Choir of Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Jesus comes with all his grace
Armagh Methodist Church
Teach me my God and king Sandys
Clare College, Cambridge
God of Mercy, God of Grace Dix
Leicester Philharmonic Choir
Be thou my guardian and my guide Abridge
Armagh Methodist Church
Dear Lord and Father of mankind Repton
Repton School Chapel Choir
Guide me O thou great Jehovah Cwm Rhondda
Armagh Methodist Church
Prayers
I`d like to share some words with you tonight which I pray every day. It helps me to keep focused on doing God’s will. The original words were written by a prophetic Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton.
He prayed
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going,
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am
following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You, does in fact please You.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road,
Though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust You always.
Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for You are ever with me,
And You will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
Lord we ask you then to bless us with a sense of your presence in our lives. Guide us with your Holy Spirit to do with our lives what is best for spreading your Gospel message.
Bless us with the comforting words which Jesus spoke from the Cross, “Into your hands O Lord, I commit my Spirit.”
When we have sinned and been disobedient, you will bless us with forgiveness and reconciliation.
May almighty God continue to bless us in every way in this life and in the next. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
8th March 2009: Lent 2 – Chastity
Continuing his look at the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Brian D’Arcy explores the tradition of chastity for the second Sunday in Lent.
The week’s featured choir is the Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral, directed by Richard Tanner. The organist is James Davey.
Hymns
New every morning is the love Melcombe
Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral
O perfect love Strength & Stay
Choir & congregation St George’s Church, Beckenham
Thy kingdom come! On bended knee Irish
Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral
O Lord increase my faith
Orlando Gibbons
Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral
For thy mercy and thy grace Culbach
St Peter’s Singers with the Incorporated Association of Organists
Blessed are the pure in heart Franconia
Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral
All praise to thee my God this night Tallis’ Canon
Winchester College Choir
When all thy mercies Contemplation
The Choir
Prayers
Lord, help us continue, during Lent to look deeply at our lives. To repent our wrong doings and to listen to God in prayer.
Help us to keep our hearts free from anything which would lead us away from God.
Help us to love in a truly self-giving way as you love us.
Help those who have been hurt in love.
May they have the strength to overcome rejection.
May they have the insight to love themselves and may they be blessed with friends who will love and cherish them always.
Help those who have been used and abused in life.
Give them a sense of peace and give them the courage to accept their healing life-giving, love.
We offer all our prayers through Christ who gave his life out of love for each of us.
Lord bless us tonight with the comfort of your presence because God is love and where God is truly present love cannot be absent.
I think of the beautiful blessing you yourself gave us in the First Letter of St John, chapter 4, verse 7.
My dear people
Let us love one another
Since love comes from God
And everyone who loves is
Begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to love
Can never have known God,
Because God is love…
This is the love I mean
Not our love for God,
But God’s love for us when he sent his own son,
To be the sacrifice that takes our sin away.
My dear people
Since God has loved us so much
We too should love one another.”
Bless us tonight with the love that is chaste, affirming and beautiful.
And as we think of those who loved us and are now with God, we ask that we may live that one day we will be united in love with them and with you.
May the blessing of almighty God bless us in this world and in the next.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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Sunday Half Hour
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