St James Piccadilly
I should have figured I was in for a typically St James day when my iPod chose to give me Tori Amos singing "Muhammad My Friend" as I approached the church. (First lines: "Muhammad my friend, it's time to tell the world: We both know it was a girl, back in Bethlehem. And on that fateful day when she was crucified, she wore shiseido red, and we drank tea by her side.")
Today is the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the sermon, we were told that the Magnificat is a seditious text, aimed at overturning established power relationships, with the mighty "cast down" and the rich "sent empty away." He threw in some choice points of reference with regards to poverty in our own day, and the current rage for blaming "the feckless poor" for all society's ills. Did you know that benefit fraud is 0.5% of the DWP's budget, and administrative error takes up 2.1% of it? Or that tax evasion costs the public purse somewhere between £40 million and £85 million per year, depending on what source is speaking? Rev Hugh advised us to read our Bibles alongside our newspapers, or else there is no point. We then sang a re-working of Mary's (attributed) song to the tune of "The Red Flag." This was written by Fred Kaan (b. 1929).
Sing we a song of high revolt,
Make great the Lord, his name exalt:
Sing we the song that Mary sang
Of God at war with human wrong.
Sing we of him who deeplyc ares
And still with us our burden bears;
He, who with strength the proud disowns,
Brings down the mighty from their thrones.
By him the poor are lifted up:
He satisfies with bread and cup
The hungry folk of many lands;
The rich are left with empty hands.
He calls us to revolt and fight
With him for what is just and right
To sing and live Magnificat
In crowded street and council flat
Fred Kaan also penned the lyrics to our first hymn (this one to the tune of Picardy).
For the healing of the nations,
Lord, we pray with one accord;
For a just and equal sharing
of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.
Lead us, God, into your freedom,
from despair your world release;
That, redeemed from war and hatred,
we may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care and goodness
fear will die and hope increase.
All that kills abundant living
let it from the earth be banned;
pride of status, race or schooling,
dogmas keeping man from man.
In our comon quest for justice,
may we hallow life's brief span.
You, creator-God, have written
your great name on humankind;
For our growing in your likeness
bring the life of Christ to mind;
That by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.
And then there was the collect, which began: "O God, whose word is fruitless where the mighty are not put down, the humble remain humiliated, the hungry are not filled, and the rich are."
Heh. I love St James.
Today is the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the sermon, we were told that the Magnificat is a seditious text, aimed at overturning established power relationships, with the mighty "cast down" and the rich "sent empty away." He threw in some choice points of reference with regards to poverty in our own day, and the current rage for blaming "the feckless poor" for all society's ills. Did you know that benefit fraud is 0.5% of the DWP's budget, and administrative error takes up 2.1% of it? Or that tax evasion costs the public purse somewhere between £40 million and £85 million per year, depending on what source is speaking? Rev Hugh advised us to read our Bibles alongside our newspapers, or else there is no point. We then sang a re-working of Mary's (attributed) song to the tune of "The Red Flag." This was written by Fred Kaan (b. 1929).
Sing we a song of high revolt,
Make great the Lord, his name exalt:
Sing we the song that Mary sang
Of God at war with human wrong.
Sing we of him who deeplyc ares
And still with us our burden bears;
He, who with strength the proud disowns,
Brings down the mighty from their thrones.
By him the poor are lifted up:
He satisfies with bread and cup
The hungry folk of many lands;
The rich are left with empty hands.
He calls us to revolt and fight
With him for what is just and right
To sing and live Magnificat
In crowded street and council flat
Fred Kaan also penned the lyrics to our first hymn (this one to the tune of Picardy).
For the healing of the nations,
Lord, we pray with one accord;
For a just and equal sharing
of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.
Lead us, God, into your freedom,
from despair your world release;
That, redeemed from war and hatred,
we may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care and goodness
fear will die and hope increase.
All that kills abundant living
let it from the earth be banned;
pride of status, race or schooling,
dogmas keeping man from man.
In our comon quest for justice,
may we hallow life's brief span.
You, creator-God, have written
your great name on humankind;
For our growing in your likeness
bring the life of Christ to mind;
That by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.
And then there was the collect, which began: "O God, whose word is fruitless where the mighty are not put down, the humble remain humiliated, the hungry are not filled, and the rich are."
Heh. I love St James.