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Please note that this script is an outline of what was said. There may be inaccuracies, spelling mistakes, notes from the producer, etc. within the text.

Opening announcement from Continuity: 鲍鱼tv Radio 4. Time now for Sunday Worship which today comes from Somerset.听听

Prebendary David MacGeoch: Welcome to Saint John鈥檚 Church Glastonbury. I鈥檓 Prebendary David MacGeoch vicar of Glastonbury. This Wednesday will be no exception to what I see every year at the start of the Glastonbury Festival. Out of my window I watch a number of parents in their cars dropping off their youngsters laden with tent boots and rucksack. As I walk down to the roadside an excitable young person asks 鈥榳hich way to the festival?鈥� I should say that at the same time their family have now driven off.听

With a smile on my face I say it鈥檚 9 miles that way and it鈥檚 on Worthy Farm in a little village called Pilton. You can see the dismay on their faces 鈥� though they do cheer up when I direct them to the bus stop!听听

This church predates any festival as we鈥檙e in a glorious mediaeval building in the centre of Glastonbury. Originally a daughter church of what was probably the most famous Abbey in England, our church has seen visitors come and go for many centuries and it continues to be a place of prayer worship and pilgrimage. Despite the distance from the festival site, many people come here today in particular before the festival starts and at the end perhaps because they have had a spiritual encounter with God and they鈥檙e keen to tell someone and where better than in Glastonbury itself. Festival is a place of meeting people where they鈥檙e at, just as they are. That鈥檚 how God meets us too, in Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. Today we welcome you in His name, alongside the thousands of visitors who will join us during the summer.听

We begin this special festival service ourselves by singing鈥�.There鈥檚 a Wideness in God鈥檚 Mercy.听

HYMN: There鈥檚 a wideness in God鈥檚 Mercy听

DM: My colleague the Revd Diana Greenfield leads the Confession and Absolution.听

Revd Diana Greenfield: We acknowledge our failure to live responsibly as part of your creation.听听

We have taken what we want without considering the consequences.听听

We have wasted and discarded without听 thought For the future.听听

Open our hearts and minds to the signs of our times听听

To the groaning of creation听听

So that we may turn from greed and lack of vision听听

And see a world being made anew in Jesus Christ our Lord听听

ALL: 础尘别苍听听

DG: May the God of love听听

Bring you back to himself听听

Forgive you Your sins,听听

And assure you of his eternal love听听

In Jesus Christ our Lord.听

ALL: 础尘别苍听

CHOIR: View me Lord. (Lloyd)听

DM: St John鈥檚 Church has it鈥檚 medieval origins in the life of Glastonbury Abbey, one of the most famous of the English monastic foundations. A centre of political and ecclesiastical power from Anglo-Saxon times until the Reformation, today it鈥檚 magnificent ruins are a big tourist attraction. Janet Bell is director of Glastonbury Abbey and in a moment will read from 1 Corinthians Chapter 4.听

Janet it鈥檚 lovely to have you here this morning. I know that Glastonbury Abbey has a stall just next to the pyramid stage at the Festival and that you and others also camp there. Tell us a little about what that鈥檚 like.听

Janet Bell: conversation about participating in Glastonbury Festival and the place of myth and legend.

And so a reading from the Paul鈥檚 first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4:听

CHOIR: Hymn Christ be our light (Bernadette Farrell).听

DM: Many unfamiliar with Glastonbury probably believe the Festival is just about famous names and big bands. But that鈥檚 far from the case and I lose track of the number of stages and performers! Tolly Snell is a member of St John鈥檚 Church and is a local singer songwriter who regularly plays on听 the Festival stages. So Tolly tell us a little of your experience of performing in front of all those crowds:听 听

TOLLY: Experiences of performing at Glastonbury

DM: Thank you Tolly. I think you鈥檙e going to play one of your own pieces for us now.听 Many young people come to the festival searching for something 鈥� maybe, like so many of us - they don鈥檛 know for what. This song鈥檚 called the Chase.听

TOLLY: Tolly plays and sings 鈥� The Chase (Tolly Snell).听

DM: Thank you Tolly. Elspeth is a year 6 teacher at our local Church of England Primary School and the last two years has taken her class to perform a playlet at the festival. Tell us what it鈥檚 like for the children Elspeth?听

ELSPETH: Experience of children from the local school performing at the Festival听

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 10 from verse 40. These are words of Jesus.听

DM: One thing we have in common with the Glastonbury Festival is singing! Arguably church provides the original festival of joyful praise to God! Now our choir sings the anthem 鈥極 Sing Joyfully鈥� but the Tudor composer Adrian Batten.听听

Choir: O sing Joyfully (Batten)

厂别谤尘辞苍.听

鈥淲hoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.鈥澨� Matthew 10 verse 40听

Believe it or not I have the privilege of going to the festival every year to welcome, chat, and listen to anyone who wants to talk to me. I wander round the Festival听 wearing my dog collar, a festival hat, and yes a festival shirt too. Every year I end up feeling immensely privileged to hear people鈥檚 stories. Good, bad, sad stories. Coffee bars food stalls and bars seem to be essential places for ministry - walking around the festival and encouraging people to chat. That doesn鈥檛 mean to say that I won鈥檛 also be a festival goer听 in my own right listening to Elton John or joining in with the Fisherman鈥檚 Friends singing my heart out!

Welcome is so important. Welcome was really important to Jesus. In the Gospels there鈥檚 no record I can think of, of Jesus sending anyone, as it were, to Coventry. He must always have looked people in the eye and had a direct conversation with them. Jesus had a wonderful instinct for meeting people just as they are 鈥� the woman at the well, Zacchaeus whom he welcomed when he鈥檇 been ostracised by his own community because he was a tax collector. Or his own disciples when they were jostling for position, Or the rich young ruler. Of course I can鈥檛 hope always to say exactly the right thing, as Jesus did, but, like St Paul, I, and all the other chaplains at the Festival are, to quote our first reading, 鈥渟ervants of Christ and stewards of God鈥檚 mysteries.鈥� All Christians need to be conscious of that. That reading reminds us that what is required of stewards is 鈥渢hat they should be found trustworthy.鈥澨� What we say to people really matters, especially impressionable youngsters away from home perhaps for the first time. It鈥檚 important never to be judgemental 鈥� 鈥渄o not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes鈥�. People at Festivals are perhaps sometimes more themselves than they might be at school, uni, or in the office. It鈥檚 a new context where people sometimes might allow themselves to be more vulnerable than normal. Jesus was always merciful in his approach. I must be too. Who knows what God will bring to light - things now hidden in darkness disclosing the purposes of the heart 鈥� through such conversations?听听

But most of the time, it鈥檚 all rather prosaic, ordinary even. At Glastonbury you really meet people where they鈥檙e at, just like Jesus did. It鈥檚 part of the privilege of what we in the trade call 鈥楥haplaincy鈥�. Meeting people on the ground. Last year I sat down at a coffee bar with a young couple. We started talking about which bands we鈥檇 seen and how glad they were the festival was back after a two year absence. One of them then looked up from their coffee听 and saw my white collar and asked if I really was a Vicar. I explained who I was. What followed was a very moving account of how this young person had spent nearly two years in her aunt鈥檚 house hardly going out just looking after her. Sadly her aunt had died only a few weeks before the festival. She told me she wasn鈥檛 particularly religious but would I say a prayer for her and her aunt. Of course, this I did. I then asked her if she would like me to Bless her. Making the sign of the cross, she and her friend left the coffee bar but she with a huge smile on her face. Thank you God, this has added to my lovely experience of the festival.听

Never under estimate what a conversation can lead to. I was sitting in one of the big tents surrounded by 3 or 4 hundred people when this lady turned to me and said very loudly, 鈥淲ere you the Vicar who recommended to us last year the Mexican food stall?鈥� Surprised she had recognised and remembered me from last year I replied in the affirmative! She then shouted out for anyone to hear; 鈥測ou want to listen to this man he is a guru of the food stalls as we had the best meal of the whole festival last year!鈥� Nothing holy about that story except ensuring that people didn鈥檛 go hungry!听

What is it like then to be a priest at such a large musical festival? I am always amazed at how willing people are to offer up their stories. Returning to the gospel that we鈥檝e just heard in verse 42, Matthew talks about a cup of water, and offering something just so simple but life giving to people. I don鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 a co-incidence that Jesus鈥� own life giving ministry, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, began in baptism in the clean waters of the River Jordan. Water plays a huge part at the festival.听 I don鈥檛 think I ever follow the weather forecast so intently as I do before and during the festival. Many remember the mud and flooded festival in 1997 that gave the festival such a name. For festival goers it鈥檚 an inconvenience and people slog or slush it out鈥� But at the moment we hardly need any reminder of the suffering which uncontrolled amounts of dirty water running everywhere can bring to whole populations, whether it be from a sabotaged dam, or from freak storms and mudslides.

There is no greater privilege than being part of welcoming over 150,000 people not to mention the many stallholders onto acres of fields in the middle of Somerset.

In coming to the earth as a baby and growing up as one with humanity, then being condemned to die a traitor鈥檚 death, Jesus showed he is one with us. You don鈥檛 have to welcome 150,000 people today but to welcome one person with a cup of water or a mug of tea is also part of the Gospel.听

础尘别苍听

CHOIR: Be thou my Vision (Chilcott)听

DG: Let us pray for the church and for the world, and let us thank God for his goodness.听

God of love - hear our prayer.

Gracious God, we thank you for all those involved in Glastonbury festival.听

We pray especially for the workers and volunteers who ensure people鈥檚 safety and security. We give thanks for the diversity of performers who bring their skills and gifts to share with the public. And we ask you to walk with those who are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus at Glastonbury festival and all the other festivals which happen throughout the summer season.听

God of love - hear our prayer.听听

Loving God, we lift our thoughts beyond our own locality to the places in your world that are damaged through war, famine, floods and earthquake. We think particularly of Ukraine, and of Sudan. We ask you to bring justice and healing to broken nations, and restore fractured communities. We thank you for the work of the partner charities of Glastonbury Festival who encourage both education and support to combat climate change. Thank you that their work continues to offer some solutions to the problems faced around the world.听听

God of love - hear our prayer.听听

Healing God, as we call to mind those known to us who are sick in body mind or spirit we ask that the Holy Spirit will draw each of them close to you. We ask that she will bring strength to the weak, counsel to the confused, and hope to the broken hearted.听听

God of love - hear our prayer.听听

The Lord鈥檚 Prayer:听

Our Father, who art in heaven,听

hallowed be thy name;听

thy kingdom come;听

thy will be done;听

on earth as it is in heaven.听

Give us this day our daily bread.听

And forgive us our trespasses,听

as we forgive those who trespass against us.听

And lead us not into temptation;听

but deliver us from evil.听

For thine is the kingdom,听

the power and the glory,听

for ever and ever.听

Amen.听听

DG: Thank you for joining our service marking the start of Glastonbury Festival. Whatever your activities may be this summer, be they in music, sport, enjoying the countryside, or lying on the beach, or if you鈥檙e staying at home, may you know God鈥檚 presence surrounding you and be aware of his great faithfulness.听

HYMN: Great is thy Faithfulness听

DM: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord .听

ALL: In the name of Christ amen.听

Organ: Fanfare by John Cook

Closing announcement from Continuity: Fanfare by John Cook. Sunday Worship was recorded last weekend in St John鈥檚 Church Glastonbury. The leader and preacher was Prebendary David MacGeoch. The Organist and Director of Music was Matthew Redman, the Senior Technical Producer was Simon Tindall and the producer, Philip Billson.听 Next week鈥檚 Sunday Worship marks the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving in Britain.听听