27/12/2015 Songs of Praise

Hello and welcome to a special edition of Songs of Praise

from our home in MediaCity in Salford.

As we celebrate some of the best musical moments

and memorable stories from the past year.

We also have a special performance by West End star Shaun Escoffery.

We'll discover how one man's faith helped him find forgiveness.

As soon as I got hold of his hand,

there was something passed between us.

I can only say it was the Lord working.

And after singing Abide With Me in front of 90,000 people

at the FA Cup Final at Wembley,

our Fans Choir reunites to relive one of the biggest days of their lives.

It's good talking to other members that were in the choir

because I think family and friends back home

are getting fed up with me going on about it now!

Of course, as well as our highlights,

we'll have a rich mix of hymns and worship songs from around the UK.

And as I'm from Wales, I'm pleased to say we're starting in Cardiff.

We've had the most incredible year of music

with nearly 100 special guest performances

alongside hymns and songs from more

than 80 churches, cathedrals and worship halls across the UK.

It's been quite a year.

# Oh, happy day Oh, happy day!

# When I get to heaven Oh, happy day!

# I'm going to walk the streets Oh, happy day... #

# Grant that daily we may prove

# Those who place their trust in thee... #

# Songs of praises, songs of praises

# I will ever give unto thee

# Songs of praises, songs of praises

# I will ever give unto thee... #

# Amazing grace!

# How sweet the sound

# That saved a wretch like me... #

# In heavenly love abiding

# No change my heart shall fear

# And safe is such confiding

# For nothing changes here... #

# How great thou art

# How great thou art... #

THEY SING Gwyl Y Baban

# O worship the King

# All-glorious above

# O gratefully sing

# His power and his love... #

# When love was king

# Oh-oh-oh-oh

# When love was king... #

# Don't let me fall

# And don't let go

# Walk with me

# And never leave

# Ever close, God abide with me... #

And from one incredible musical montage to a powerful performance

of a seasonal favourite

from West End star Shaun Escoffery.

# A ray of hope flickers in the sky

# A tiny star lights up way up high

# All across the land Dawns a brand-new morn

# This comes to pass When a child is born

# A silent wish sails the seven seas

# The wind of change Whispers in the trees

# All the walls of doubt Crumble tossed and torn

# This comes to pass When a child is born

# A rosy hue settles all around

# You've got the feel You're on solid ground

# For a spell or two No-one feels forlorn

# This comes to pass When a child is born

# It's all a dream, an illusion now

# It must come true Sometime soon somehow

# All across the land Dawns a brand-new morn

# This comes to pass When a child is born

# This comes to pass

# When a child is born

# When a child is born. #

As well as wonderful singing from all four corners of the UK,

we've met a whole range of extraordinary people

with some truly inspirational stories.

Nick Vujicic is an internet sensation whose antics have gone viral

as he refuses to let severe disability stand in his way.

They call it phocomelia which means a baby being born without limbs

with no medical reason.

When I was 15 years old, I read John chapter 9 - a man was born blind,

and no-one knew why he was born that way

and I'm like, "Oh, I can relate to that!"

And Jesus said it was done

so that the works of God would be revealed through him.

And I thought, wow,

if Jesus had a plan for a blind man then he has a plan for me.

One man's devout faith was at the heart of another remarkable story.

In 1979, Michael Ho faced starvation after being stranded

at sea for 17 days with nearly 80 other Vietnamese boat people

including a mother and her newborn baby.

I said, "If you save the baby, Lord,

"I promise you, I will be a good man."

And suddenly, I looked out in the ocean.

A British cargo ship from nowhere suddenly appeared from the ocean.

Michael later became a priest and 36 years on was finally reunited

with his British rescuers, Ian and Jenny McBain.

Nice to meet you again. Thank you for saving our lives.

HE SNIFFS

One of the most extraordinary stories actually came

from one of our viewers.

David Hinkins wrote to Songs of Praise to tell us

how his father, George,

sacrificed his life to save crew members of a British aircraft carrier

when it was attacked by a Japanese kamikaze pilot.

I was quite amazed to find out that I had a father that was a hero

but at the same time, I missed him, definitely.

I still do.

David's attempts to find out more about the pilot drew a blank,

but a Japanese TV team heard his story

and, amazingly, managed to trace the pilot's brother

and brought a video message to play to David.

After the story was broadcast on Songs of Praise,

David accepted an offer from an anonymous businessman to travel

to Japan to meet the brother of the kamikaze pilot, Yoshinari Kurose.

When we met in the tea garden, as soon as I got hold of his hand,

there was something passed between us.

I can only say it was the Lord working.

And we just had a mutual understanding.

I wanted to offer forgiveness and reconciliation,

erm, which he accepted.

And everything came together. It was the Lord's timing.

He knew when it was right to do this and we just got on and did it.

Coming up, we'll betaking a look back at some high-profile stories

of faith which really made an impact.

First though, another musical highlight, this time

from Keswick with worship leader, composer and singer Stuart Townend.

As we're all too familiar,

2015 has been a year dominated by the refugee crisis and acts of terrorism,

and whether it be in Paris, Tunisia or the Jungle in Calais,

on Songs of Praise, we've aimed to reflect the mood of the nation

as some of these events have unfolded and touched all our lives.

The threat of terrorism was a subject His Royal Highness Prince Charles

focused on during a special interview with Diane Louise Jordan in February.

I find it heartbreaking that these sort of things should happen.

The frightening part is that people can be so radicalised

either through contact with somebody else or through the internet

and the extraordinary amount of crazy stuff that is on the internet.

I think the secret is we have to work harder to build bridges and

we have to remember that our Lord taught us to love our neighbour.

To do to others as you'd have them do to you and just

to go on despite the setbacks and despite the discouragement,

to try and build bridges and to show justice and kindness to people.

And faith was very much in focus

in the midst of one of the year's other headline stories,

the migrant crisis affecting Europe.

In August, Sally visited Calais

and, in particular, the camp known as the Jungle.

So this is the church. It's surrounded by rubbish.

It's clearly makeshift and temporary, but it is a church and...

there's something rather striking about it and it clearly

brings a lot of comfort to many of the Christians who live here.

Inside, it was clear just how important this church

was to its worshippers.

It seems that a lot of effort and care has gone into this.

All of us just... We love this church.

More than ourselves, you know?

Despite the huge controversy surrounding the very existence

of the camp, UK Christian volunteers were clear

about the importance of their mission to support the people there.

A lot of people at home where you come from are unhappy

about helping migrants, feel they shouldn't be here

and if they are here, they shouldn't be encouraged.

That's very sad, really, that people feel that way.

But that's not how the church feels.

That's what the church is here for, to reach the lost, the poor,

and the hopeless.

More recently, in November,

the people of Paris drew on their faith and solidarity

as multiple terrorist attacks left the whole country

and the wider world stunned.

The leaders of the Anglican and Catholic churches

spoke exclusively to Songs of Praise.

My wife and I lived in Paris for five years

and it was one of the happiest places we've lived

and to think of a place of such celebration of life...

..seeing such suffering is utterly heartbreaking.

I just kept thinking of people who had gone out for a drink,

who had gone out for a meal, gone out to a football match

and were not coming home. Had just been slaughtered.

The terrorists, of course,

believe they're doing all this to glorify their god.

Just because someone believes something deeply wrong,

it doesn't mean that they're right in some strange way

because they put God in it.

The perversion of faith is one of the most desperate aspects

of our world today.

I think their intention is completely distorted

in terms of any claim over religious motive,

and, as Pope Francis has said, their actions are a blasphemy against God.

# Deep peace Of the running wave to you

# Deep peace Of the flowing air to you

# Deep peace Of the quiet Earth to you

# Deep peace Of the shining stars to you

# Deep peace Of the gentle night to you

# Moon and stars Pour their healing light on you

# Deep peace of Christ

# The light of the world

# Of the world to you

# Deep peace of Christ

# To you. #

Still to come, we'll be catching up

with the Songs of Praise FA Cup Fans Choir,

to relive some of the best moments from their big day out

at the Cup Final at Wembley.

But first, another musical treat from London.

Now, as you know, we love hearing choirs on Songs of Praise.

Perhaps our most memorable musical moment of 2015

was when our FA Cup Fans Choir sang Abide With Me

alongside 90,000 fans at the Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in May.

The FA Cup is one of sport's biggest events,

watched by a global audience of around 500 million people.

To celebrate this amazing event,

Songs Of Praise decided to put together a choir like no other

for our biggest ever sing-along.

64 football fans, each one from a football club that made it

to the third round, descended on Wembley.

I'm from Bradford. I'm from Chelsea.

We played each other a couple of months back.

And Aled Jones was there to meet them.

Anyone excited about singing in Wembley? Yes! Yes.

Our budding Cup choristers found it daunting at first

and some struggled to hit the right note.

Now, I can hear I'm going to have to work with a few of you.

HE SINGS OFF-KEY

But with help from conductor Steve Thompson,

and a few slightly unusual warm-up techniques,

our own FA Cup team soon found that they were not only pitch-ready

but were forging some unexpected friendships too.

All the best. All the best to you too next season!

Together, they faced the Wembley crowd

and with singing star Alfie Boe leading them on,

inspired 90,000 spectators

to deliver an iconic rendition of this classic hymn.

# Abide with me

# Fast falls the eventide

# The darkness deepens... #

Seven months later, the choir are back

and it's like time hasn't passed.

Musical director, Steve Thompson, has responded to a Christmas appeal

from the people of Totton near Southampton.

They said, "Steve, would you come and switch the lights on?"

I said, "I'd be honoured to do that."

But I thought for one moment,

could I possibly bring the FA Cup choir back together

to help me put the lights on?

So I sent out a gentle Facebook message and it was unanimous -

"Steve, we'll come and do it."

'Not only switching the lights on...'

CHEERING

550 kids have made these lanterns

and they're going to have a parade through the streets.

So the choir's going to be a part of the parade,

then later on in the evening, we're going to do a concert

where they'll perform five songs.

Here's one that we can all sing along to!

O Come All Ye Faithful. Together!

# O come all ye faithful

# Joyful and triumphant... #

Whether there's two of us or there's 64, in some ways, it doesn't matter.

But because there's that great bond, it's wonderful to see everybody.

And it's good talking to other members that were in the choir

because I think family and friends back home

are getting fed up with me going on about it now!

In July, I'm getting married

and I've asked Vicky to be one of my bridesmaids

because we've become really good friends.

Putting God centre stage at the Wembley FA Cup Final was

so important for me

because I got ordained a month later.

Well, I've got a tattoo of the FA Cup on my arm.

I wanted to get a Christian tattoo anyway,

and I wasn't quite sure what to get, so I just thought, "That's it."

Some great memories of a choir

that seems to be taking on a life of its own.

# ..Abide with me. #

Stirring stuff from the Wembley faithful

and our FA Cup Fans Choir there.

Well, I do hope you've enjoyed our best moments,

musical and otherwise, from over the past year

and next week, it'll be 2016

and Aled Jones will be in the north-east to discover how chickens

are helping pensioners to combat loneliness during the January blues.

To end today,

we have a fantastic rousing hymn from just down the road in Manchester.

Thank you for watching and have a very happy New Year.

# Out there in the dark

# Out there in the dark

# There's a beckoning candle, yeah

# And while I can think

# While I can talk

# While I can stand

# While I can walk