Holy Week Songs of Praise

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week,

when we remember Jesus's last days on Earth.

It's a dramatic story of pain, triumph and deep emotion

on a scale that's both epic and very human.

No wonder it's the greatest story ever told.

I'm in a place where stories and drama

come to life on the big screen,

in the world's first UNESCO City of Film,

which, believe it or not, is Bradford.

Famous roles have been immortalised here by world-renowned actors,

like Yorkshire's own Tom Courtenay.

Tom is going to remind us of the passages from the Bible

which describe Jesus's last days,

starting with Mark's Gospel, which tells how the Son of God

arrived in Jerusalem on a humble donkey.

They brought the colt to Jesus

and threw their cloaks on it,

and he sat on it.

Many people spread their cloaks on the road

and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna!

"Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."

Majesty and meekness, glory and suffering -

those are the themes of our hymns today from the congregation

here at Bradford Cathedral, where we start with a hymn

that unites both the spectacle and the pathos of Palm Sunday.

And so the drama begins.

Jesus enters Jerusalem as the first act in a week that will end with his Crucifixion.

Daryll Hackett stages the events of that week

in a unique interpretation.

-This is a very odd way to mark Holy Week, isn't it?

-Fantastic!

THEY LAUGH

I think what's really nice is, it draws people in.

At the start of it, in Jerusalem,

there's Jesus coming in on a unicycle,

it's obviously Jesus on a donkey, and that look in people's faces,

of that shock - "What's going on?"

That sense of surprise, really.

Jesus goes off on the unicycle onto the tight wire

and he's getting closer and closer to people.

Then we go on to the Last Supper, which is signified by plate-spinning,

and then Judas is signified by one of the plates

taken off on a sickle and then cast aside,

which takes us to the garden scene and the betrayal.

The idea of the knives, really, is just to create that tension.

Then Judas appears from the background and throws a knife,

which symbolises a kiss.

That takes you on to the Crucifixion on top of the platform,

which is the most powerful part of the whole scene.

Then to signify

the moving of the stone, we have a big walking globe,

so I jump on top of that, move the globe away and then come back.

Then, for the Resurrection,

we have the diablos flying high in the air and then coming back

and finishing with some flag poi,

sort of swirling around... Just a sense of joy.

The events of Holy Week, of course, are very painful

but also very precious to Christians.

Do they worry that you're making fun of it?

I've always had the opposite, to be honest.

People come up and say how moving it's been

and how it has made them look at it in a different light.

The hardest part is the bit from the garden, walking round.

I think at that point, my emotions start to wobble a little bit.

I'm thinking, "What was Jesus thinking at this point?"

It's really hard not to cry when you're doing that.

The emotion just overtakes.

It is a wonderful show to do, for me.

I have a month of just solely focusing in on what Holy Week means.

Jesus entered the temple and drove out

all who were selling and buying there.

He overturned the tables of the moneychangers

and the seats of those who sold doves.

He said to them, "It is written,

"my house shall be called a house of prayer,

"but you are making it a den of robbers."

Just opposite Bradford Cathedral is the headquarters building

of the charity Christians Against Poverty.

It was established in 1996 by John Kirkby and, among other things,

it helps people who have fallen victim to poor lending practices.

I often think of seeing Jesus there in the temple,

overturning the moneylenders' tables and it just feels to me

like that's really the kind of stuff that we are doing.

The system that brings people into debt and ruins lives.

It was ruining lives then.

It's the same now. We are doing Jesus' equivalent,

we'd like to think, in today's society.

What sort of pitfalls do people tumble into?

There are so many different loans out there available to people.

You've got mortgages and all that kind of stuff.

Then, at the more extreme end, you've got payday lenders

and all that stuff

of short-term lending with extortionate interest rates, etc.

What are you able to do?

'We sit down with people and we begin to work with them on a solution,

'organise a budget on which they can feed their children

'and pay their debts off slowly,

'bringing them to a state of becoming debt free.'

And here we are, at the start of Holy Week,

so if Christ was here now, what would he be saying, what would his challenge be?

I'd like to think he'd come to CAP in Bradford,

but I do know he'd be amongst the poor, standing up for broken people,

and I think it's that that inspires us at Christians Against Poverty.

At the end of the day, we are servants of the living God.

Our heart is to serve the Church, to serve the Lord and to serve the poor

and see this nation change through a bunch of people who love God.

One poignant and powerful example of Jesus humbling himself to serve others

was when he washed the feet of his disciples

as they were having their last meal together.

During supper, Jesus poured water into a basin

and began to wash the disciples' feet.

After he had washed their feet, he said to them,

"If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet,

"you also ought to wash one another's feet,

"for I have set you an example

"which you also should do, as I have done to you."

Jesus's example of serving others has been followed by saints down the ages,

including St Francis of Assisi, whose life and teachings provide inspiration

for the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal here in Leeds.

SHE PRAYS

'We've been here in England for about four years,

'coming over from the United States.'

Our community has been founded to do hands-on work with the poor

and outreach to those in need and also works of evangelisation.

'We have a mothers-and-toddlers' group

'where, every week, we have tea, cake and a nice chat.

'It has just been a wonderful opportunity to build friendships

'and to have a wonderful atmosphere

'where they can come and have a break.'

Then we also do a variety of things with the poor.

We help at the soup kitchen, we also have a food bank,

so whoever is in need, they're welcome to come to our door any time.

When you were a teenager, did you have any idea

that you might end up as a religious sister?

I was competing on the World Cup circuit as a speed skater

for the US American Speedskating Team.

I competed in the Winter Olympics in 1998,

placing sixth and seventh in my events,

but there was a restlessness in my heart,

where I knew for myself that there was more to life than sports.

So I decided to retire.

After that, I had a powerful encounter with Christ,

so I joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal when I was 23 years old.

St Francis is our inspiration.

All St Francis wanted to do was truly put the gospel into practice.

So our ministry isn't about big institutions

or serving hundreds of people.

We really see it as a one-to-one way of loving our neighbour

as Christ would love them,

and really being the face of Jesus to those that we serve.

# I give to you

# A new commandment

# A new commandment

# I give to you

# That you love one another

# Love one another

# As I have loved you

# As I have loved you

# I give to you

# A new commandment

# A new commandment

# I give to you

# That you love one another

# Love one another

# As I have loved you

# As I have loved you... #

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest

that the humanity of Jesus was laid bare.

Knowing that a cruel and painful death awaited him,

he prayed to be spared from suffering.

They went to a place called Gethsemane

and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray.

"I'm going a little further."

He threw himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible,

the hour might pass from him.

He said, "Abba, Father, for you, all things are possible.

"Remove this cup from me.

"Yet, not what I want, but what you want."

Ben Mussanzi knows what it's like to pray as Jesus did in Gethsemane.

To pray in desperate circumstances.

One day in 1981, he was on his way to a funeral in his native Congo

when he was attacked by a group of armed men

who believed he belonged to a different ethnic group.

They confused me, they mistook me for their enemy.

I heard one of them saying,

"Here we are not going to use our machetes.

"He's alone, we are many. So we'll strangle him and we'll throw him

"in the river so that they'll think that we was killed by the river."

They removed my shirt,

and they transformed the shirt in a cord to tie my hands behind.

While I was trembling, I was saying, "I'm ready.

"Can you allow me to pray before you kill me?"

When I say that, the Holy Spirit brought them all,

about 30 people, to surround me.

So they were listening carefully to my prayer.

The prayer was, "Lord, thank you for planning that

"I will be killed today by young people from my own ethnic group.

"But forgive them."

And when I say that, I said, "OK, I'm ready to die. You can kill me now."

At that point, I lost my conscious.

When my conscious came back, I found these young people nearly fighting.

Blaming each other.

They moved me from the mud, and others were putting my shirt on me.

Amazing experience.

God knew that I still have work in this world with my family,

and so this is why I think he spared my life.

# When the days of sorrow

# With more than our hearts can face

# Surrendering us into the hands

# Of grace

# Grief and loss entangle us

# Forsaking the trust we've known

# Till nothing but our love

# Can lead us home

# Pray without ceasing

# Pray

# God in heaven's hearing every word

# We say

# Pray without ceasing

# Pray

# God in heaven's hearing every cry

# Every child

# Every day

# Every day

# God is hearing every word we say

# Pray

# Pray... #

Jesus's fate is sealed at his trial in front of Pilate,

the Roman governor.

Pilate said to them,

"Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"

All of them said, "Let him be crucified."

Then he asked, "Why? What evil has he done?"

But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified."

So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, he took some water

and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,

"I am innocent of this man's blood.

"See to it yourselves."

So, injustice led to Jesus's final suffering.

Ben's wife, Kongosi,

experienced injustice during the conflict in the Congo.

Fearing for her life, she was forced to flee the country,

but extreme poverty meant that she was unable to bring

all her children with her.

When we have to leave the house, Sarah was in tears, shouting,

"Mum, you are my father, you are my mother. Where are you going?

"Why are you leaving me behind? Who will take care of me?"

So I closed my eyes, I was in tears.

My hand was all the time here because I could feel the pain of separation.

Kongosi feared for the lives of the children she left behind.

They were cared for by other members of the family,

and her eldest daughter has been able to visit them in Bradford.

But Jesus's mother Mary had to watch her son die a cruel

and painful death.

When we see Holy Week,

I kind of think of Mary watching

what was going on with Jesus,

and as a mother, you are watching this.

I just put my hand on my breast.

Oh, my God, that is painful experience,

and it's like a wound no-one can heal.

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified

Jesus with the criminals,

one on his right and one on his left,

and Jesus said,

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

# When I survey the wondrous cross...

Heavenly Father,

as Jesus our king chose to enter Jerusalem on a donkey,

help us to travel on our journey with humility.

As Jesus our saviour turned the moneylenders from the temple,

help us to strive to overcome poverty and the misuse of money.

As Jesus our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane,

help us to trust in you even in our darkest hour.

Our final hymn is taken from the magnificent poem

The Dream Of Gerontius by John Henry Newman.

In it, he describes a chorus of angels singing in wonder and triumph

this hymn of praise to Jesus,

the man who suffered and the king who reigns.

Next week, Bill enjoys a rich diversity

of Easter Sunday celebrations.

He visits Greek Orthodox and Polish churches,

and learns about a Moravian custom for remembering the dead,

all within the boundary of Yorkshire,

with music from young singers

including the Radio 2 Choristers of the Year.