Holy Week Songs of Praise


Holy Week

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Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week,

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when we remember Jesus's last days on Earth.

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

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

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No wonder it's the greatest story ever told.

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I'm in a place where stories and drama

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come to life on the big screen,

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in the world's first UNESCO City of Film,

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which, believe it or not, is Bradford.

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

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like Yorkshire's own Tom Courtenay.

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

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which describe Jesus's last days,

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

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arrived in Jerusalem on a humble donkey.

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They brought the colt to Jesus

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and threw their cloaks on it,

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and he sat on it.

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Many people spread their cloaks on the road

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

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

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

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Majesty and meekness, glory and suffering -

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those are the themes of our hymns today from the congregation

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here at Bradford Cathedral, where we start with a hymn

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

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And so the drama begins.

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

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Daryll Hackett stages the events of that week

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in a unique interpretation.

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

-Fantastic!

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THEY LAUGH

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

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At the start of it, in Jerusalem,

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there's Jesus coming in on a unicycle,

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

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

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That sense of surprise, really.

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Jesus goes off on the unicycle onto the tight wire

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and he's getting closer and closer to people.

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

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and then Judas is signified by one of the plates

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taken off on a sickle and then cast aside,

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which takes us to the garden scene and the betrayal.

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

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Then Judas appears from the background and throws a knife,

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which symbolises a kiss.

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

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which is the most powerful part of the whole scene.

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Then to signify

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

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

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Then, for the Resurrection,

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

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and finishing with some flag poi,

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

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

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but also very precious to Christians.

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

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

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People come up and say how moving it's been

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

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

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

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

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

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The emotion just overtakes.

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It is a wonderful show to do, for me.

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

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Jesus entered the temple and drove out

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all who were selling and buying there.

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He overturned the tables of the moneychangers

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and the seats of those who sold doves.

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He said to them, "It is written,

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"my house shall be called a house of prayer,

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

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Just opposite Bradford Cathedral is the headquarters building

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of the charity Christians Against Poverty.

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

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

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I often think of seeing Jesus there in the temple,

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overturning the moneylenders' tables and it just feels to me

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

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The system that brings people into debt and ruins lives.

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It was ruining lives then.

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

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

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What sort of pitfalls do people tumble into?

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

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

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

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and all that stuff

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

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What are you able to do?

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

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'organise a budget on which they can feed their children

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'and pay their debts off slowly,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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was when he washed the feet of his disciples

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as they were having their last meal together.

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During supper, Jesus poured water into a basin

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and began to wash the disciples' feet.

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

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

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

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"for I have set you an example

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

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

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

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for the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal here in Leeds.

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SHE PRAYS

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

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'coming over from the United States.'

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

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

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'We have a mothers-and-toddlers' group

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

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'It has just been a wonderful opportunity to build friendships

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'and to have a wonderful atmosphere

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'where they can come and have a break.'

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

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

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

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When you were a teenager, did you have any idea

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that you might end up as a religious sister?

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

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for the US American Speedskating Team.

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I competed in the Winter Olympics in 1998,

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placing sixth and seventh in my events,

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but there was a restlessness in my heart,

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

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So I decided to retire.

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After that, I had a powerful encounter with Christ,

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

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St Francis is our inspiration.

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

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So our ministry isn't about big institutions

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or serving hundreds of people.

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

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as Christ would love them,

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

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# I give to you

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# A new commandment

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# A new commandment

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# I give to you

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# That you love one another

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# Love one another

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# As I have loved you

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# As I have loved you

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# I give to you

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# A new commandment

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# A new commandment

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# I give to you

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# That you love one another

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# Love one another

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# As I have loved you

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# As I have loved you... #

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

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that the humanity of Jesus was laid bare.

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Knowing that a cruel and painful death awaited him,

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he prayed to be spared from suffering.

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They went to a place called Gethsemane

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

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"I'm going a little further."

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

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the hour might pass from him.

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

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"Remove this cup from me.

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

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

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To pray in desperate circumstances.

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

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when he was attacked by a group of armed men

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who believed he belonged to a different ethnic group.

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They confused me, they mistook me for their enemy.

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I heard one of them saying,

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"Here we are not going to use our machetes.

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

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

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They removed my shirt,

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

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

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

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

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about 30 people, to surround me.

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So they were listening carefully to my prayer.

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

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

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"But forgive them."

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

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At that point, I lost my conscious.

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

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Blaming each other.

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

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Amazing experience.

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

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

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# When the days of sorrow

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# With more than our hearts can face

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# Surrendering us into the hands

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# Of grace

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# Grief and loss entangle us

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# Forsaking the trust we've known

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# Till nothing but our love

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# Can lead us home

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# Pray without ceasing

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# Pray

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# God in heaven's hearing every word

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# We say

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# Pray without ceasing

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# Pray

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# God in heaven's hearing every cry

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# Every child

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# Every day

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# Every day

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# God is hearing every word we say

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# Pray

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# Pray... #

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

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the Roman governor.

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Pilate said to them,

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

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

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

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

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

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and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,

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"I am innocent of this man's blood.

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"See to it yourselves."

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So, injustice led to Jesus's final suffering.

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Ben's wife, Kongosi,

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experienced injustice during the conflict in the Congo.

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

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but extreme poverty meant that she was unable to bring

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all her children with her.

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

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

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

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So I closed my eyes, I was in tears.

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

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

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They were cared for by other members of the family,

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

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

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and painful death.

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When we see Holy Week,

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I kind of think of Mary watching

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what was going on with Jesus,

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and as a mother, you are watching this.

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I just put my hand on my breast.

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Oh, my God, that is painful experience,

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

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

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Jesus with the criminals,

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one on his right and one on his left,

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and Jesus said,

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

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# When I survey the wondrous cross...

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Heavenly Father,

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

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help us to travel on our journey with humility.

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As Jesus our saviour turned the moneylenders from the temple,

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

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As Jesus our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane,

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

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Our final hymn is taken from the magnificent poem

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The Dream Of Gerontius by John Henry Newman.

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

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this hymn of praise to Jesus,

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the man who suffered and the king who reigns.

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Next week, Bill enjoys a rich diversity

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of Easter Sunday celebrations.

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He visits Greek Orthodox and Polish churches,

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and learns about a Moravian custom for remembering the dead,

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all within the boundary of Yorkshire,

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with music from young singers

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including the Radio 2 Choristers of the Year.

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