good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this 27th of may as we begin our morning prayers wherever you are in the world please be welcome here we've come into the deanery garden and we find a peacefulness here while the cathedral is still locked to us and wherever you are at home may we offer you our prayers either in your locked down condition or in your daily work oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high alleluia blessed are you creator god to you be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen the psalm on this morning of the month is psalm 121. i lift up my eyes to the hills from where is my help to come my help comes from the lord the maker of heaven and earth he will not suffer your foot to stumble he who watches over you will not sleep behold he who keeps watch over israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the lord himself watches over you the lord is your shade at your right hand so that the sun shall not strike you by day neither the moon by night the lord shall keep you from all evil it is he who shall keep your soul the lord shall keep watch over your going out and your coming in from this time force forevermore so we continue our daily reading of the gospel of saint luke and today we begin at the 16th verse of chapter 8 no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light take care then how you hear for to the one who has more will be given and from the one who has not even what they think they have will be taken away then jesus's mother and his brothers came to him but they could not reach him because of the crowd and he was told your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you but he answered them my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of god and do it one day he got into a boat with his disciples and he said to them let us go across to the other side of the lake so they set out and as they sailed jesus fell asleep and a wind storm came down on the lake and they were filling with water and were in danger and they went and woke him saying master master we are perishing and jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and raging waves and they ceased and there was a calm jesus said to them where is your face and they were afraid and they marbled saying to one another who then is this that he commands even winds and waves and they obey him no one lights a lamp and puts it under a jar used to be called hiding your light under a bushel we've come out here where a particular set of flowers have no desire whatsoever to hide their light under anything at all for there is nothing more opulent at this time of year than roses in full flower and nowhere more so than in this part of the garden against the old wall of the city very near to the quenen gate the queen's gate yesterday we spoke about augustine coming with his mission to england and how he found a friend here he himself had been much stirred up inside about whether this mission was the right one for him and had asked gregory to allow him to go back but no his orders were to go on and bring the gospel here it speaks of a certain sense of turmoil almost within augustine and we've come to a point in the gospel of saint luke where that same sense of tension and turmoil is seeming to come into jesus himself it happens in all the gospels they've had the years of galilean ministry and the absolute vocation of what it means to be the messiah the christ is something that he wrestles with and now we have these stories about his being surrounded constantly by crowds demand after demand which he is trying to fulfill but he wants much more than that in his teaching to be made evident there is a danger that the light will be hidden and then the next demand comes your mother and brother waiting for you outside and you feel almost the tension within jesus himself and the tiredness when eventually he steps into the boat and falls asleep winds and waves break round him and he can't be allowed to stay asleep for the twelve are terrified master master they shout and he stands and a calm comes over the lake and he chides them for their lack of faith all of this is an awakening of a wider and wider and wider ministry for jesus and a light which he cannot possibly hide when augustine arrived here in canterbury with his book of the gospels he met as we saw yesterday a great friend queen bursa the french queen of king ethelbert of kent the king was not yet christian but the queen became augustine's champion she allowed him and sought her husband's permission also as the king to allow him to have his christian base at the little church of saint martin where she worshiped daily the queen's gate is named after her daily journeys backwards and forwards we didn't think much about ethelbert yesterday we thought of queen bursa and of augustine but the king himself must have been in an enormous turmoil perhaps that had gone on for a bit because he had witnessed his wife's faithfulness to the daily mass up at saint martins as she walked up there and back along the way which is still well marked and called the queen's way to the little church and now she brings him augustin it's significant that ethelbert is baptized quite soon after that and then begins to do something else to see that as a ruler as an administrator as someone who could order his kingdom from his palace here in canterbury he could use for he was an intelligent man laws which might be set down just as bertha would go daily to the altar and her light was not hidden under a bushel and have companionship with augustine and the monks so ethel bird newly baptized began to have a desire to set in coded order the light of good law he was wrestling with his own vocation as king as she had wrestled with her christian vocation in a pagan kingdom as queen and augustine had wrestled with his vocation as the one sent all unworthily to bring the gospel to the english people i wish i could have been party to the conversations those three must have had around the table as they talked but what we know is that three years later ethelberg began to codify his law and what he codified is called textus refenses the text of rochester the second of the cathedrals to be formed and that textus when rochester cathedral is open again is there for you to see it is the foundation of what became magna carta and also what became something rather important on this date for this is the date the 27th of may when in 1679 the habeas corpus custom of this country the fact that no one could be seized and imprisoned without due process of law which had simply been a custom here which had grown up from ethelbert's textus refences and grown up through as a prerogative of the writ of habeas corpus on this day in 1679 it was enshrined in an act of parliament what a whole sequence of lights shining in different ways and what turmoil within the people who suddenly saw how their light might shine we see that as we watch with luke jesus's ministry as messiah growing larger and larger and larger to give light to the whole world we see it in queen berser and ethelbert and augustine all those years ago in the year 600 and we see it now with so many people attempting to struggle with a vocation which will give light to this world at a time of darkness as we wrestle with the coronavirus thanks be to god for the light they give by their vocations in their care of others and in their ordering of others in good laws and the welfare of peoples well one could go on and on with that but i think the sense is clear let your light so shine that people will see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven because of you let's say our prayers on this day first and foremost we say our prayers for places in the anglican communion today we pray for the national indigenous archbishop of canada mark lawrence mcdonald and those he looks after and the diocese of ahuada in nigeria and clement ekpe the bishop there and his people we pray to in this diocese for justin archbishop of canterbury for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambus and continue to pray for the parishes grouped together in the area deanery called the north downs today we're asked to pray for all the clergy who have permission to officiate those who perhaps in retirement or other ministries lend their help to the parish ministry there we ask god to bless them all so we say the prayer for this day oh god the king of glory you have exalted your only son jesus christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven we beseech you leave us not comfortless but send your holy spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our savior christ has gone before who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen we pray the psalm collect lord ever watchful ever faithful we look to you to be our defense in these times and we lift our hearts to know your help that our light may shine through jesus christ our lord amen as we say our own prayers today we think of all those who we know and love and those through the world who need a light to shine in their darkness and pray that we may be among those who shine that light by our own lives faith the quality of our love and our activity in our community let's say the prayer our lord taught us in whatever language and in whichever way you would like to say it our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men so we keep silence for a moment to make our own prayers christ ascended upon high king of kings and lord of lords fill you with the graces and gifts of his holy spirit the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen you