good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of the 22nd of july thursday the 22nd of july as we come together to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world welcome to an english summer morning with a totally blue sky and we've sought shelter already under the shade of the tree of heaven the air ancestry and the summer flowers are around us the pink hydrangeas here on my right your left and roses still from the arch here blooming but the summer flowers in the fine weather we've had are beginning to pass now and there's a sense of the year moving on we want to say first of all happy birthday to prince george who is eight today and we give thanks for his birthday and pray for the royal family on this happy day and at the same time let me turn to a different note today in the cathedral church in the knave of the cathedral you will remember that we mentioned oh some uh months ago now uh the murder of woman police support officer julia james in the woods near her home simply walking the dog and in a country community not far from here aylesham and snowdown where she lived and they originally were mining communities they're still very tight communities of support but today in the cathedral church we have her funeral and obviously there are mixed emotions from the hundreds who will be attending we've come here because of the space that the cathedral gives space for the sorrow that those communities feel and space for honoring julia which so many of her colleagues in the police force want to do as we all do and space also for our affection to surround the grief of the family space also for thanksgiving for all the qualities of character and service that julia brought not only to her own community but to all those whom she came into contact with and to this county of kent so have us in your minds and prayers today and we pray for the repose of julia's soul and remember with deep affection her family so at this time too we want to send another happy birthday and this goes to fletcher's godfather andreas and we pray for him and his wife and and wish them a happy birthday day for andreas they live in santiago and of course on sunday we shall be keeping st james's day so we will uh mention many pilgrims roots but hold aloft uh uh st james of compostela santiago and the pilgrim route which is one of the most popular routes the camino which goes there and feeds in from so many areas of of europe pilgrim trails going out to there and even on to finisterre looking out onto the atlantic ocean so we've no time or with no possibility of seeing andreas on this day but we shall be in contact with him and conchita his wife later on and then we want to remember the people of japan today as one thing after another seems to get in the way of their organization and happiness with the olympics we remember the all the preparations here in the united kingdom when we held the olympics in 2012 i think and what a happy event it was but this arranging it in the middle of all the pandemic restrictions and one thing after another which seems to to get in the way of the the organizers and the japanese people at this time so we hold them in our hearts together with those suffering from so many things which we have looked at in the the past few days fire and flood and an increase in the pandemic all those dimensions into our prayers together with your own concerns always bring them as we say our morning prayers together on this day it's mary magdalene's day so we are using the morning prayer preface for the easter season oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice hallelujah blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts 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 does 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 are men so we read our psalm on this day which is the psalm for the 22nd morning of the month it's the lovely but long psalm 107 and i won't read all of this but i will give most of psalm 107 to you oh give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children those who go down to the sea and ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their pedal they reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land and there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice and wickedness will shut its mouth whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the loving kindness of the lord a wonderful sound with its chorus refrain as it comes on the way through perhaps the best of those choruses is let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good this is as i said mary magdalene's day and so we have a very special lesson indeed and it's an easter lesson we'll talk about mary magdalene at length in our reflection and i'm intending to read all the verses about mary in saint john chapter 20 and we will read from verses 1 to 18. now on the first day of the week mary magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb so she ran and went to simon peter and the other disciple the one whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him so peter went out with the other disciple and they were going towards the tomb both of them were running together but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in he saw the linen cloths lying there but he did not go in then simon peter came following him and went into the tomb he saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth which had been on jesus head not lying with the linen cloth but folded up in a place by itself then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead then the disciples went back to their homes mary stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of jesus had lain one at the head and one at the feet they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to them [Music] they have taken away my lord and i do not know where they have laid him having said this she turned round and saw jesus standing but she did not know that it was jesus jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and i will take him away jesus said to her mary she turned and said to him in aramaic rabonai which means teacher jesus said to her do not cling to me for i have not yet ascended to the father but go to my brothers and say to them i am ascending to my father and your father to my god and your god mary magdalene went and announced to the disciples i have seen the lord and that he had said these things to her how refreshing and glorious to have that easter lesson read on this wonderful day of sunshine and fruitfulness all around we want to think about mary magdalene for a while she is mentioned in all four of the gospels and last night at evensong i read the lesson from st john which places her at the cross and we have there but standing by the cross of jesus were his mother and his mother's sister mary the wife of cleopas and mary magdalene intimately there with family members and obviously someone well trusted and well known and part of the group who had come from galilee we know that because she was from magdala her name gives that to us straight away but massive mistakes have been made about mary magdalene and i'm afraid that the chief culprit was pope saint gregory the great so important to us in sending augustine here for in a set of sermons that he preached he conflated the figures of mary magdalene and mary of bethany and the woman who was living an immoral life in the town who poured the ointment over jesus and that has done an enormous amount of damage and disservice to mary magdalene throughout the church's history it stems i think first from luke chapter eight simply because it follows on in luke's arrangement from chapter seven and we read in chapter eight just these three verses soon afterwards this is verse one of chapter eight soon afterwards jesus went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of god and the twelve were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities mary called magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out and joanna the wife of chooser herod's household manager and susanna and many others these women provided for them out of their means that's all but before that at the end of chapter seven is the story which in the text here is given a sinful woman forgiven the so the story which happens at the pharisees house and purpose and gregory conflated the two there's no reason for having done so we have seen how the evangelists order the gospels in a way they want us to receive the message and true it is from those three verses of chapter eight that in relieving her i would say mental distress mary a magdalen was filled with gratitude to the savior and then and the tradition is that she was a woman of independent means in fact a businesswoman of of some quality and living on the western side of the sea of galilee but having traveled with the galileans down through and been part of all that ministry until she found herself standing at the cross together with mary the mother of jesus and other members of the intimate family together with the beloved disciple all of that we know and we know also now what john tells us in chapter 20. we've seen in the three synoptic gospels she was part of the group that knew where they had laid jesus and if you match mark with john then she wasn't alone when she came to the tomb first of all early in the morning the intention of the women was to fulfill all the honoring of the body of jesus the jesus whom they had loved and had come to grieve over and when they arrived sin mark and st john tell the same story and we know that and details are always that i keep saying this isn't an illustrated biography this is actually the good news is we need to know it and here we are in john's gospel what we do know is that when mary magdalene runs from the tomb just as say the marking account says and comes back to do what they've been commanded to do go and tell the brothers then uh she comes back and says they've taken the lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they've laid him so she obviously then goes back with the two disciples because when they have looked into the tomb and go back home again she is left weeping outside the tomb and here the transformation takes place for she has come to grieve over the body of jesus whom she loves so much in gratitude for what has delivered her clearly very severe mental distress from that little sentence in luke's gospel but since then there's been a journey and she's been able from her resources together with the others to look after jesus and the twelve and it's to saint mary magdalene that jesus comes and she recognizes him having mistaken him for for the gardener at first through her tears and grief and still her her desire is to show honor and affection for the body of the one she had loved and now on this occasion jesus calls her by name mary and there's recognition and then the gentle moving her on from the physical humanity of jesus to go and announce to the infant hardly infant the seed of what will be the church throughout the world from that moment onwards to go and announce what she says to them all i have seen the lord it's such a wonderful story mary magdalene is is is very precious to us because she is so much honored in a part of france to which we would generally go at this time of year but last summer it wasn't possible this summer it wouldn't be possible um but in that area of provence there is a a legend uh and it's deeply believed that mary magdalene came there uh and uh made her home there and at maximum santa boom there is a shrine but better still and we've done this you can make a pilgrimage up to the scent boom itself the massif and high high up in the woods there is the most marvelous cave and chapel and community of dominicans who look after that as they do some maxima and there is a wonderfully refreshing spot where one looks out over the whole of provence towards the mediterranean and the connection across the sea with all the trading that went on uh and the journeys that went on on the sea later from the church makes all this connection understandable but this morning we want to give thanks for mary magdalene's almost release from this bad perception simply from a model an ecclesiastical model which is meant that uh so often any contribution from women in not only in the church but in in in western society we we were thinking of the way in which jane austen had to publish her novels anonymously because nothing would be accepted in that way well the the the finding of this woman of resource in the figure of mary magdalene becomes a really significant moment and it's an easter moment of resurrection for the unity of humanity in in its in its its genders and that also um becomes something which the whole church can embrace in a particular way for here is the one who was first able to say i have seen the lord and give that message sometimes she's called the apostle to the apostles for giving that message we could talk long about mary magdalene on this day and one would want to but certainly to give thanks for her is a wonderful thing to be able to do and i was keen to know this morning that on this particular day in 1882 the american artist edward hopper was born now i would know nothing really about edward hopper but for my sister to pauline he was a favorite artist she was so much better at visual things than i but her enthusiasm for hopper lasted right to the end and we would try hard and fetch was very good at it at finding calendars with hoppers paintings on or books which mentioned him because at the end when her parkinson's disease was so severe visual things could still make a huge difference and hopper was there now why hopper and hopper having been born at that time and died much later in 1967 began to realize his art and he had an art teacher who later on when he was becoming more skilled as an artist said it isn't the subject that counts but what you feel about it forget about art and paint pictures of what interests you in life he'd been much moved on european journeys by rembrandt especially the night watch and he said of the night watch the most wonderful thing of his i have seen its past belief in its reality but what he painted as you'll see if you begin to explore hopper on websites was ordinary pictures in new york sometimes in the sunshine of cape cod but mostly in new york where he was supported by his wife josephine who often was his model at the same time she was his total encouragement a pain to herself but she gave all of herself to him and the way through knowing what gifts he had and in american real realism he would paint pictures now one of one of pauline's favorites was the office at night and it showed what she felt she had suffered for so long when she was a secretary in the years uh previous to taking a mature degree at sussex university and suddenly flowering but in those days she was serving a degree of of many men who she thought really unworthy in the way in which they were doing their jobs but her opinion counted for nothing and the office at night seemed to sum all that up for her and still that sense of loneliness and needing her gifts to be recognized and taking power for herself which blossomed its sussex and then blossomed even more when she became the pa to the editor of the guardian and was so honored for all the gifts she shared but still inside there was that which uh in in hopper is looking in from the outside so many of his pictures do that nighthawks was another of hers the empty streets and looking in to what's going on inside where there are other characters there and perhaps the automat is the one that almost makes me weep to see it of the the woman so so beautifully dressed and sitting all alone and again it seems to be a night scene in the automat cradling the warmth of a cup of coffee with her her smart clothes and smart hat and looking down at it and all of that hopper gives you in realism and we give thanks for that because mary magdalene was rescued from all that loneliness and mental distress by jesus and then chose to follow him and eventually was given the supreme gift of that first message of easter announced to the apostles i have seen the lord and that was much better than the mt2 message which came to them first which caused peter and john to run this was real and taking away of the fingers of physical reality from jesus and the knowledge that the gift was present ever present and in eternity ever present and given to the church to share with the world all that good news in the figure of mary magdalene so those images this morning so very powerful and i'm i'm glad that the two things have conflated the images given to me when i remember hopper and the devotion of pawning to those images but also her sadness i think in the images as well and the sense of always needing to be invited in and honored which one tried to do we tried to do all her friends tried to do at that time so i remember her this morning as well and we're going to say our prayers now and give thanks for mary magdalene and use the collect for mary magdalene's day but bring your own intentions and prayers from across the world as as you do so and uh we are praying today for the diocese of dar es salaam in the the anglican church of tanzania give thanks for all our friends in dar es salaam and i remember good times in dar es salaam though the climate is one of huge humidity there itself until you get up into the asanbara mountains beyond but all the church there we remember and the citizens there too and in this diocese today we pray for uh the parish of loose all saints for steve price and chris tom in their ministry there and chris watson lee the curette and barbara lewis the reader there pray for archbishop justin for bishop rose of dover for bishop tim at lambeth and pray for the communities of elsham and snowdown on this day as we remember julia and give thanks that this is an ecumenical occasion and the catholic clergy especially uh father jeff who ministers in el-sham and also in dover are not only coming themselves but bringing their singers from those communities to sing as the music in the cathedral today as we fill this place for that particular memory and act of thanksgiving let's say this collect for mary magdalene's day almighty god whose son restored mary magdalene to health of mind and body and called her to be a witness to his resurrection forgive our sins and heal us by your grace so that we may serve you in the power of his risen life who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language you would like across the world 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 amen moment of silence now on this morning for our own prowess yes okay [Music] the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men you may have noticed a small black hen walking through the grass early in our prayers this morning the the big gang aren't out yet at the shed and normally she would have been with them locked away but we call her mummy and she's really our best mother of all the chicks and she's quite an old hen but she always wants to sit on her eggs outside which is extremely dangerous because of the fox but somewhere in this large garden in the foliage she is sitting on eggs and she comes out and then disappears and this has happened before and she's reared so many chicks in that way we're hoping this will happen safely again um but if not it would be cruelty itself to capture her and stop her sitting where she absolutely loves to be on a nest somewhere on her eggs and so we give thanks for the black ken who is probably in some way the grandmother or great-grandmother of so many of the hens that you see around