welcome to canterbury for people on this saturday of holy week easter eve or holy saturday but always it's been seen as a time when christians paused between good friday and easter day and here we've come into the garden at the scenery with the water of the fountain dripping down behind me into the stone pond at a moment of reflection early in the morning as birds sing and we prepare ourselves for easter but still we are standing beside the early disciples in their grief and total misunderstanding at that time very understandable misunderstanding at what has happened to their leader and their lord o lord open our lives and our mouths shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up on the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever i'm going to read verses from psalm 88 o lord god of my salvation i have cried day and night before you let my prayer come into your presence incline your ear to my cry for my soul is full of troubles my life draws near to the land of death i am counted as one gone down to the pit i am like one that has no strength lost among the dead like those who lie in the grave whom you remember no more for they are cut off from your hand you have laid me in the lowest cliff in a place of darkness in the abyss you have put my friends far from me and made me to be afforded by them i am so fast in prison that i cannot get free my eyes fail from all my troubles lord i have called daily upon you i have stretched out my hands to you do you work wonders for the dead will the shades stand up and praise you shall your lovingkindness be declared in the grave your faithfulness in the land of destruction shall your wonders be known in the dark for your righteous deeds in the land where all is forgotten but as for me o lord i will cry to you early in the morning my prayer shall come before you so a lesson from the gospel of saint matthew the 27th chapter beginning at the 57th verse when it was evening there came a rich man from aramis here named joseph who also was a disciple of jesus he went to pilate and asked for the body of jesus then pilate ordered it to be given to him and joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen crowd and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn in the rock and he rode a great stone to the door of the tomb and departed mary magdalene and the other mary were there sitting opposite the tomb next day that is after the day of preparation the chief priests and the pharisees gathered before pilate and said sir we remember how that impostor said while he was still alive after three days i will rise again therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead and the last deception will be worse than the first tyler said to them you have a god of soldiers go make the tomb as secure as you can so they went and made the tombs secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard it seems strange that they could even think that that dispirited heartened group of men and women in their grief could ever think of anything as energetic and active as stealing the body of jesus away on that day following the day of preparation which was of course a sabbath day but they did and the stone was sealed over the tomb it's a day of waiting and watching with us right across the world always rather a silent day but made more silence this year by the fact that our public spaces are empty of people as we combat as a human race this dreadful disease in every nation psalm 88 asks certain questions do you work wonders for the dead will the shade stand up and praise you shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave your faithfulness in the land of destruction shall your wonders be known in the dark for your righteous deeds in the land where all is forgotten and there is something in humanity and always has been which wants to answer well yes to all these questions [Applause] it's an act of faith a leap of faith are reaching out for hope but it's always been there and something about eternal truths in every age is infused in us even at the times of deepest despair which obviously this writer of psalm 88 was feeling as he or she wrote it it was their prayer when they wrote it it's our prayer today that the question mark hangs over easter eve as the disciples wait they have no strength or courage yet to utter that yes but something in their humanity made in the image of their creator able to create and breathe life in this life and the next something in them is getting ready for an answer which will in faith and hope and love be able to say yes to those questions of the psalmist as for me oh lord psalmist goes on i will cry to you early in the morning and my prayer shall come before you as we say our prayers in the midst of the day as it gets brighter and brighter we remember those right across the world suffering so much in different kinds of ways we give thanks for all those who are serving them and serving us sometimes at great danger to themselves at this time of spreading disease we remember exactly how distance can help us protect each other even though to us it seems a strange thing to be distancing ourselves from our companions our loved ones and those we would reach out to help so we pray on this morning for all those in our hearts in our news those whose resources are stretched to breaking point those who have hard decisions to make we use first the prayer for this day easter eve grant lord that we who are baptized into the death of your son our savior jesus christ they continually put to death our evil desires and be buried with him so that through the grave and gate of death we may pass to our joyful resurrection to his merits who died and was buried and rose again for us even your son jesus christ our lord so as we make our own personal prayers in this mother church of the anglican communion worldwide we pray on this day and tomorrow for every province every diocese and parish but also for all christian leaders and communities and all leaders of faith who attempt to help their people answer a yes to those questions which would drive humanity to despair and help them to reach out in faith and hope and love we pray for justin our archbishop and here in this diocese for rose bishop of dover tim bishop atlanta and the life of every community as we say together in the words our savior taught us in whatever language whatever way you would normally 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 amen the moment of silence for us to make our own prayers on this easter day we adore you o christ and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world holy god holy and strong holy and immortal have mercy on us amen