good morning and welcome on this january the 26th to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral unusually we've come to the same place that we were in yesterday for a very specific reason yesterday we were here in the bright morning sunshine shining on what we call mimosa as a sign of the bright light which shone at the conversion of saint paul and blinded him as the lord gave him his new vocation today we're here for a very different reason which will become apparent as i go through but we have three dates of celebration and let's say the first one is it is republic day in india an enormous celebration day when india celebrates in 1950 january the 26th becoming an independent republic within the commonwealth and we give thanks for our long relationship with india and that the mutual benefit that that now gives so we pray for the indian people today and we'll come back to that again and then this also in 1841 was the official beginning of again the long relationship of the people of hong kong with the people of these islands we have a a constant relationship there because of our king's school just over the border of hong kong uh at shenzhen and so we're missing the people of hong kong at the moment as we miss everyone because we're unable to travel in any particular way and everything is in a lockdown so i'd want to say to the people of hong kong gong hey hong kong and congratulations on this day but also um i want also to say that we're here because this is australia day and the australians are in full celebration at the diversity of their culture after long years of very close association with these islands which still continues of course and we remember our many friends in australia celebrating today and also remembering aspects of their history so that's why we've come here today because i'm sitting in front of what the australians would call wattles which we call the mosa and also uh the gum trees which we would call eucalyptus and we've even um much to their discontent really brought some guests here who are really australians say they were born of course in captivity here in england and they don't live in this little cage normally but we have three buttery girls who are looking a bit sulky and also a diamond of all of australian providence and brought from the large outdoor aviary where they have a a good life together but they're here to say congratulations australia this morning let's say our prayers and then we can go on with our thinking later oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the son of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 reject rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our son this morning is a section of psalm 119 for the 26th morning of the month and i'm starting with the section of verse 105. your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path i have sworn and will fulfill it to keep your righteous judgments i am troubled above measure give me life oh lord according to your word accept the free will offering of my mouth oh lord and teach me your judgments my soul is ever in my hand yet i do not forget your law the wicked have laid a snare for me but i have not strayed from your commandments your testimonies have i claimed as my heritage forever for they are the very joy of my heart i have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes always even to the end so we turn to our passage from saint mark's gospel having missed him over sunday and monday the feast of the conversion of sinful we've come back to chapter three and i'm starting where we left off excuse me at verse 31. the mother and brothers of jesus came and standing outside they sent to him and called him the crowd was sitting around him and they said to him your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you and he answered them who are my mother and my brothers and looking about at those who sat around him he said here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of god is my brother and sister and mother it's a little passage of continuation from what we were reading and we heard that his family and the four brothers aren't named later in st mark's gospel as we'll find out are beginning to hear the stories from the neighbors that your son is deranged and officials have come from jerusalem important people from the capital city are here and they are saying he is possessed by a demon and the family come jesus's mother mary and his brothers and later we will find them again when jesus visits nazareth they are nervous and puzzled and like any family in that little provincial place of galilee think yourself into that place it's a day's journey away on foot to nazareth and uh they've they've come to capernaum to see what on earth is going on and why these people should be accusing jesus of being possessed by the spirit of the elizabel of satan himself and you remember the altercation which jesus had with them and his anger at their hardness of heart with the man with the withered hand being healed on the sabbath day all those things and now we're given a reminiscence of in the other gospel of saint luke which we were looking at in the summer mary and joseph who seems now not to be alive anymore because he's not mentioned either now or later on in syd mark's gospel and it's it's the mary and the brothers and again in chapter six mary and the brothers and sisters so you remember how mary and joseph when jesus is 12 take him up to the temple and lose him and when they find him there in st luke's gospel his mother says in a sort of puzzled i think slightly hurt kind of way my son why have you dealt with us us your father and i have sought you sorrowing and the little boy age 12 says why did you search for me did you not know that i would be in my father's house and here he is talking with the doctors of the law challenging them and giving amazingly astute answers well now if we're to believe sin luke's chronology of age we've come to jesus 18 years later and here he is now and his mother puzzled again and remember luke's sentence very kept all these things and pondered them in her heart comes with the brothers and they're outside with all the crowds separating them from jesus and the the crowds who are listening to the message the urgent message which is what jesus is wanting to give he doesn't want anything to get in the way of that his time is short he's chosen the twelve friends he and they say but i'm surely your family has first claim is what they're saying they're outside waiting for you and we're back in the area of human limitations there's only so much of jesus to go round in his humanity and that has to be given to those who are ready to receive it so that the spirit can be given to them and then the gospel and the spirit and the image of the divine in our humanity can spread the world over and there is again this haste and this temptation to impatience and saying that these people are my family as they listen and therefore claims of this sort can't get in the way at the moment it sounds a hard message and and mark isn't above giving us hard messages as we've seen but he gives us in clarity the limitations of the humanity of jesus humanity of being only able as you and i are to be located in one place in the world at once and also the limitations of trying desperately to get a heavenly and a spiritual message of internal dimensions to those who are used to seeing things in a particular way and here we are in rural galilee with all its uh limitations so think of all the things in your own communities and you would think let's let's not do that because it might embarrass or hurt or but jesus has a a greater intention here and in the end we shall come back to that again in chapter six and very much more again towards the end of that ministry for of course the senior amongst the brothers james becomes a leader in the early church so the story is set to go on and the vocation of mary herself is limitless of course so let's think then of this particular day as we think of the communities of the world and the breaking down of barriers and i've said there's a a a celebration for us with our strong links of the people of these islands with the people of hong kong but of course also with other parts of china and up with india with its republic day today and the celebrations from delhi which i was watching earlier going on of great exuberance and we're so glad for all of that as a world that those celebrations can go on here we are in winter england and we have reminders here of australia uh we even baked some nice anzac biscuits which are absolutely delicious and signs of this day and zach of course common to australia and new zealand and we give thanks for our relationship of the people of these islands with with both those communities and cultures and all their diversity in this 21st century but also suffering the same restrictions of pandemic so we wish australia a good day and the the wattles here remind us of that and at the at the end of all that we shall do today and probably after the blessing don't go away stay on because there are there are two other things that we need to share with you one about australia one about india but i'll leave you to find that after the blessing so just hold on when i've given the blessing and then we remember um the various things the the the wildlife of australia and the protection of all of that and that's why we brought our friends here who are calming down a bit they know i won't keep them here long they're they're used to being used as as as great friends and they're quite chatty as well but um we've not got leo here this morning because i think that would alarm things completely and we remember also today other other community activities and artistic activities we remember in also 1908 that the first scout group was registered the first ever to be registered the first glasgow boy scout group was called in those days and now there are 32 million members in 218 countries of the scout movement so we give thanks for the scout movement we also give thanks on this day that in 1926 john logie bad gave a demonstration of his newly invented television uh a public demonstration to the royal institution think how that's come on since then and how we rely on it in these methods of communication we remember too here in canterbury this is an historic fact that in 1567 nicholas warton died and he was the first dean of canterbury after the reformation there had been deans in saxon times and then of course when it became a monastery in the official sense that they were taken over by priors but whatton came back to be the dean and he needs a reflection all to himself but his character founded and maintained the rhythms of this place in total continuity to the monastic community which had been here beforehand with its rhythms and its daily work and and its spiritual thinking and and reflection and prayer but also its mental study and and all of those things with our libraries so we'll look at wooden one day we've looked at his portrait once before but quite a long time ago now in about six months ago i think in our in our morning broadcasts but we remember him today because this is the year's mind of nicholas wooden and then wonderful premier uh performances of very many things this morning strange how january the 26th collects them first and foremost i would want to see let's do them chronologically well the first one then would be in 1790 mozart's opera cosi fantuti received its premiere in vienna we give thanks for that and all the fun it's given us we've had performances of that in the dinery garden here by our own uh um choir and and various other folk who've joined them at the end of the year in front on the lawn here and it became a wonderful fundraising exercise for both the the music of the place and it's its various charities and i think we've done all the mozart opera the big ones possible here and enjoyed them and then uh in 1911 richard strauss's derozan cavalier was performed for the first time in dresden and we give thanks for that that magnificent opera there's so much of richard strauss's music which is really beautiful chamber music and operas and well and songs but obviously he felt that rosen cavalier was the the opera that that people knew best because when at the end of the war the allies took over in germany then when the nokia on the door came there was an american officer and and he said i am richard strauss the composer of derozan cavalier in the same way that haydn had said that to a french officer when vienna was captured about his creation and the young french lieutenant responded by singing a little bit of a tenor aria from the creation and that pleased haydn a great way it shows us how music goes across the boundaries and we use that all the time in various different languages and then on a different plane in 1988 andrew lloyd webber's phantom of the opera had its first performance in broadway and became the longest running musical in broadway and still maintains that well that gives us a chance to pray for all those who um are involved in the performing arts and this day i just wanted to mention this is a personal memory uh the english general gordon was killed in khartoum in 1885 two days before relief arrived on the river and i've i've thought about it many times i'm standing in khartoum with the confluence of the blue nile coming down from ethiopia and the white nile having flown right up through from uganda joining just there at that point and looking the other way up as the nile flows up towards the mediterranean up towards egypt and thinking of gordon's lockdown he had been sent out to evacuate all those who were in danger from um the the danger of their lives from the mardis forces coming but he himself wouldn't leave because there were people he'd not been able to to get out and he stayed and of course died there and he thought that by being there help would come but i've often thought how he must have looked and looked along that river and the river of course is the waterway which joins again all those nations water simply flows through and it's a an immensely impressive spot just there so uh enough let's say our prayers this morning and give thanks for all those places that we mention that are celebrating and at the same time bring our own intentions and concerns this is the day on which we remember in our christian calendar timothy and titus the companions of paul so i'm going to say that prayer first so think of those who are your companions and encourage us at this time whether they're near you with you or kept in touch as we're doing now and then i will say the um collect for this week before we say the our father together heavenly father who sent your apostle paul to preach the gospel and gave him timothy and titus to be his companions in faith grant that our fellowship in the holy spirit may bear witness to the name of jesus who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen collect for this week almighty god whose son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence renew your people with your heavenly grace and in all our weakness sustain us by your mighty power through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language the prayer our savior taught us 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 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 for our own cars on this day so as we pray for our own concerns we pray in our communion for the diocese of alabama in the episcopal church of the united states and here in the diocese for six parishes in the sitting-borne area of our diocese and for the clergy there julian staniforth amanda lane and simeon neville in their ministry there and the life of heartlit and newington primary schools of course in lockdown at present pray for justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth as i said immediately after the blessing hold on we want to tell you something first about uh our link with parramatta school in australia the king school parramatta and the the the uh constant over the years that the constant uh going backwards and forwards the people who would come as pupils from there to here to live the life of canterbury and back from canterbury to parramatta but parramatta gave a great gift to us as you'll see and uh they were of course an enormous help to our rugby team at any time when they were here um but at the same time um we are going to tell you just something about a very important visitor from india who came here as a guest of hewlett johnson so just hold on because it will enrich our prayers as well on these celebration days 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 this day and always amen well thanks i think it's time you went back to your massive aviary with all the other friends thank you for being our australians present this morning here in canterbury so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so you're surrounded by the beautiful scent of the waffles the mimosa from both of us in the deanery to all our australian friends and family both in australia and right across the world happy australia day i'm standing now near the green court the dealing chapters green court in front of the deanery here and i'm standing in front of the lardergate arch which has very significant historic connections with king's school parramatta in australia and after the second world war following the baydeca raid when an enormous amount of damage was done to this building though the historic arch was preserved king school parramatta had a donor who came forward from them to restore this arch and the historic connection between the cathedral school here kings canterbury and king's school parramatta therefore we rejoice in the first of all the arms of australia there with the beasts of australia the emu and the kangaroo and the black swan there and on the right hand side as you look at those arms you see the arms of king school parramatta and in australia and on the left hand side you see the arms of our own king's school it causes us not only to celebrate australia day but to give thanks for the worldwide affection in which this holy place is held and our gratitude on this day is uh joined to our great love for all australians and the connections that we have with them i know that many of you will have friends over there so we rejoice with them on this day which is mid-summer for them and frosty winter day for us here in front of the lardergate arch this used to be the arch through which the king's scholars could walk in procession and then go up a staircase and enter the cathedral by their own entry all that was destroyed by the blitz and that was never restored the library itself beyond was destroyed too in the blitz and had to be rebuilt but this rebuilding with its historic arch still standing there was the gift from australia from parramatta standing here at the front door of the deanery i'm standing in the exact position of the historic photograph of mahatma gandhi here on his visit to stay at the deanery as a guest of hewlett johnson the then dean in the early 1930s the dean gives a full account of the way in which they would discuss and reflect together on their different rhythms of spirituality and their different concepts but also their longing for peace and unity in the world and of how gandhi would go across and sit beside him at matins in the cathedral and at the same time they would prepare a cup of tea together in the kitchen beforehand and talk about the way that mahatma gandhi had actually meditated himself from a window upstairs uh during that visit their desire for for peace and unity for the world was absolutely at one and it's a lovely thing to think of gandhi standing here with the dean on this great day for india republic day in india as the celebrations go on