welcome and good morning from canterbury cathedral it's the first monday of should we call it ordinary easter time easter week itself is now over and we begin these weeks when we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our lord jesus christ in many different ways i've come into this part of the garden where the bluebells are blooming under the trees at the moment to say our morning prayers as the sun rises a little higher in the sky oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia 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 firstfruits 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 one of the psalms for this 20th morning of the month is psalm 103 and i'm going to read it all it's a very beautiful psalm and seems to suit this morning very much indeed bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion who satisfies you with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagles the lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed he made his ways known to moses and his works to the children of israel the lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindness he will not always accuse us neither will he keep his anger forever he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickedness for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy on those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he set our sins from us as a father has compassion on his children so is the lord merciful towards those who fear him for he knows of what we are made he remembers that we are but dust our days are but his grass if we flourish as a flower of the field for as soon as the wind goes over it it is gone and its place shall know it no more but the merciful goodness of the lord is from of old and endures forever on those who fear him and his righteousness on children's children on those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them the lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom has dominion over all bless the lord you angels of his you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word bless the lord all you his hosts you ministers of his who do his will bless the lord all you works of his in all places of his dominion bless the lord o my soul the reading set for this morning is no longer one of the narratives the stories of the resurrection it is if you like what happens after that but long after that for i'm reading from the letter of paul to the colossians the very first chapter and the first 14 verses paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god and timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in christ at qualify grace to you and peace from god our father we always thank god the father of our lord jesus christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in christ jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of this you have heard before in the word of the truth the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of god in truth just as you learned it from epifras our beloved fellow servant he is a faithful minister of christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light he has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins paul as far as we know never went to qualify with a little market town if you like it had been great years and years before but obviously the young man epithas had gone from colossae and journeyed to ephesus to hear the great paul preach and teach returning to his hometown of colossae he had shared that good news and formed a christian community there but he was finding that teaching that he was giving not easy for them to follow and understand some years later and so it seems he went to find paul himself in prison and when he found paul he asked for an encouraging letter so that the people in colisei may feel themselves strengthened by the words of the great apostle so paul is really writing to people he's heard about from his own young disciple everfrass and paul and timothy both give their names to this letter and asked that it be read in other communities nearby in laodicea and hierapolis but meanwhile this fresh letter is sent to colossae this is a time when the whole world seems to be fresh on a spring day in england those of you watching from other parts of the world will be in different seasons but here flowers are blooming and the sun is rising high in the heavens to make the earth warm nevertheless as we were saying yesterday in our teaching about the locked in disciples unable to touch the lord in the person of thomas we ourselves are locked in at the moment and separated from one another and so a fresh letter or message of encouragement means absolutely everything and we can all do that for one another i reached this morning because i was reminded of it by the bluebells here for the letters and notebooks of gerard manly hopkins there's a passage where he is on retreat and in seclusion where he goes for a walk and notices a bluebell i brought one in here i'm picking this one up specifically because this is an english bluebell from from the front garden of the deanery i'm surrounded here by spanish bluebells which are growing so well in our gardens but the two don't really help each other and so they have social distance shall we say it's this kind of english bluebell which are in our woods flowering at the moment and we have patches of them separated from these their cousins from spain and hopkins when he he looks at the bluebell first he draws a picture in his notebook and then he writes i don't i do not think i have ever seen anything more beautiful than the bluebell i am looking at i know the beauty of our lord by it its inscape is mixed of strength and grace the head is drawn over and arched down the lines of the bells strike and overly them raid but not symmetrically some lie parallel he goes on to describe in great detail this little flower and he sees its bending head as a sign of our lord's humility within this world treat treating fragile things with grace and stretching out arms of forgiveness and healing we give thanks for the beauty of these occasions when different flowers grace our earth and green begins to appear after the winter or after dry seasons but we also give thanks for the freshness of something like the epistle to the colossians an early work soon to be surrounded surrounded by so much christian writing but still as an early epistle quite short full of the freshness of those early days and paul is writing to a community he longs to visit but in his imprisonment never will yet in the lord and in the good news of the gospel he feels entirely united with them despite his enclosed state in his prison so let's say our prayers together we put the blue bell back in its water on this monday morning and pray for all those whom we know to need our prayers at this time in this place as always of course we pray for parts of our anglican communion day by day and today on this 20th of april we're praying for the diocese of montana in the episcopal church for franklin brookhart the bishop there and his people for the diocese a while so in west africa and for abraham kabina akka the bishop and his people there and the diocese of igbomina in western nigeria and bishop olajide adebayo and his people there here in this diocese as we pray for justin our archbishop and also for the parishes of the diocese for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth but specifically today on this day of the month the parish of saint paul cliftonville in margate and for patrick elliston and his ministry there and all the people he serves so we say a prayer for those whom we most love and feel in need to pray for but any whom we've seen in news bulletins stories which have moved our hearts people that you would want to pray for despite the distance loving god bless with your compassion all those who this day will care for the sick for those who are enclosed and need resources and for family members and friends give them patience in times of anxiety give them courage in times when they are tempted to despair that through the love they feel around them they may be comforted and by our encouragement our relationships deepened and our hope renewed through jesus christ our lord amen so the special prayer for this second week in easter tide almighty father you have given your only son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification grant us so to put away the level of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth through the merits of your son jesus christ our lord amen so we say together the prayer that our lord taught us in whatever language and in whichever way you 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 say a moment of silence on this morning as we say our own prayers for today the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon all whom you would pray for and love this day and always amen you