good morning and welcome to the deanery garden here at canterbury cathedral wherever you are in the world it is the most lovely morning on this may the 20th and it's the day before ascension day so this little morning prayer is the last in the form of the first part of easter from ascension day onwards to pentecost our little form of service changes with a different introduction but this morning we also see the third of the regulation days when we give thanks for god's blessing upon all the work of the world and the partnership we have with our creator may the 20th is also international b day the bees are so important for the ecology of our planet and it has been named international bee day by the united nations because this is the anniversary of the birth of anton janssen who was born in 1734 he was born in slovenia part of the holy roman empire at that time and trained as an artist but his interest soon became in beekeeping aquaculture and eventually the emperor promoted him to be the very first official a culture of the imperial court and the the the day therefore takes its name from him and we give thanks for that on a perfect day with no wind we've come here in the garden where the irises are flowering named after the greek goddess of the rainbow because of their beautiful colours these opulent flowers are very attractive to the bees but at the same time they want weather of this sort for wind and heavy rain destroys their beauty but this morning we can enjoy them so let's say our morning prayers o 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 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 on this 20th morning of the month we read psalm 103 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 way 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 upon 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 our butters grass 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 as we continue our reading of the gospel of saint luke we come today to the beginning of chapter seven after jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people he entered capernaum a centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death when he heard about jesus he sent some jewish elders to him asking him to come and heal his slave when they came to jesus they appealed to him earnestly saying this man is worthy of having you do this for him for he loves our people and it is he who built our synagogue for us but jesus went with them but when he was not far from the house the centurion sent friends to say to jesus lord do not trouble yourself for i am not worthy to have you come under my roof therefore i did not presume to come to you but only speak the word and let my slave be healed for i also am a man set under authority with soldiers under me and i say to one go and he goes and to another come and he comes unto my slave do this and the slave does it when jesus heard this he was amazed at him and turning to the crowd that followed him he said i tell you not even in israel have i found such faith and when those who had been sent returned to the house they found the slave in good health it's an extraordinary little cameo the story appears only in saint matthew and st luke's gospel and both of them located in capernaum and there one of the roman occupying officers has heard about jesus and wants him to come to heal a precious slave of his household but having a certain amount of delicacy about the sense of approaching jesus he asks the jewish elders to do it for him and they say a wonderful thing this man has loved our people he he built our synagogue he is worthy for you to have him do this but the centurion is much more sensitive and he says lord i am not worthy that you should enter under my roof only say the word and my slave will be healed jesus is amazed amazed at the precious quality of this faith and says to those around him i've not found faith like this even in israel for faith is a intensely precious quality the beauty of these fragile irises around me and the precious nature of their flowering at this time from them the bees whose day this is will take sweetness gathering it and doing good for the planet but at the same time they're a reminder to us of the precious quality of our faith and how when we see it in another it encourages us so precious has this little story been to the church that the centurion sentence has been lifted in all its fragile beauty and placed into the regular saying of the communion service in two aspects i would not presume says the the that you should come says the the uh the centurion and that word is is is part of our own liturgy we do not presume [Music] but at the same time even more important is the sentence which is said by so many of our liturgies before we receive jesus in bread and wine lord i am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and i shall be healed a precious jewel taken from the gospels said by a foreigner commended by jesus amazed at the beauty of this faith and given to us as a sentence for us to say of fragile faith as we reach out to receive the lord so we come to say our prayers on first of all this day in easter tide the very eve of ascension day god our redeemer you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your son grant that as by his death he has recalled us to life so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy through jesus christ our lord amen then the prayer for this regation day god our father you never cease the work you have begun and you prosper with your blessing all human labor make us wise and faithful stewards of your gifts that we may serve the common good maintain the fabric of our world and seek that justice where all may share the good things you pour upon us through jesus christ our lord amen on this day in our calendar we remember the diocese of namibia in south africa bishop luke pato there and his people and the diocese of abuja in nigeria the archbishop and primate there chukwudum mundukuba and all his people in that particular province of nigeria as well as the diocese here in this diocese as we pray as always for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth we remember today the people of the parish of sint luke the evangelist at maidstone and that parish at the moment is seeking a new parish priest and we pray for them in that search remembering the church wardens tony chadwick and melanie williams so we say each in our own language and in our own way the prayer our savior taught us as we remember those we most would like to pray for today 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 the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenants make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon all whom you love this day and always amen