good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of friday the 21st of may as we come together to say our morning prayer be welcome wherever you are in the world jesus said to nicodemus the wind blows where it wills you hear the sound of it but you've no idea where it comes from or where it's going and he likened that to the gifts of the spirit and being born in the spirit and puzzling nicodemus so reaching for a natural image well this is a morning of very strong wind indeed and we're a little bit nervous about how strong it will get because normally in may when the deciduous trees are beginning to be in leaf we don't expect strong winds of this sort but it's here and it's gusty and see so we'll see how it goes sitting in something of a protected corner of the garden i'm sitting in front of the medieval tower at one part of the deanery behind me you'll be used to that middle room on the what we call in england that the first floor one up uh because that is the room with the big medieval fireplace where i read some of the the books earlier in our time together and then above is a guest bedroom and the flint and bits of stone and brick that make up the deanery are always used in ancillary buildings buildings which serve the main oratory the cathedral built of carved block stone and then around me is the davidia tree here on my right your left the magnolia stellata here now in leaf but without flowers now if you you you gain from the magnolia twice in the year well three times really the architecture of its branches when it's bare the loveliness of its flowers and then the opulence of its leaves of different color greens and behind me the enormous magnolia solangiana that's old enough still to bear some flowers amongst all that foliage but it becomes part of the garden landscape at this time of year and you feel the change going over from flowers of spring now to flowers of summer as we begin our prayers on this morning there is a a sense i think of of sadness and disappointment about the nation following the dyson report and the way in which that has affected the royal family we pray for our queen and for the prince of wales and for uh harry and william at this time when these revelations i may pray for all those working for the bbc and all that they must be feeling this morning after these uh revelations of of what has happened so we we are in full sympathy for them in our prayers this morning um then uh also we think of events here in the town of swansea events of violence in the night and think of those attempting to keep law and order amid a kind of violence which is inexplicable at this time but in time of lockdown sometimes things shall we say give and and people become not themselves at all so we think of that other areas of the world we're thinking of in india of course with the pandemic and places where the pandemic is still is still raging and those dealing with that on this friday morning so bring your prayers and feel that you can bring your own concerns to this act of worship here in the garden oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high alleluia blessed are you creator god to you be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence 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 as we 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 psalm on this 21st morning of the month is the long psalm 105 so we'll read part of that our read the beginning and then the conclusion o give thanks to the lord and call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples sing to him sing praises and tell of all his marvelous works rejoice in the praise of his holy name let the hearts of them rejoice who seek the lord seek the lord and his strength seek his face continually remember the marvels he has done his wonders and the judgments of his mouse he brought his people out of egypt with silver and gold there was not one among their tribes that stumbled egypt was glad at their departing for a dread of them had fallen upon them he spread out a cloud for a covering and a fire to light up the night they asked and he brought them quails he satisfied them with the bread of heaven he opened the rock and the waters gushed out and ran in the dry places like a river for he remembered his holy word and abraham his servant so he brought forth his people with joy his chosen ones with singing he gave them the lands of the nations and they took possession of the fruit of their toil that they might keep his statutes and faithfully observe his laws alleluia so we turn to matthew's gospel and take up from where we left off yesterday in the middle of what we call the literal commission to the disciples and i'm starting today where we ended yesterday let me find the point [Music] beware of men for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the gentiles and when they deliver you over do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour and then jesus going on from verse 24 of chapter 10 a disciple is not above their teacher nor a servant above their master it is enough for the disciple to be like their teacher and the servant to be like their master if they have called the master of the house beelzebub how much more will they malign those of his household so have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known what i tell you in the dark say in the light and what you hear whispered proclaim on the housetops and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father but even the hairs of your head are all numbered fear not therefore you are of more value than many sparrows so everyone who acknowledges me before men i also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men i also will deny before my father who is in heaven do not think that i have come to bring peace to the earth i have not come to bring peace but a sword for i have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and the person's enemies will be those of their own household whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and whoever does not take their cross and follow me is not worthy of me whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it whoever receives you receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me the one who receives a profit because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward and the one who receives a righteous person because they are a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward and whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because they are a disciple truly i say to you they will by no means lose their reward and when jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities a collection of sayings which matthew has strung together and once again we have to remember that the evangelist is writing for his own christian community and assuring them that all that they are suffering years later all that they are suffering in times of persecution or in times of family betrayal shall we call it [Applause] was something that had to be if the good news and the wind of the spirit was to permeate through the world this is a day when we remember in our christian calendar both the eastern orthodox churches and the western churches the empress helena who was the mother of the emperor constantine and the helena having been deserted by her husband in the year 306 found that her son constantine became the emperor of the roman empire and constantine loved his mother and raised her to a position of honor so that really her life changed from one day to the next when her son assumed the imperial crown and at that time also she was a christian and so for the first time christians began throughout the empire to have shall we call it a fair hearing that was in the year 306 and in the year 326 a year after the council of nicaea which gave us our nicene creed in the year 326 the empress helena became a pilgrim and went to the holy land and visited the holy places and on the mount of olives she directed that a basilica be built and so too in bethlehem but also she discovered in jerusalem itself a large cross and she was convinced that this was the true cross and so the church has given her the title protector of the holy places now i say these things because first and foremost one has an image of family division and helena being raised to a position of honor by her son constantine and then finding a new kind of respect but using her role to advance the faith which she had embraced it followed a time of intense persecution for christians and families had turned against each other in fear and all of that is expressed in these sentences which have been strung together as the little commission to the disciples as they go out most of those things the twelve in galilee at that time would not have found but notice that jesus says on one occasion in that taking up the cross and following him strange thing to say well before the crucifixion and i think that we must realize that crucifixion was something common throughout the roman empire and it was a common thing too for the cross bar of the cross to be laid on the culprit's shoulders as they were led out to execution i think in galilee before jesus's birth not long before when a a riot began which was severe disorder against the roman rule and it was put down with immense severity and it would have been a common sight certainly for joseph to have seen crosses along the roads nick going to sephiris with people who had been condemned to die for that act against the state as it was seen it was a roman method of execution whether it was an ordinary thing to talk about somebody carrying the cross that they'd been given i don't know but here it is and we use it thus and i remember whenever i think of this little sentence the uh statement by uh austin farah who when he was i think chaplain of trinity college oxford was preparing a passion-tied sermon and a little forest fan motored into the quadrangle there and many of you may know this story because it's in one of his sermons and they're well published and pharah looked out of the window in the middle of writing his sermon and saw on the side of the van the notice crosses made to order and of course the florist was talking about crosses to go on people's coffins but the sentence stayed with him and in his sermon he says crosses are never made to order crosses are vocations that we are given to accept and they come in many shapes and sizes but the lord is there to help us carry them and each day will bear its own cross we know not in what shape or size i always think of that when i receive with devotion the little palm cross i'm given on palm sunday as what may happen during the year what i shall be asked to carry and here it's used in the little commission as a sign of faithfulness and then this lovely image of someone giving even a cup of cold water to another because they need it and that too becomes something of a little vocation looking around to see and discover each other's needs that image is a beautiful one i think of my impatience as a a young man and in earlier days too when if it poured absolutely poured with rain um my mother looking out and beyond the front gate the road ran by but there was no shelter in it there were hedges but but no real shelter and she would say i must open the front door someone must be being drenched out there and quite often i'd find strangers standing in the hall talking to mother as the rain fell nowadays considered a very risky thing to do simply to open a front door for strangers in those days it didn't seem odd but it used to sort of irritate me and think oh mother don't fuss like this but in fact she wasn't fussing she was just looking after their welfare as they went by even a cup of cold water is blessed and that may be something of the little cross that we might bear today looking for the encouragement of others or there may be great crosses that people are bearing across the world and you will know them and you will name them in your prayers and also ask to be given grace and strength to carry your own they don't come to order so let's think of things which maybe happened on this day 21st of may the king of spain philip ii was born on this day he was king of spain during spain's grandest golden age with the spanish empire but at the same time he became for a while the consort of the queen of england queen mary who reigned for such a short time and then the really deadly enemy of elizabeth the first for philip although he had great power state power saw himself and he was a devout man saw himself as the protector of catholic europe and also the restorer of the unity of christendom and in that he built his palace which was dedicated to saint lawrence in the shape of a gridiron some of you will have been to the magnificent escorial palace which was both a monastery and a royal palace and in that philip saw himself as the defender of catholic europe against the islamic threat from the ottoman empire and what he saw as the protestant threat from northern europe and i suppose he thought that by arms he could put that down but faith is not quelled by arms and uses the sword of the spirit to counter the sword of the state the day when in 1991 rajiv gandhi was assassinated others died with him as the bowl of flowers with the bomb inside was given to him a gift given to that young man at the time the prime minister of india and leader of its congress party we remember the danger in which political leaders walk on this day and pray for them on this day also mary robinson was born the president of ireland deeply respected she was president of ireland 1990 to 1997 having been born on may the 21st 1944 say we wish her happy birthday she became after her presidency the united nations high commissioner for human rights so we give thanks for that service that she shouldered on our behalf for the sake of so many in the world it's a day when in 1780 elizabeth frye was was born and she a a british quaker and philanthropist became one of the chief promoters of prison reform in europe and helped to promote the hospital system as well all these people albrecht dura was born on this day in 1471 a northern european painter and engraver of the renaissance and his prince are famous in our minds and hearts maybe his throwaway sketch to be used as apostles hands in one of his great altar pieces is the most famous thing of all it's just called praying hands two hands praying in a sketch and a drawing from his notebooks and in the same way so many drawings of that sort of um animals and in great great detail i think my favorite uh drawing of his etching of his is sin jerome in his study not only is the study uh very untidy and so i take comfort from that but also it has sitting in front of jerome's desk as he works away at his desk a huge lion uh which is the sign of of an ancient story which is either true or not of uh jerome taking a thorn out of the lion's paw when he was uh confronted by the lion very like the story of androcles in the lion but the lion is there and the lion also we remind ourselves is the sign of mark the evangelist and maybe it's thought that uh that jerome was translating that at the time but there are also other creatures in their room dogs and sitting on the windowsill sitting on a cushion asleep and the lion totally at peace there in as as jerome translates the scriptures and then also on this particular day kenneth clark was died in 1983 now lord clark as he became was one of the high points of television broadcasting in 1969 with his series civilization and he called it civilization a personal view the history of western art architecture and philosophy since the dark ages i think it was commissioned by david attenborough when he was the controller of bbc two and it became a wonderful thing to watch in 13 episodes they're still available on online um between february and may 1969 nowadays it might seem quite simple that these things were there and they they might seem unsophisticated at the time i remember how we viewed them and how formative they were in so many ways how educative they were but i also remember kenneth clark's ease of speaking and the knowledge that he had of art he was an art historian but he became almost for a while a tutor to the nation in that work of thinking of western art and western architecture and western philosophy so we give thanks for that and particularly here because the he he and his wife bought saltwood castle which is not too far away from here and it's the place where the knights who came to kill beckett stayed on their way here and we remember that connection but all those things of creativity on this day as we say our prayers and we use the colic for this day and we're praying of course for justin our archbishop and praying for the diocese of calabar in the church of nigeria in our anglican communion praying also for this diocese of canterbury for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and all the parishes and communities of faith throughout this part of kent as you pray for your own peoples wherever you are in the world and we use the correct for this week oh god the king of glory you have exalted your only son jesus christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven we beseech you leave us not comfortless but send your holy spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our savior christ has gone before who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say each in our own language the prayer which 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 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 moment of silence as the wind gusts around us as we say our own prayers this morning the spirit of truth lead you into all truth give you grace to confess that jesus christ is lord and strengthen you to proclaim the word and works of god 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 well we've escaped the rain i think not for much longer tiger but it's been windy so you're brave to stay with me on this morning you're my lion of st jerome [Music] you