welcome to canterbury cathedral on this easter tuesday morning as we come to say our morning prayers our lessons throughout this week are the lessons of the resurrection stories and we shall look at one of those this morning in our lesson for the moment we begin our morning prayer for the easter season 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 two psalms for this morning of the month the 14th morning is psalm 72 and i'll read some verses from that now give the king your judgment so god and your righteousness to the son of a king then shall he judge your peoples righteously and your poor with justice may the mountains bring forth peace and the little hills righteousness for the people may he defend the poor among the people deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor may he live as long as the sun and moon endure from one generation to another may he come down like rain upon the moon grass like the showers that water the earth in his time shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more so we're going to read some verses from the gospel of saint john following on from yesterday's morning lesson the disciples locked in their upper room on the evening of the first day of the week and jesus has appeared amongst them with words of peace and forgiveness thomas though was not with them and the verses which follow tell the story of the disciple thomas when he comes back now thomas one of the twelve called the twin was not with the other disciples when jesus came so the other disciples told him we have seen the lord but thomas said to them unless i see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side i will never believe eight days later the disciples were inside again and thomas was with them although the doors were locked jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you and then he said to thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side do not disbelieve but believe thomas answered him my lord and my god jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed it's strange how few words there are in the resurrection narrative scene is an intimate one where few words are spoken but the words of jesus and the response are full of love and meaning and new faith and the dawning of a realization of new creation at this easter tide i first came across the book the little prince because of a meditation of archbishop anthony bloom who described the picture of the little friend prince making friends with the fox it's such a well-known book and it's actually a book full of parables but i thought i'd reach for the story of the fox this morning and give one of the little parables that antoine said zuperi gives us in the petty press the little prince and it will help us i think with the sense of few words being necessary in important situations it was then that the fox appeared good morning said the fox good morning the little prince answered politely though when he turned round he saw nothing i'm here the voice said under the apple tree who are you the little prince asked you're very pretty i'm a fox the fox said come and play with me the little prince proposed i'm feeling so sad i can't play with you the fox said i'm not tamed oh excuse me said the little prince but upon reflection he added what does tamed mean you're not from around here the fox said what are you looking for i'm looking for people said the little prince what does tamed mean people said the fox have guns and they hunt it's quite troublesome and they also raise chickens that's the only interesting thing about them are you looking for chickens no said the little prince i'm looking for friends what does tamed mean it's something that's been too often neglected it means to create ties said the fox to create ties that's right the fox said for me you're only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys and i have no need of you and you have no need of me either for you i'm only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes but if you tame me we'll need each other you'll be the only boy in the world for me i'll be the only fox in the world for you i'm beginning to understand the little prince said there's a flower i think she's tamed me possibly the fox said on earth one sees all kinds of things oh this isn't on earth the little prince said the fox seemed quite intrigued on another planet yes are there hunters on that planet no no that's interesting and chickens no nothing's perfect beside the fox but he returned to his idea my life is monotonous i hunt chickens people hunt me all chickens are just alike and all men are just alike so i'm rather bored but if you tame me my life will be filled with sunshine i'll know the sound of footsteps that will be different from all the rest other footsteps send me back underground yours will call me out of my borough like music please tame me i'd like to the little prince said but i haven't much time i have friends to find and so many things to learn the only things you learn are the things you tame said the fox people haven't time to learn anything they buy things ready made in stores but since there are no stores where you can buy friends people no longer have friends if you want a friend tame me what do i have to do ask the little prince you have to be very patient the fox answered first you'll sit down a little ways away from me over there in the grass i'll watch you out of the corner of my eye and you won't say anything words are the source of misunderstanding but day by day you will be able to sit a little closer the next day the little prince returned it would have been better to return at the same time the fox said for instance if you come at four in the afternoon i'll begin to be happy by three the closer it gets to four the happier i'll feel by four i'll be all excited and worried i'll discover what it costs to be happy but if you come at any old time i'll never know when i should prepare my heart there must be rights what's a right ask the little prince well that's another thing that's been too often neglected it's the fact that one day is different from the other days and one hour from the other hours my hunters for example have a right they dance with the village girls on thursdays so thursdays a wonderful day i can take a stroll all the way to the vineyards if the hunters dance whenever they chose the days would all be just alike and i've had no holiday at all words are the source of misunderstanding and the sense of patience and waiting in the reflection by archbishop anthony bloom i remember him saying think of god as the fox whom you wait for day by day and give time to and in the silence hear his voice thomas hears the voice of jesus and he responds with few words but there are powerful meaning my lord and my god and those friendships and relationships which we give time to each day both to god morning and evening at the same time in our rights but also to each other so that people know you're going to phone them at 3 o'clock even though we're locked in all those things become important at this time of resurrection and the resurrection narratives begin to make sense in their intimacy to give hope and faith and love for the future but also for now and to feel the power of the risen christ calling us into a relationship with god which will fill us with joy when we meet him and hear his voice in the silence we come to say our prayers and as always in this place we pray for areas of our anglican world day by day today we are praying in the communion for the diocese of mississippi in western in in the episcopal church of the united states and for brian seagate the bishop there and his people and western massachusetts also in the episcopal church for douglas fisher the bishop there and his people and the diocese of epho in nigeria and nathaniel agundipe and all of his people here in canterbury we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the parishes of birchington all saints with acl and said mildred and thomas minis bay for mark ham in his ministry there and all his team who help him there and the people he looks after so we come to say our prayers first for those who are locked in and those who are suffering from coronavirus lord loving god bless with your compassion all those who care for family members and friends give them strength in times of tiredness give them calm in times of anxiety give them patience to hear each other in silence and in words give them courage in times of despair that through their love the sick would be comforted relationships deepened hope renewed through jesus christ our risen lord amen risen christ you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace to the glory of god the father now and forever amen so in whatever way you would want to say it we use the prayer that jesus taught us whatever language and the words you would normally use 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 moment of silence for your own prayers and time to listen to god's voice see me the god of all peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus christ that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon all whom you love and would pray for this morning now and forever amen