good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this monday the 21st of june welcome wherever you are in the world no one would ever believe from the weather here that it's the summer solstice today the sky is lowering and probably we may have rain during the broadcast i have an umbrella standing by here and the weather is fairly cool uh quite quite unlike a week ago it's hard to remember the heat wave now we're not in the the meadow as we are generally our meadow that we've been planting as a garden congregation because the flowers are about to come out and we thought we'd wait for a little bit of sunshine later in the week because that might coax them out and it'll be a much more cheerful picture but there are plentiful roses so for some brightness on this first working day of the week we thought we'd come into the front garden with the colorful roses which are at their full fullest of bloom at the moment and so enjoy the color this morning from the roses and i apologize if the umbrella has to go up we're going to begin our prayers on this uh monday morning but can i say that the school is all about us they're coming back from their breakfast and it's the high point of excitement as the the holiday begins to loom into sight and you'll hear the noises of the the children and also of the work staff on this monday morning but it's worth it being in the front garden because of all our rose color around us so let's begin our prayers on this monday morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise make may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made does we wake refresh from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise 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 o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this 21st morning of the month is psalm 105. 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 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 that oil that they might keep his statutes and faithfully observe his laws alleluia just a part of a long psalm a history psalm of the chosen people taken from the psalter and going through many moods but there are one or two things to cause us to give thanks especially the bread of heaven lily hello you're brave as the rain starts um so we're going to st matthew's gospel and i'm beginning where we left off on saturday in chapter 18 and i'm starting at verse 12 of chapter 18. jesus said what do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray and if he finds it truly i say to you he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray so it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you have gained your brother but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector truly i say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven again i say to you if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask it will be done for them by my father in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am i among them we've said before that matthew's gospel is arranged in blocks of material for matthew's own christian community and matthew the evangelist is someone who is also trying to give the good news to his own particular community of jewish probably greek speaking christians and here the gospel is arranged and we've said also that because to matthew the sense of jesus as the originator of a new covenant the personification in his humanity and divinity of a new covenant is given a a role almost in teaching like moses of the old covenant now the new covenant and the teaching comes in five blocks and chapter 18 is a block of teaching not really of narrative we began it on saturday and we began it with a question by a disciple or by a group of the disciples who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven now we know from sin mark's gospel that the disciples argue quite a lot about this who is the greatest amongst them so it must pray on their minds a bit but jesus as you know is not interested in that we looked at this on saturday morning and one sees it plentifully in the gospel of saint mark on saturday we saw how he beckoned a little child in the resting place where they were on their journey towards jerusalem and set the child in their midst and said uh here's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and we go to mark to find the the full story of of all of that i am among you as one who serves amongst the gentiles their great ones lord it over them and make them feel the weight of authority it must not be so amongst you matthew takes this as a block of teaching for the church that must seem odd to hear that in the gospel times for the church as we know it doesn't exist when this dialogue is carrying on yet we have to think that as we go through there are bits of matthew creeping into this and today is very much a case in point but first and foremost let's look at the format of chapter 18 on the way through it's made up of two sections and i've dealt with it badly in terms of the way matthew's organized it so let me put that right the first section begins with a question from the disciples it then contains teaching quite hard teaching as we saw on saturday morning and then it completes itself with a parable it's very jesus-like and the parables have that massive ring of authenticity as does the question from the disciples and as does the fierceness of the answer part two does exactly the same in shape it begins with a question as we shall see tomorrow and this time it's a question from one disciple and then goes on to an answer in one sentence and then the parable and at the end of chapter 18 one gets that sentence which always finishes all the discourses when jesus had finished all these sayings he and the narrative is going to go on but the two parables that are in this particular chapter one is very short and one is fulsome and long and and tells a a story which jesus gives them so that they will remember how to answer the question which peter asked tomorrow but for the moment let's leave that we know it's going to come in the same shape what we heard at the beginning of today's lesson is the very end the little parable which tacks on to what we were reading on uh on saturday and the parable is the parable of the lost sheep luke uses that parable differently he puts it in a trio of three lost things the lost sheep the lost coin and then the long and very powerful story of the lost son or the prodigal son we generally call it and luke is arranging in a luken way matthew is arranging in a matthew way let me break off for a moment there and say maybe i should have reflected before on the way in which i first came to think well that's special to matthew and it was probably in the later 1960s when i first saw pasolini's wonderful film the gospel according to saint matthew and that very powerful film i saw it in in black and white i think it is in black and white maybe they've colored it by now but mostly it's in black and white the narrative words i mean everything in it is in italian but you find yourself there are subtitles of course but you find yourself understanding the italian because you understand the gospel of saint matthew and you you know those words so occasionally you you find yourself listening to a language you didn't know you knew and understanding what's being said but the great thing is that pasolini simply recruited and chose folk from the vicinity in italy where he wanted to film this and as he did that he didn't want them to change he wanted them of course to learn his script and to act as he directed but it was the authenticity of the local people and the authenticity of the landscape that he was after he backs it with really powerful music the music of bach's matthew passion but also music from a very different culture all this is actually available on youtube the whole film is available on youtube and we'll put the link below so that you can you can watch that it it does it good to to watch it all the way through but i found myself as we went along thinking and i'd been brought up with the the scriptures and knew the gospels but there was a a moment when i was thinking well where is where is this story where is that story and right at the beginning where are the shepherds where where and then you suddenly realize that the only things in this film are methane stories the whole thing is the gospel of matthew nobody else you'll see likenesses to mark because matthew boris from mark and you'll see likenesses to luke because matthew and luke share sources but essentially anything that is special to mark and luke and john is not there this is matthew and we see how particular we have to use that word again and again particular and individual matthew's gospel is to him special matthew we've called bits and pieces but also it shows how the particular problems of each evangelist with their own christian community writing this stone with pieces of material gathered but with their own thoughts and way of ordering them and also commentary almost years afterwards we see how their own situations i don't want to say intrude because all of us interpret the gospel and the good news for our time in our situation but then we must let the parables and images and humanity of jesus help us in our situation to look around at everything around us and think this is really helpful in my understanding of this said that the little parable tacked on to the end of the story about the little child being set in the midst of them and him then jesus saying to his disciples who are worrying about greatness in the kingdom of heaven do they mean the kingdom of heaven they mean the kingdom of heaven on earth which we're praying for in the our father day by day and it's that humility of leadership that kind of role modeling in leadership that jesus is after and then he tells that beautiful little pastoral story of the shepherd with the hundred sheep ninety and nine don't go astray but one goes astray and the shepherds leave leaves the 99 and goes in search of the lost sheep actually one could equate it to the lost verse 11 of chapter 18 which we were speaking on saturday many of your bibles won't have verse 11 there the son of man came to save the lost well here's the son of man as a shepherd seeking and saving the lost and as the parable unfolds it shines light as all parables do shines light not only back on the teaching given but also all around us in terms of who are we ignoring what are we ignoring of that which has gone astray and that in ourselves which has gone astray because we're concentrating on that which is and is there already which is much bigger so concentrating on the 99 not looking for the one the parable is powerful and it then is the prelude to the next block of teaching which is has come here and if one goes back then just in matthew's gospel after that in chapter 18 jesus is talking then about the way in which we forgive one another and how forgiveness is really the key to our own freedom as well for forgiveness has a mutuality about it and of course it appears just as if the thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven appears so forgiveness appears and repentance but our own forgiveness of others and our own reception of the forgiveness of others and then the same with our acceptance of forgiveness from god because we have forgiven one another it's central to our daily prayer we shall say it in a moment in each in our own language and then matthew i think goes on and reflects on his own church and how they settle problems so that that next little bit i think is a little commentary of the situation in which the evangelist finds that that he is himself in as he writes with the church at that particular time one can take it as as of course the neat words of jesus or you can take it as so many things are as a reflection of the evangelist as the material is used and we then come to the end which that with that beautiful sentence which is very definitely jesus himself how can i say very definitely we're all interpreters of this but the it it has that ring of jesus um for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am i among them and the wonderful wonderful thing is that um as one hears that i am that is one massive strand of matthew that jesus is there in the midst of them you'll find it in the passolini it's always jesus there in the midst in every situation but you find it in the gospel we've seen it on the mountain of transfiguration when the three look up they see just jesus there and the gospel ends with that i am with you always even to the end of time so that the i am becomes the great sentence there at the end we'll continue with that tomorrow with the the next question um and it it it goes on so uh here we are looking at the various dates at this particular time and we've seen how there are beginnings here but today in 1675 saw a very new beginning in 1675 sir christopher wren was looking at the burnt out shell of sin paul's cathedral and laid the foundation stone of a completely new building he'd contemplated since being given the commission that burnt out shell for some years and there had been decisions about how it would be rebuilt as it had been before or completely new and they went for completely new so one thinks therefore of a foundation stone of a building which is a church that all of us know as with the cathedral that the the real church the real cathedral are the people gathered in prayer around if they're cathedrals around the seat of here the archbishop or the bishop everything else every part of the building every piece of creativity is the creative work of that community as they've said their prayers so that when saint paul's cathedral was destroyed as a building in the great fire of 1666 the cathedral itself was not in the least bit damaged because a chair placed there and people saying their prayers around it instantly became a cathedral but they needed a building and they needed something to say here in the center of london is saint paul's cathedral as a building the cathedral church of sinpal and inside the community of the cathedral church of sinful we pray for them today on this foundation stone day and we think how so much of our worship is centered in here in canterbury in the cathedral itself and for many of you in the particular place where you go to say your prayers we give thanks for that and that where two or three are gathered together there is jesus in the midst of them and that is so in that place but we've learned during these times of lockdowns that we can do this together in a different way as well so i was amused to see that in 1948 the first stored program to run on a computer was put through its paces on the small scale machine known as baby in manchester university i think baby must have been a thousand times bigger than any time anything we carry in our pocket naturally today in order to communicate with one another but nevertheless here's the sign of the other way of relating that we've been using and our belief is and i have that belief very strongly that as we relate across the world in a garden congregation jesus is there in the midst of us as he is when we say our prayers and we know full well from the sermon on the mount that he is also there when individually we go into a private place and shut the door and say our prayers individually to our heavenly father in humility this is a day also in 1527 and this is an interesting juxtaposition when machiavelli died now whatever machiavelli wrote he's become the symbol of the fact that any person in authority should aim to be feared rather than to be loved because it's more powerful it's one of his sentences and then also uh machiavelli has this this this sense um of with your your your own self um that you politics and morals don't come together so he he has this sentence about politics being nothing to do with morality they're in two separate boxes how different jesus would feel about that that those are simply sections of our human thinking spirituality and relating to one another but everything must inform across the way and in our humanity there's plentiful room for mistakes and plentiful room for forgiveness plentiful room for helping the welfare of the many but never forgetting the welfare of the one who is lost or the section who is lost all of those things in a wonderful juxtaposition today politics have no relation to morals is the exact text and then also machiavelli said it is better to be feared than to be loved and everyone sees what you appear to be few experience what you really are what you really are is what you want to offer to god for the light to shine on and offer in forgiveness if we're listening to the gospel and the good news but on this day also in uh 19 where are we now oh five the writer the french writer jean-paul sartre was uh born and he is known as an existentialist and um i suppose his most famous phrase was hell is other people but there's another sentence i got here from him it's quite an undertaking to start loving somebody you have to have energy generosity blindness there is even a moment right at the start where you have to jump across an abyss if you think about it you don't do it that was sad very different again from looking at the teaching and the person of jesus for jesus would have us jump across the abyss from that which is in his humanity given to us and that which is beckoning us from his divine nature asking us to enjoy that which is eternal to leap the abyss and to have faith many of those um things that we shall come back to in matthew's gospel in shall we say the special emphasis which matthew gives his particular gospel so on this morning let's say our prayers um i wanted to wish prince william the duke of cambridge a happy birthday it's his birthday today his 39th birthday i think so still very much a young man and we we pray for gifts of grace and strength and health and safety for him and for kate and the family so on this day we pray in our anglican communion for the diocese of chota nagpur in the church of north india pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today in the diocese for the church of saint paul's cliftonville in the seaside town of margate for patrick ellisdon and prue dally in their ministry there and the reader kim palmer bring your own prayers and intentions as we join together in the prayer for this week almighty god you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the spirit of your son into our hearts whereby we call you father give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of god through jesus christ our lord amen so we pray 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 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 this is a time of year when so many little fledgling blackbirds and thrushes fall out of their nests and are round about on the floor and instantly the parents are there making sounds of of warning and and trying desperately to get them and they're very successful at it too and become very fierce in the activity perhaps it's another little image the sounds they make and the activity of those birds with their with their young to prompt the picture of the good shepherd saying to us when the 1909 are they're safe altogether don't forget the one that's lost and that's the most precious of all at that time let's reflect in the silence of this morning amongst the roses so the peace of god which passes all understanding and 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 today and always our men we seem to have escaped the rain it's falling now but um i can't say how many evenings end for us with the chicken sheds and the sheds where the guinea fowl and the turkeys are and with most of them in and then counting them up we notice that one is still out somewhere and oftentimes it's been with torches in the orchard that we've had to find the one that was a stray and uh we don't come in because the moment the dark falls then foxes appear and there are great dangers for frail creatures so this powerful parable has um anchors in everything we do day by day