good morning and welcome to the deanery at canterbury cathedral on this wednesday the 5th of january the 12th day of christmas and welcome wherever you are in the world as this season of christmas ends and as even song or vespers this afternoon the season of epiphany begins and so many ceremonies and celebrations are connected with that season of epiphany when the ghost of christmas present is uh sitting on the the enormous pile of wonderful celebratory things of fruit and and and turkeys and everything that is is under him uh it's mentioned also there are 12th cakes and uh for this day uh fletcher baked a 12th cake and with the the spanish emphasis which uh we'll come to both this in our reflection but also very much tomorrow um there's a spanish golden crown on the top to welcome the coming of the visitors the magi the wise men the three kings given so many different titles and ceremonies across europe are different at this season of the year but we have to remember that in any christian feast as with the jewish feasts that jesus knew the day began the day before at sundown as the sun set so the new day began began and that's why each major feast has what we call a first even song and the the rule even in our little um red book that we use day by day daily prayer uh says epiphany begins at the first even song the eve of epiphany well of course that's this evening and uh we look at this wonderful cake traditionally iced in white um i helped with some of the uh gold molding of the icing and uh but that i can't claim credit for the cake itself but it's a festive cake to remind us of all the festivity of twelfth night in our own culture in days gone by and of course the minute i say twelfth night one thinks of the shakespeare play well we can look at all that when we are looking together at the scripture which is a piece of prophecy of the coming of those who came next to the manger and the figures on the table today are not the sun tong from provence but uh spanish figures which fletcher brought home after a visit to his mother in spain not too many years ago but here they are i don't think the little black and white cat leading them to the crib actually came with the crib but nevertheless uh it's a good sign of the animals around the crib and i think the camel's been left outside let's begin our prayers on this cusp between the end of the christmas festival with the lights of christmas still shining and then the beginning of the epiphany festival which opens out into a whole season of epiphany so for the last time morning prayer in the christmas season oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assume the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing 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 the psalm for this fifth morning of the month is psalm 24 the earth is the lord's and all that fills it the compass of the world and all who dwell therein for he has founded it upon the seas and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep who shall ascend the hill of the lord or who can rise up in his holy place those who have clean hands and a pure heart who have not lifted up their soul to an idol nor sworn an oath to a lie they shall receive a blessing from the lord a just reward from the god of their salvation such is the company of those who seek him of those who seek your face so god of jacob lift up your head so gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is the king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord who is mighty in battle lift up your heads o gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is this king of glory the lord of hosts he is the king of glory well today we're going to read a prophecy from the book of isaiah as we have before this week but we're coming to the time when more visitors come to the gift of the christ child and the prophecy is giving all kinds of clues about how that gift will be broken open to the nations of the world i'm intending to read the whole of chapter 60 of the prophet isaiah [Applause] arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the lord has risen upon you for behold darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples but the lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising lift up your eyes all round and see they all gather together they come to you your children come from afar then you shall see and be radiant your heart shall thrill and exult because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you the wealth of the nation shall come to you a multitude of camels shall cover you the young camels of midian and ifa all those from sheba shall come they shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news the praises of the lord all the flocks of khidar shall be gathered to you the rams of nebaorth shall minister to you they shall come up with acceptance on my altar and i will beautify my beautiful house [Music] who are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their windows for the coastline shall hope for me the ships of tarshish first to bring your children from afar their silver and gold with them for the name of the lord your god and for the holy one of israel because he has made you beautiful foreigners shall build up your walls and their kings shall minister to you for in my roth i struck you but in my favor i have had mercy on you your gates shall be open continually day and night they shall not be shut that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations with their kings led in procession for the nations and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish those nations shall be utterly laid waste the glory of lebanon shall come to you the cypress the plain the pine to beautify the place of my sanctuary and i will make the place of my feet glorious the children of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you and all who despise you shall bow down at your feet they shall call you the city of the lord the zion of the holy one of israel whereas you have been forsaken and hated with no one passing through i will make you majestic forever a joy from age to age you shall suck the milk of nations you shall nurse at the breast of kings and you shall know that i the lord am your savior and your redeemer the mighty one of jacob instead of bronze i will bring gold instead of iron i will bring silver instead of wood bronze instead of stones iron i will make you overseers your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness violence shall no more be heard of in your land nor devastation or destruction within your borders you shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise the sun shall be no more your light by day nor for brightness shall the moon give you light but the lord will be your everlasting light and your god will be your glory your sun shall no more go down nor your moon withdraw itself for the lord will be your everlasting light and your days of mourning shall be ended your people shall all be righteous they shall possess the land forever the branch of my planting the work of my hands that i might be glorified the least one shall become a clan and the smallest one a mighty nation i am the lord in its time i will hasten it it's a wonderful chapter as a prelude to the epiphany when the gift of the christ child is opened to the nations of the world like the rising of the sun which never sets i've been a visitor in many cultures where it would have been the greatest rudeness when you were given a gift not to open it and if there's any hesitation in opening the gift usually there is a song which begins to be sung by the people all around you and i think of those in south sudan who could he'll afford to give me a gift standing and when i hesitated as so often to open the gift before speaking my thanks then their bodies would move and their hands would clap and they would begin the song in their language open the gift open the gift open the gift and epiphany is the time when the gift is opened it's already been opened for the poorest and they're still working in the winter's night of mary and joseph's own nation of jesus's own nation when shepherds were given the sign to go down and find the manger where the child wrapped in swaddling burns was laying they came first the locals came first but not the mighty or the powerful of the locals but those who were least expected and they drew near and the gift not only opened to them but opened their own hearts with joy and they went away praising god and spreading the news but now the gift is to be opened to something much much wider and the as i said the epiphany has a whole season to itself leading up until we come to the beginning of lent but as we do that we think of the way in which the signs of the gift are opened in different ways and tomorrow in a feast which begins with the going down of the sun this evening we see how the gift is opened to strangers and the wise who have traveled from the east that of course is given almost a mystic dimension in some translations they're called the magi the wise who are far seeing and in other translations astrologers but we're mostly used to the translation wise men from the east and they're given three in number because of the three gifts that they bring we're not told how many there were but we are told that there were three gifts offered and that scene we shall look at tomorrow but many nations celebrate on this evening and are ready there to greet that opening of the gift we are looking at a 12th cake and very often we've had from our favorite french cafe and restaurant down in the high street here the cafe san pierre each year we bought a galette de ra and the galette de ra is a pastry with almond paste inside and it's containing a bean usually just one bean in other nations and in england of old the cake contained a bean in one half and a dried pea in the other and the one who got the bean and the cake was divided between the men in the room and the women in the room the one who got the bean became the king for the occasion and the one who got the p became the queen for the occasion and this dates right back but what does happen now very much is the sense of people going out to meet those who come and really you have to be in spain to enjoy that best of all but let's think about the way in which that gift is opened because in jesus own ministry that becomes a development through at first in the hidden years which mary is beginning now with her pondering that will be prefaced by the coming of these representatives of other nations but then jesus himself will in the hidden years explore his ministry until his baptism and then another sign is given and beyond that the wedding at the canaan of cana of galilee when the water is turned into new wine of the best as the steward of the feast says and those three become the signs of the epiphany which we shall explore tomorrow and in the days ahead but for the moment this is a day of celebration not only as we stand with one foot in christmas the 12th day of christmas but also the moment the sun goes down one foot in epiphany thinking of all the celebrations of the past thinking of the celebrations that will happen today in so far as the coveted rules allow it in nations and thinking also of the gift as it's given to the nation opening out into the future let's consider that in our reflection but let's move over to the christmas tree while christmas lasts it'd be nice to go and sit by that [Music] so we've come to think about the way in which twelfth night in the past was celebrated in and still is in in very different cultures so a celebration at this time of year was part of the english culture long before christianity came here i say english the british culture the celtic culture the samhain which began at all hallows at the the the halloween area of the year and going into the greater darkness as the days got shorter and shorter and a feast to chase off the darkness with with light was there which was easily adapted into the coming of the light in this particular way that the seasonal feasts have always been of the the rhythm of the way in which the creator's gifts have been embraced and jesus himself would have been used to seasonal feasts the older braveries used to put themselves as seasons on on the back autumn winter spring summer and what one notice is that when the solstice is over the mornings seem for a while to get darker and the festivals of of of light which proclaim in christian terms the light of christ become all the more important to us so let's go back to the mischief that was part of the excitement and humor which children must have loved and people enjoyed hugely at this time of year twelfth night and shakespeare's play does all the topsy-turviness of relationships if you know twelfth night or what you will as it's called as his other title set in illyria which is almost an imaginary kingdom with duke orsino there and the the shipwreck which casts people uh onto that shore and separates the twins uh sebastian and viola and as we we see all that happening then uh and violet dressing herself as a man because she wants to introduce herself without danger into that society after the shipwreck but thinking her brother dead i don't need to go into the story because you will know it well but the characters get into a tremendous muddle which is what twelfth night is all about and is full of humor and teasing people and making fun of those who are powerful and and especially if they're pompous but one thinks of the petty power of malvolio and the way in which uh satobi belch and andrew aguirre cheek and the the fool i mean the jester of the of the duke orsinos court uh festy tease malvolia wickedly uh and make an absolute fool of him it's all about the twelfth night humor and at the end of course everything is put back together again after a night of tremendous fun and what used to be called misrule the lord of misrule is the king of the feast uh and uh a lady of misrule the queen of the feast all of that so that anything could happen on 12th night except that things were restored the next day now i want to to leave shakespeare a moment and go to the poet robert herrick who was a a clergyman of the church of england who was kicked out of his living because of course the civil war happened and the worship of the church of england and the customs of the countryside including celebration of twelfth night were abolished made criminal in fact there was a tremendous riot uh in canterbury at one stage because shops were not uh allowed to to be um uh opened and and uh selling christmas things it was called the plum pudding riots and the mayor of canterbury at the time who was trying to effect the republican government's uh um edict that christmas should not be celebrated in any way whatsoever the mayor couldn't quiet in the townsfolk and a riot ensued but herrick lived on to 1660 and he and was then restored to his ministry but had been writing poetry and sadness for not only the loss of the liturgy and the the worship he knew but also the loss of so many customs and one of the things that he celebrated with a poem in 1660 knowing that things were going to be completely different with the return of the king uh was twelfth night and here's his poem about twelfth night and it's speaking of twelfth cakes it's speaking of the wassail cup made of all kinds of apple and spices and nutmeg and ginger and things of that sort and here we are now now the mirth comes with the cake full of plums where beans the king of the sport here besides we must know the p also must revel as queen in the court here begin then to choose this night as ye use who shall for the present delight here be a king by the lot and who shall not be twelfth day queen for the night here which known let us make joystops with the cake and let not a man then be seen here who on urge will not drink to the base from the brink a health to the king and queen here next crown the bowl full with the gentle lamb's wool add sugar nutmeg and ginger with store of ale too and thus you must do to make the wasala swinger once sent to the king and queen wasseling and though with ale ye be wet here yet party from hence as free from a fence as when ye innocent met here everything restored and the lamb's wool is a sign if you bake an apple a big cooking apple um you'll know that if you if you score it all the way around the apple begins to fluff and the the white flesh of the apple bubbles into a fluff and that was mixed into the wassail cup that was the gentle lamb's wool as it was called and then sugar and nutmeg and ginger were added to the warm drink that was served as the wassail cup and everyone toasted each other's good health and the misrule continued until suddenly at the end of twelfth night the feast of the epiphany began and uh all of that became becomes part of tomorrow's story for us but i wanted to go to the way in which the people and we experienced this together um about 20 years ago in uh javier in in southern spain it's not often i've been able to leave england at that time of year but it happened that i was there at that time and fletcher had said this will be very special and so we went down to join the community on the seashore with the family going down to see what was going to happen and there with all the families we waited as the sun began to set and three boats with different lights began to come towards the shore from the distance and a hailing was given and around were young people of the village dressed in medieval clothes but they were in sections with three completely different colors some on magnificent horses and some carrying lit flombo torches with flames and as the sun set and the feast of the epiphany began the boats drew nearer and from the boats step to shore three kings dressed in different colors and with the traditional names of the kings on the banners of those attending them balthazar and casper and melchior deep in the traditions of of the culture of of europe and then they stepped ashore and were met by the groups of young people all in their different colors and then the drums began and the singing began and the great procession began through the town with the town mayor there too having greeted their majesties the three kings from different nations who've come and they walked through the town with the the the crowds cheering till they got to the outdoor and live crib there made up of citizens dressed with the dress of mary and joseph and with live creatures there and all the townsfolk ready there to say goodbye to the feast of christmas and welcome the feast of epiphany which of course takes place tomorrow in all its glory but is proper to celebrate from the minute the sun sets this evening and we'll talk about the way that that spain does that in massive splendor in its cities but the town of javier which we know well at other times of year and it's where flesh's mother and our little niece arabella and her mother uh danny live and that community is known well but on that day it's quite quite different for they're there dressed in splendor to greet the three kings and to celebrate epiphany in great style the excitement is palpable as you're there and you realize that this feast is very important to them it reminds us that in different parts of europe christmas itself is celebrated on the eve of christmas in some nations particularly in eastern europe uh the the the feast is celebrated on the 24th the moment the sun sets and of course people are used to midnight masses at christmas but here at twelfth night that the scene changes at that point as the three kings are welcomed whatever we say about the customs the meaning is the same the gift of the christ child is being opened to the world like the sun rising whether it be prophecies from the old testament or prophecies in our new covenant the revelation to john right at the end of our scriptures of the new covenant gives the same image of the eternal city with gates wide open the tree of life there flowering and fruiting and no lamp needed because christ himself is our son and the light is eternal but that light can be claimed now with the good news of the child in the manger as mary and joseph see their gift unwrapped not just to the local shepherds but now to representatives of all the nations of the world nations they knew not of in their own culture but being celebrated right across the world by us this morning on this twelfth day of christmas eve of the feast of the epiphany let's then say our prayers on this day and we are remembering in our prayers today the diocese of isikunwato in the church of nigeria the abba province still and in our own diocese of course archbishop justin bishop rose of dover emma bishop at lambeth and today a set of beautiful villages addison barham bishops born kingston and women's world just such lovely villages in beautiful valleys we pray for stephen thomas and nick ratcliffe in their ministry in those those villages and so we we are on home ground because it's not very far away at all so let's give thanks with whatever thanksgiving we have for this twelfth night wherever you are in the world and in whatever way you celebrate it and also look forward not only to the unwrapping of the gift but to the way those signs of the epiphany which we'll begin to explore tomorrow are lived out in our own lives here for the last time a collect of christmas time almighty god in the birth of your son you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate word and shown us the fullness of your love help us to walk in his light and to dwell in his love that we may know the fullness of his joy who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language we like to 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 for ever and ever are men moment now for reflection [Music] i [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] may christ who by his coming at christmas time gathered into one the things of earth and the things of heaven fill you with the spirit of peace and good will 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 amen it is a lovely day outside and addison woods are faces that we love to go and walk from here it's the season of the year for walks to make one feel um a bit more fit after all the the lovely sweet meats of of christmas time and um this has been very much a a place where um fletcher grew up around those villages and so he and his sister knew those churches as they were singing their carols years and years ago so