good morning and welcome to the dinery garden on this wednesday the 19th of may we can't resist coming to the orchard at this time because of all the lovely burgeoning wild flowers beneath the blossoming apple trees and the the cherries still in blossom but we've come for a very particular reason today because here is some white lilac which is flowering from a lilac tree which we thought had died when fletcher put in the the stream that i'm sitting beside and the fish pond here the the larger tree there seemed to wilt and die but from its roots has sprung up the new lilac tree with white lilac on it and white lilac on the 19th of may for me has particular significance for this was the birthday of my sister who many of you know will will will know died in november in 2019 at her care home after long years of parkinson's disease um but on our birthdays uh mother would fill the house with white lilac and red horsehorn red may we used to call it uh the white lilac from the garden and the red hawthorn from a lovely path which led from the house along through a woody lane and we would take a bow or two from that but the scent of lilac meant that on birthdays and mine was two days before hers has today uh for three days because mother would see the 18th of may as a sort of bridge between the two birthdays it would be birthday celebrations all round and generally on the the first day i would have my friends all invited and paulie would be there as well on the second day which was the bridge it was for family and aunts and uncles and so on and then the third day was pauline's friend paulie was eight years older than i had been born just before the warbrake county in 1939 so had a very different childhood but at the same time although probably i was a very annoying younger brother eight years younger than she at her parties it was all great fun and the scent of lilac means to me celebration at this time of year and i wanted to thank those of you who assiduously i don't expect anyone to notice my birthday i try to keep it um but some of you noticed that and sent greetings and uh i wanted to say thank you all these things are noticed and i wish we could respond to absolutely everything because nothing nothing is missed and and it it it cheers us up and at the same time gives us all your greetings and all your stories give us enormous encouragement to do what we're doing as a garden congregation in these days of may and continuing forward so thank you for that and thank you for your presence here this morning as we say our prayers together on this lovely day to the sound of the little brook running down through the wild flowers past mossy stones into the fish pond where the fish are active this morning let's begin our prayers bring your own concerns and intentions this is saint dunstan's day and uh i was always a bit jealous that pauline had a saints day and i had nobody on the 17th of may but quite often my birthday would fall on ascension day or with sunday or something of that sort but she always had saint dunstan little did i know then that i would be here ministering in the place which first honored dunstan in a huge way and his uh the site of his his tomb is here on the south side of the altar the high altar there is the stone with dunstan carved on it reminding us of his ministry here a very important ministry but we can reflect on that when we come to our thoughts following the lesson this morning let's begin our prayers and bring your concerns from across the world our prayers for the holy land and its peace and reconciliation our prayers for places which are suffering so much during this pandemic 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 and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this 19th morning of the month is psalm 96 sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord and bless his name tell out his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is more to be feared than all gods for all the gods of the nations are but idols it is the lord who made the heavens honor and majesty are before him power and splendor are in his sanctuary ascribe to the lord you families of the peoples ascribe to the lord honor and strength ascribe to the lord the honor due to his name bring offerings and come into his courts o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness let the whole earth tremble before him tell it out among the nations that the lord is king he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved he will judge the peoples with equity let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad let the sea thunder and all that is in it let the fields be joyful and all that is in them and let all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the lord for he comes he comes to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with his truth these are days of strange weather here one hour it's full of sunshine and then suddenly a storm brews up and inky clouds suddenly appear and over the last day or two we've had some moments of wonder at the heavens one of them uh yesterday an enormous crash of thunder and flash caused people to stop just for a moment and it was the moment when everyone was wowed by the sound of thunder cracking through the heavens and lightning shooting its light and no more that was that that was done it reminded me of a moment we shared uh in the i think the smithsonian zoo in washington when the lion roared in the middle of the park and everything went silent for a moment he was sitting majestically on a rock and he roared and everything went silent somewhere says cats do a great smile on his face as his great mouth open to raw but the other wonder when we were returning from a little journey uh two days ago on the day when the cathedral opened up and there was teeming rain as we came down the hill from faversham into canterbury the sun was behind us shining onto inky black or rather dark blue clouds that that real sight which sunshine on sick clouds can give and there below with the sun shining on the tower was the cathedral church but over it spread out without any break was the most glorious rainbow i think either of us had ever seen and cars splashing up the hill the other way because the rain was really teeming down but the sunshine was very bright and as they came up they each created a spectral rainbow of their own as they came through but the the wonder of the bow in the clouds was astonishing and this psalm is talking about how all chorus nature is singing of the creator's glory and on this day in the orchard well the white light is doing it for us in a very simple and lovely and pure way and all the trees themselves blossoming at this time of fruitfulness so we give thanks that jesus was able to use so many imagery images around the lilies of the field and the trees of the field and the words of the psalms and the birds of the air there's a lovely robin here who's joining me this morning there he is going up onto the tree the friendliest birds in all the garden and our companions as you'll remember even in snowy times for they don't migrate they stay and he's enjoying the fruit trees this morning well let's go to st matthew's gospel and uh you'll remember that we finished at the end of chapter nine i'm going to go go back to verse 36 of chapter 9 and then begin chapter 10 and read the first little section of that so chapter 9 this is a repeat of two verses and then on we go verse 36 when jesus saw the crowds he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd so he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest and jesus called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction the names of the twelve apostles are these first simon who is called peter and andrew his brother james the son of zebedee and john his brother philip and bartholomew thomas and matthew the tax collector james the son of alpheus and thaddeus simon the zealot and judas iscariot who betrayed him these twelve jesus sent out instructing them go nowhere among the gentiles and enter no town of the samaritans but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of israel and proclaim as you go saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick raise the dead cleanse lepers cast out demons you received without paying give without pay acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts no bag for your journey or two tunics or sandals or a staff for the labourer deserve their food and whatever town or village you enter find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart as you enter the house greet it and if the house is worthy let your peace come upon it but if it is not worthy let your peace return to you this is generally called the little commission and it's only the beginning of this section of teaching the second discourse following the second section of narrative that matthew has shaped his gospel into as he forms it into a way in which the church his own community of christians can receive it it's probably i think why in our book of common prayer the the older book of common prayer the gospel of matthew was used so often because it's ordered into good sections for liturgical reading but that gives it less immediacy shall we say than mark who's not used much in the book of common prayer and yet mark has that immediacy which we've enjoyed in taking us forward at breathless pace but here we are today with matthew [Music] the list which matthew gives us as a prelude to this little commission and it's a little commission not because of its size it's actually longer than the great commission the great commission comes at the end of matthew 28 and you'll practically know it by heart when we get there but on this occasion it's a different kind of commission for jesus is gathering his group of mainly galilean disciples to send them out on an urgent mission and the images he gives countryside images as the end of chapter 9 as chapter 10 begins of the necessity and the complete need for people to to to to have this good news taken to them the images are images of sheep without a shepherd and a harvest plentiful and ready but labourers to gather that harvest and make its fruits known being few and here are the band of labourers 12 of them and they're named this morning it's the first time we've had this in matthew's gospel the list of the 12 whom also he called apostles people who are sent out with the gift of the good news the evangel the gospel transforming into a fulfillment of the old covenant very radical as we shall see as well even though rooted in the law and the prophets and the psalms matthew's list is exactly the same as mark's list except that he puts andrew he brings him forward in the list to be beside his own brother um simon whom jesus nicknames peter the rock but the list is the same the other thing that he does is adds after the name matthew the tax collector so that we actually go back to that person whom luke calls and mark calls levi um and says matthew the tax collector all these things of interest but the most interesting is that they are the twelve and they're the beginning of the mission and for us they're given equipment for the journey and it's practically nothing at all this is going to be a short journey in their own terrain and they will find people and households to entertain them and give hospitality necessary hospitality they will find them in houses which are worthy the translation here people who are worth being with because of their reaction to the good news and this is very different from the the uh sense of worthiness as seen by the keepers of the law in the authorities of both galilee and in judea for many of those people whom jesus has been eating and drinking with would be considered not not worth which is where the word worthy comes from not not worth his trouble they are people of ill-repute or they're people who are untouchable who or or they they are people who have um disabilities and and therefore really are not worth his attention in that way and jesus always with lepers and the woman with the issue of blood touches them and heals which is quite shocking for those who keep the law in a very formal way jesus is insistent that he's not come to destroy the law and the prophets he's come to fulfill them and see how this is being fulfilled find a place where people are worth your attention and respond in that way and let your peace fall upon that house but if that is rejected then don't worry receive the peace back yourself but the most important thing is the sparse nature should we call it of what you need to do it is and he gives the list these are the gifts you're going to be giving which is wondrous gifts of the kingdom of heaven in terms of healing for body mind and spirit and peace onto households who before perhaps consider themselves not worthy to receive such things but at the same time the equipment you need is really just yourself uh not even two tunics but this is a short mission and it's it's it's really done for the lost sheep of the house of israel as as jesus says is for their own people go and give the good news here first for this is where it should start so that the whole nation here uh the sheep of the house of israel can be the the the seed ground to use another image for everything that's going to be given to our whole world but for the moment it's a mission with limits don't go anywhere else just do this and then they'll return to him the little commission the great commission will see them out in the world in very very different circumstances the little commission he's still there with them and they will come back to him and that's a lovely thing to think about as these nervous men 12 of them set off on this little mission which jesus has said now go and try yourself it's like the first time that somebody's not holding you in the swimming pool but it's still on the bank of the swimming pool waiting to jump in if you if you're floundering when you're swimming your first length in the deep end and uh they're there and at the same time it's it's uh it it it's something that in the end people will learn to do for themselves and this is all like the the little commission out they go to to their own places and bring the gospel the good news the evangel well now this is saint dunstan's day and we make much of that here for a long time until beckett now dunstan let me set him into context dunson was here in saxon times before the norman conquest that magic date in uh english history particularly of 1066. he died on the 19th of may in the year 988 and was buried here and was very much the most popular saint for 200 years he was canonized quite quickly very popular amongst the people and he then obviously had to give place when the becket event happened but dunstan is still there on his stone carved on the south side of the high altar just as alphage the martyr archbishop is on the north side of the high altar dunstan was brought up in the southwest of england that's my country really he was born in somerset and that's the next county along to south gloucestershire i was born and he was born in 909 in the kingdom of wessex as it was because england was not really united in those days and he was someone who loved to create things painting playing the harp and later on he had gifts as a silversmith it said that he even made bells and but he became a monk and went to the monastery the benedictine monastery at glastonbury and his tendency was to want to be as much as possible by himself at that time but he was called to a much greater vocation by two different kings in the beginning by um king edmund at that time and uh he made dunstan into the abbott of glastonbury but he also used him in all sorts of of uh state missions and he was very successful in that because he was a great diplomat but he lived in in glastonbury and re as the abbott of glastonbury which he was made by the king and re-established he rebuilt the abbey and and he reestablished the benedictine rule and the rule of saint benedict is what he lived his life by now that's gris to the mill for us here because for uh about a thousand years really this was a monastery and most of that time under the rule of saint benedict i got here with me just by chance a gift that was sent to me on monday and so it is the the rule of saint benedict in a way that i've not seen it before because there's an explanation or rather a reflection between each of the rules and benedict dates the the the rules for reading on different dates and a chapter was read hence the name of the chapter now the dean and chapter and joan chittister osb orders in benedict has made a a a review of each and an explanation of each of the passages the chapters which have been read which would have been read here and this is a gift so thank you to kim from louisville kentucky for for this gift it's it's a great thing to have the rule of th benedict is still hugely important here it was a rule that respected humanity in body mind and spirit lived out in a community given to hospitality and those principles are still at the heart of this place so nothing was more lovely than opening the doors of the cathedral on monday and seeing the hospitality once again being given as pilgrims and visitors came once more and were able not simply to sit in worship in ordered roads but to walk around and enjoy this place and the benedictine rule gives that kind of rhythm for a community but probably the two most important words in it are balance and encouragement through the day the day is balanced so that a human being is given work for the body and the mind and the spirit in physical work and different creative gifts and dunstan was full of those and mental study and then prayer as the monastic offices the the worship through the day happened called by the bells so dunstan reestablished all of that in an order and we give thanks for that here he went on to become a bishop of worcester in 957 and then the very much christian king edgar made him archbishop of canterbury in 960. oddly uh in for those days edgar was not crowned at once he was crowned in bath abbey by dunstan in the year 973 and he reigned for 16 years and was a really fine king and during that time dunstan was much used by him as the archbishop of canterbury but then in uh 978 edgar was cruelly assassinated and the new king was blamed and dunstan made no no no bones about it he said you know this is a this is a bad way to become king and so he was not so much banished but no longer used now for for this community that was a great advantage because for 10 years from 978 to his death in 988 dunstan lived here quite rare for the archbishop to be here all the time but he took his place in the life of the monastic community and did all kinds of things here reordering libraries teaching in the cathedral school praying with the monks writing and making things with the the the gifts of a silversmith and and all kinds of things which was showing that he was part of the community in body mind and spirit i wonder the people loved him here because he was here and just doing all the ordinary things with them and that's a lovely way to be canonized because on the one side of the high altar is alphage the martyr canonized because of his martyrdom on the other side is dunstan canonized because of his quality of life within the community as archbishop and that is uh magnificent and a nice image for us today on this 19th of may 1662 on this day the act of uniformity was was passed which gave us the gift of the 1662 book of common prayer which is there to give rhythm to life and is the foundation stone of books like daily prayer which i'm using now which takes us through the hours of the day and gives us the psalms and all of that but at the same time the act was trying to make everyone be exactly the same and that was doomed in its way to fail uh and to put punitive sanctions on to to all of that was also doomed to fail so that that we we obviously rejoiced in the gift of that book and i still rejoice in it and it's what we're using day by day the rhythm of psalms and scriptures and reflections but also the the kind of development of a free spirit which is sending out his disciples on the commission without much equipment just using what's around here and the book of psalms and memories of their own and experiences and then on this day also in 1984 the poet the poet laureate john bechman died now john patchman was an eccentric figure and held on to uh all his love of victorian things art and verse and and buildings and so on and we thank him most of all for saving sin pancreas station the gateway now the glorious gateway for people coming in on eurostar into london and you will find in sin pancreas station a statue of john bechman in his mac and hat looking a bit windswept but someone who absolutely loved poetry but at the same time could amuse people with his rhymes and yet some of those rhymes could go very deep i first got to know his rhymes especially his poetry especially because he recorded with a musician called jim parker who had a little instrumental group many of his poems he would read them and behind jim parker would have composed something with an eccentric band of instrumentalists which took it along in a rhythm benjamin wasn't singing i wouldn't have thought he was able to sing much at that stage but he could read in his ordinary old voice going along and it's fascinating and you love the way he's reading there's one of his his uh albums called banana blush i used to have them on tapes cassette tapes that i could play in the car those days have gone and i have no idea where those tapes are and i've long since lost the the uh the the capacity to play these things but but i remember the rhymes so often things like gaily into rice lip station runs the red electric train with a thousand tars and pardons danger via lights elaine or miss joan hunter dunn miss joan hunter done furnished and burnished by aldershot's son i just wanted to read two of his poems this morning because they're beautiful both of them and one of them is called in a bath tea shop and it's imagining two people very unlikely people sitting together much in love in an inglenook sharing tea and this is what benjamin said us not speak for the love we bear one another let us hold hands and look she's such a very ordinary little woman is such a thumping crook but both for a moment little lower than the angels in the tea shop's inglenook just that and that lovely sentence from the psalm little lower than the angel you've made our humanity little lower than the angels to crown it with glory and honor and made jesus himself for a while a little lower than the angels to crown him with glory and honor and benjamin obviously had seen this couple in a bath tea shop the city of bath where we remember king edgar being crowned by dunstan now the next one and i'm not going to read it all um is the poem which i've heard read so many times it's school carol services and you will have heard it read as well and we have the lovely story of christmas day and christmas eve and first of all it starts with bells ringing and then it describes london shops and everything else and goes on i'm going to read just the the last uh five verses it speaks about christmas typical detriment and london shops on christmas eve are strung with silver bells and flowers as hurrying clarks the city leave took pigeon-haunted classic towers and marbled clouds go scutting by the many steepled london sky and girls in slacks remember dad and office lauts remember mum and sleepless children's hearts are glad and christmas morning bells say come even to shining ones who dwell safe in the dorchester hotel and is it true and is it true this most tremendous tale of all seen in a stained glass windows hue a baby in an oxy stall the maker of the stars and sea become a child on earth for me and is it true for if it is no loving fingers tying strings around those tissued fripperies the sweet and silly christmas things bath salts and inexpensive scent and hideous tie so kindly meant no love that in a family dwells no caroling in frosty air nor all the steeple shaking bells can with this single truth compare that god was man in palestine and lives today in bread and wine very typically batchman and yet anchored in memories and sentences from even that little thing about the clerk scurrying from their office and instantly or back into dickens's bob cratchit running home to the family benjamin had a way with him with words and if you can find his his poems read to jim parker's music then enjoy them because they set benjamin's poems in my mind and heart let's uh let's say our prayers on this particular day of sin dunstan and give thanks for dunstan and his influence on the life of this place and the influence of the role of saint benedict on this place which still pertains a community which honors body mind and spirit and gives each section of our life worth lived out in community life but at the same time receiving people in hospitality which daily changes the chemistry of each community and we find people of new words in the most unexpected places as jesus did and was unafraid to touch them as we're able to do now in shaking hands or hugging friends again here in england after the opening of that possibility on monday here's the colleague for us in dunstan's day and bring your own prayers we're praying this morning for the diocese of bouye in the anglican church of burundi and of course for archbishop justin bishop rose of dover bishop tim at lambeth and for this whole diocese on these days leading up to our celebration of the gifts at pentecost the gifts of the spirit the colic was in dunstan's day almighty god who raised up dunstan to be a true shepherd of the flock a restorer of monastic life and a faithful counsellor to those in authority give to all pastors the same gifts of your holy spirit that they may be true servants of christ and of all his people through jesus christ our lord our men and the colleague 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 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 men a moment of silence now for our own prayers on this day [Music] the spirit of truth lead you into all truth give you grace to proclaim that jesus christ is lord and strength to proclaim the word and works of god 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 you