good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of frosty sunshine it's absolutely still the sky is mostly blue the sun has come up over the wall at the eastern end of the garden and it's wonderful to sit here and hear both birds song and also see the frost which is gradually melting as the sun comes onto it there's not a great deal of warmth in the sun it's very much a winter sun i'm sitting here because we're concentrating in terms of winter flowers this morning on the hellebore now clumps of hellebore are beginning to flower right across the garden the most common name for the white helibar is the christmas rose and there's a clump of those very near me here under the magnolia tree but others are blossoming all around it and we will have them for companionship over the next few weeks of winter they are good visitors at this time of year and give us joy as uh this little clump have turned their faces to the morning sunshine it's uh the 22nd of the month 22nd of january and it's a friday morning and we're going to say our prayers together we say prayers particularly for those who are suffering from the effects of severe flooding here in the united kingdom and also we continue to pray for the people of the united states of america as their new president begins to assume office with great energy and yesterday he rejoined the paris accord and canceled oil exploration in alaska and those two decisions very much uh joining the world community in affecting the environment but obviously there's there's much work to do with world leaders all over and we look forward to welcoming president biden here with other world leaders in june when they will begin to work on kovid recoverment and the environment and so we say our prayers for all world leaders at this time o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations do you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the sun of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 does 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 this morning on the 22nd morning of the month is the glorious psalm 107 we've no time to read it all but i will read just the beginning and then parts father on in the psalm psalm 107 oh give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good those who go down to the sea in ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their pedal they reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there but he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in checklist wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice but all wickedness will shut its mouth whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the loving kindness of the lord it's a sound so full of scriptural imagery that it's hard not to stop at verses and see the disciples in the boat on the sea of galilee which to them was a very very large sea and great storms arising in it and the pictures there of crying to the lord in their trouble he made the storm beat still and brought them to the haven and at the same time the sense that if people deal with the land badly then the lord turns the rivers into wilderness and one thinks of lakes and seas across our world that have just vanished because of the way they've been used badly huge in inland lakes of fresh water because of the wickedness of those who dwell there well the mistaken behavior of those who dwell there certainly and then making the wilderness a pool of water the way that the earth responds to good treatment and becomes fruitful and also the ability of humanity to form communities places that they can make a home all of those things we remember as the sun on this day shines onto the earth the morning of the 22nd always makes me cheerful when we read that sound so let's go to our reflection on the gospel of saint mark and we take up from where we left off yesterday and um yesterday jesus went down to the lakeside you remember to try and and get some space and the crowds followed him from everywhere teeming from everywhere around not just galilee but as we saw the various other provinces around that and now we've come to another time when he needs to be alone to make a very important decision verse 13 of chapter 3 and jesus went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired and they came to him and he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons appointed the twelve simon to whom he gave the name peter james the son of zebedee and john the brother of james to whom he gave the name boenerges that is sons of thunder andrew and philip and bartholomew and matthew and thomas and james the son of alpheus and sadius and simon the zealot and judas iscariot who betrayed him and then he went home well this is a very important passage in luke's gospel also he spends all night on the mountain in prayer and then he comes to appoint the twelve we know there are many disciples and followers both men and women who are with him but here are his foundation stones and he appoints them for three reasons i always love the preface to the marriage service when the bride and groom are standing there and i give all those who've come to the service and there are a few these days because if we have a wedding they're very small numbers allowed because of the lockdown and the social distancing nevertheless the commission is the same a threefold commission not just for that day but from then on for a marriage is lifelong and so those who receive the commission as the outer ring of support are told what that commission is what they are here for first and foremost they are there to share in the joy because every human experience of gladness or sorrow for that matter is helped when it is shared and so one of the commissions to the friends and family and those who've gathered at a wedding is they are there and it's a godly activity to share in the joy extend it and that sharing that companionship will continue both in joy and in sorrow as the couple live their marriage out in the world from then on that's commission number one commission number two is to be witnesses eyewitnesses to say this happened and that witness becomes of course a very important legal task in a marriage but nevertheless eyewitnesses become very important in telling the story we saw that with the the murder of thomas beckett terrible eyewitness account there but then the eyewitness account becomes vital in the way the story is told from that moment onwards and then the third task of the wedding guests is to say their prayers to god with the priest as the sacrament of marriage is affected and continues from that moment onwards and those prayers continue to and here jesus is calling around him the twelve they are a sign of all the others who will give support encouragement resources in those twelve names mary and martha and lazarus and mary magdalene they're not present and those who gave support on the way through not present the twelve have a specific task the first one is of constant companionship to be with him very important to be with him for jesus has seen just how taxing to his humanity this task is proving especially since hostility has begun to flourish around him and also the energy that the crowds need the companionship becomes crucial to be with him simply that in the greek words and the second task to be the apostles who themselves give the good news not just disciples pupils but apostles messengers not even heralds they they carry the message themselves they are delegated for that task not just to announce the coming one but to be the power of spreading that wonderful good news so that the message may spread further later on we'll see jesus sends them out two by two but for the moment to be with him and then the second one to be apostles proclaiming and thirdly to have authority over those demons as they're shown in those days which are causing human life to be disordered and troubled the same authority which their lord has shown in his ministry so far three tasks for those twelve and of course at the moment they've no idea what that's going to mean and jesus himself gathers the twelve as foundation stones for this messianic ministry just as the twelve tribes were the foundation for the holy people from whom the christ the anointed one showing divinity in our humanity for the whole world as the psalm says from the east and from the west from the north and from the south and these are the twelve it causes me to want to read again a poem which i absolutely love by w.h ordon he wrote it so that sir william walton could set it to music and he said it as an ansem but the poem is simply called the twelve and it will have resonance i've certainly read it before probably when the twelve were called in luke but it bears reading again it talks of where they came from it talks of the gifts they had and then after that after what happened to them and the distress following all kinds of of terrible things which they had to face then it says how in their teaching spreading through the church through the ages by the spirit there are certain things which are thought to be divine and powerful but none of them are except the one and that's what we get at the end this is the twelve by william by uh w h orden without arms or charm of charm of culture persons of no importance from an unimportant province they did as the spirit bid went forth into a joyless world of swords and rhetoric to bring it joy when they heard the word some demurred some mocked some were shocked but many were stirred and the word spread lives long dead were quickened to life the sick were healed by the truth revealed released into peace from the jinn of old sin men forgot themselves in the glory of the story told by the twelve then the dark lord adored by this world perceived the threat of the light to his might from his throne he spoke to his own the loud crowd the sedate engines of state were moved by his will to kill it was done one by one they were caught tortured and slain o lord my god though i forsake thee forsake me not but guide me as i walk through the valley of mistrust and let the cry of my disbelieving absence come unto thee thou who declared unto moses i shall be there children play about the ancestral graves for the dead no longer walk excellent still in their splendor are the antique statues but can do neither good nor evil beautiful still are the starry heavens but our fate is not written there holy still is speech but there is no sacred tongue the truth may be told in all and twelve as the winds and the months are those who taught us these things envisaging each in an oval glory let us praise them all with a merry noise a wonderful poem seeing the word given a capital w in the poem and the truth given a capital w about a capital t in the poem and as that is given it's not the possession of any culture or nation it's certainly not vested in antique statues nor even in signs in the starry heavens it's vested in the message and the companionship of those twelve foundations and when ordon says in visiting each in an oval glory following the martyrdom then let us praise them all with a merry noise we do that conscious that it's because of that apostolic commission that we're able to do it today the list ends with judas iscariot is full of little nicknames that jesus has given to his companions who are to be with him and then ends with judas iscariot and the one who betrayed him but all of them will let him down all of them and be forgiven and lifted and then go out to face the world with the word of truth and the power and authority of the spirit in order to give healing to human life and wholeness body mind and soul and for that we give thanks this morning it's a day um when uh we remember that on this day in 1901 queen victoria died end of a huge age the victorian age and edward vii assumed the throne ushering in the edwardian age at the beginning of the 20th century and everyone joined in with the both the elegance of that age but also the troubles of that age as war clouds began to gather at the end of it and we also remember far back now 1552 walter raleigh was born and he's noted as poet soldier courtier explorer so many of these renaissance characters have a multitude of gifts 1561 francis bacon born philosopher politician writer all of those things from a renaissance person and in diplomatic skills bacon was second to none serving elizabeth the first and and then james the first and we think also in 1575 elizabeth the first granted the music press monopoly to thomas tallis and william byrd thomas chalice was a leg clerk in our choir here in canterbury but they they spanned the reformation and wrote music for uh latin and uh lots of notes added to each syllable and then they conform themselves afterwards to the new rules where the music mustn't get in wave and the way of understanding the words so they went on to and talis cannon the hymn tune is very much a case in point one note one syllable so you understood both and heard both the words but also had music too and then began to branch out a little bit more but it's interesting to see elizabeth the first love of music and her scholarship also in the latin and greek languages and in european languages too and um we remember all of that i wanted just to mention that on in 1940 john hurt the actor was born who was in so many films but remember him as jonathan merrick in the film the elephant man that that tragic picture that he portrayed for the benefit of us all and let me then uh end with the birth of john dunn in 1573. he was born in that date born to a record catholic family was not allowed to take his degree at oxford or cambridge because he couldn't swear the necessary um oath because he was a a catholic but in the end he having entered public life he became an anglican and our passionate love poetry which you will well know but at the same time then it was james the first the king who admired him hugely who said you should take holy orders and he did and became dean of saint paul's cathedral the old saint paul's cathedral but the monument to him actually was one of the things that survived the fire and is still to be found in the new sinkholes we know some of his poetry perhaps this one is the best known it's a meditation 17. no man is an island entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent a part of the mane if a clod be washed away by the sea europe is the less as well as if a promontory were as well as any manner of thy friends or a thine owner any man's death diminishes me because i am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tells it tolls for the marvelous meditation of john dunn but at the end of our prayers this morning i'll use a favorite prayer of his we give thanks for his poetry but also for his passion with the imagery he uses to express what the twelve were um expressing with the commission that they were given to be with jesus and we keep to that by our reflections each morning each evening and at any time claiming the presence of jesus to be apostles themselves telling by their lives their witness their courage the good news that he came to bring and to have authority to heal and we know that that some people by their words of encouragement by their skills heal us body or mind or spirit to a wholeness at times of darkness going back to our psalm when the sea is turbulent the lord's voice stills the calm the the the sea and restores calm the interesting thing to me is at the end of all that you just get the the uh the greek words and then he went home i like that we'll come back to that tomorrow let's say our prayers on this particular day as we give thanks for the beauty of the sunshine and the beauty of the winter flowering hellebores so we are praying let me get my list this morning on the 22nd of january for the diocese of a coco edo in the church of nigeria and the life of that diocese and here the parish of east church with lays down and hearty and pray for all who live in that parish my list says that the the parish priest is a vacancy at the moment but that may have been filled but we pray for all those who are fulfilling ministry within that parish so uh we pray for archbishop dustin bishop rose of course of dover and bishop tim at lambeth bring your own prayers and intentions from right across the world wherever you are to our prayer this morning as we pray first of all the collect for this week almighty god in christ you make all things new transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory through jesus christ our lord amen and the prayer for unity both of the church and also by the church's sign of unity for the world and all humanity in this week of prayer for christian unity heavenly father you have called us in the body of your son jesus christ to continue his work of reconciliation and reveal you to the world forgive us the sins which tear us apart give us the courage to overcome our fears and to seek that unity which is your gift and your will through jesus christ our lord amen so we pray together the prayer our lord taught us in whatever language you 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 forever and ever a little amen of silence now for our own prayers [Music] finally as i promised that prayer of john dunn created not as a prayer by him but as a paragraph in one of his sermons but adapted i think probably by eric milner white as a prayer for us to use and it's a glorious prayer bring us so lord god at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling but one equal light no noise nor silence but one equal music no fears nor hopes but one equal possession no foes nor friends but one equal no ends no beginnings but one equal eternity in the habitations of your glory and dominion world without end amen the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 [Music]