good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery garden on this monday morning of the 13th of july as we come to say our morning prayers another beautiful day here we welcome you from all over the world wherever you are bring your own concerns and the prayers for those whom you love and would want to pray for as we say our morning prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit oh come let us sing to the lord let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms for the lord is a great god and a great king above all gods come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand 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 the morning psalm on this 13th day of the month is psalm 68 and we say some verses from that long sound let god arise and let his enemies be scattered let those that hate him flee before him as the smoke vanishes so may they vanish away as wax melts at the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of god but let the righteous be glad and rejoice before god let them make merry with gladness sing to god sing praises to his name exalts him who rides on the clouds the lord is his name rejoice before him father of the fatherless defender of widows god in his holy habitation god gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert oh god when you went forth before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain at the presence of god the lord of sinai at the presence of god the god of israel you sent down a gracious rain oh god you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary your people came to dwell there in your goodness oh god you provide for the poor blessed be the lord who bears our burdens day by day for god is our salvation god is for us the god of our salvation god is the lord who can deliver from death we see your solemn processions oh god your processions into the sanctuary my god and my king sing to god you kingdoms of the earth make music in praise of the lord he rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice a mighty voice ascribe power to god whose power is above the clouds so we return on this monday morning following our pause in the reading of luke's gospel for the sunday lessons yesterday we return to the 19th chapter of the gospel of saint luke beginning at the 28th verse and when jesus had said these things he went on ahead going up to jerusalem when he drew near to bethfurgy and bethany at the mount that is called olivet he sent two of the disciples saying go into the village in front of you where on entering you will find a coat tied on which no one has ever yet sat untie it and bring it to me if anyone asks you why are you untying it you shall say this the lord has need of it so those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them and as they were untying the cult its owners said to them why are you untying the cult and they said the lord has need of it and they brought into jesus and throwing their cloaks on the cult they set jesus on it and as he rode along they spread their cloaks on the road as he was drawing near already on the way down the mount of olives the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise god with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying blessed is the king who comes in the name of the lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest some of the pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher rebuke your disciples jesus answered i tell you if these were silent the very stones would cry out luke tells this story in his own way the story is of course told in the gospels and in some ways he follows mark the earliest account but there's much of the character of the evangelist luke in all of this the disciples now have come to the last leg of the journey and the 12 and those surrounding them the outer rim of people following jesus and there were many of them have got a long climb for from jericho to jerusalem was 20 miles and as they went up to the place where the road crossed the highest point of the mount of olives they would climb four thousand feet it was a very very long climb and a heavy journey to make they pass from on each side the villages of beth fiji and bethany just two miles from jerusalem and at that point jesus asks them to go and find the cult that they bring it and now there are significant differences in what happens in this story this story is about the disciples journey towards jerusalem we don't get there today we're still on the road but it's a kind of pilgrim journey they're going to the holy city and for the moment all their fears are forgotten all the warnings that jesus has given are forgotten but as they go up there are no crowds in saint luke it's the disciples the widest group of disciples who are laying their cloaks not palm branches but cloaks on the coat and on the floor in front of jesus's passage on this pilgrimage to what he knows must happen and we go further with that tomorrow but also what they have forgotten he's told them or really closed their minds to what was too frightening to think of and they shout as they lay their cloaks on the road not hosanna the hebrew word but words from psalm 118 blessed is the one who comes in the name of the lord and then remembering the angels song in chapter two of saint luke at the birth narrative peace in on earth glory in highest heaven these words are redolent remember that luke is coming to all this afresh from a greek perspective many years later having followed saint paul collecting these stories and rejoicing in them and he is feeling the same sense of glory as they approach the holy city well as pilgrims they will enter the holy city and we shall see that happen this so is the day that we remember the death of archbishop hubert walter in the year 1205. he was archbishop of canterbury and before that he has been a very important both counsellor and bishop and then archbishop to richard the lionheart and as bishop of salisbury had gone with richard more than that had gone on to prepare the way for richard on the third crusade when the king the lionheart was going to reclaim the holy land so that christians could be there hubert walter is most remembered for first of all his immense statecraft he was the chief justiciar in charge of organizing justice he was then the lord chancellor he was the archbishop of canterbury and also he came to the holy land in order to support the king but his way of doing things was quite different he entered into a conversation with saladin the sultan of egypt and syria whose name is legendary they had what seems to have been a civilized conversation when the battles were at an am pass it was hubert walter who went through and spoke with saladin was entertained by him and who managed not only to negotiate a peace whereby christian pilgrims could re-enter jerusalem unarmed but also more than that he was given almost as a personal gift the promise that a small presence of christian priests could be there to minister to the pilgrims needs that was the foundation of all the ministry that has gone on from then till now in the holy city we give great thanks for hubert walter his tomb is in the cathedral here and on it there are the heads of the powerful and one of those is quite clearly thought to be the figure of saladin but quite clearly a figure from egypt and syria and it's a figure honored reminding us of the dialogue that existed between the islamic saladin and the christian hubert walter when in 1890 the tomb was excavated it was found that intact in that tomb was the crazier the bishop's staff of hubert walter his episcopal ring which is thought even to contain a little relic of thomas beckett and then cloth his buskins the high warm boots they wore on cold nights in cold palaces and also slippers and also his his his his chassis wall and his cope but most important of all his stole because that was found to be of islamic cloth and it's thought we could never prove these things it was thought that cloth was part of a gift from a saladin again reminding us of the importance of respect and dialogue thank god for hubert walter we have a great friend felicity mcgowan who is descended from the walter family and so we feel a a little kinship with all of that this morning as we remember his years mind and we say our prayers praying for deeper understanding between people of different faiths deeper understanding between people of different cultures not the sword but the sense of sitting together in understanding and being honest about what we believe sharing our good news but with listening ears so this morning we pray for places in our anglican communion caggiado in kenya and bishop gadiel lanini and his people kajo keiji in south sudan and emmanuel marie modi and his people there and kamango in the congo and bishop sabiti tibatha daniel and all his people there we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and also for the ignite deanery communities in the deanery of ashford that's all the little communities and bigger communities around the town of ashford here in kent and the leaders of those communities are dawn evans and dawn stamper and we pray for them and those who are joining them in that venture so the prayer for this day almighty and everlasting god by whose spirit the whole body of the church is governed and sanctified hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name through our lord and savior jesus christ so the college the prayer at the end of the psalm for this morning blessed are you gracious god you make your home among the weak you deliver us from death you bring us joy beyond our imagining to the praise of jesus christ our lord amen a moment of silence as we say our prayers on this morning i've given you lots of information about hubert walter quite quickly if you click onto our website you will find that you can explore the resources of our library and archives and all the things that we have and you'll find also the details of what i said about the archbishop and his uh ring and crozier and vestments and particularly the stole which was thought to have been brought back from his conversations with saladin the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and mind in the knowledge and love of god and if 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 would pray for today and always amen