good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 15th of march 15th of march in the old roman canada the ides of march and uh as we'll remember later on in our reflection a very significant day in uh european history but for the moment let's remember it's also the 20th day of the russian invasion of ukraine and i'm sitting here in the little border just beyond the french windows at the back of the deanery with the hyacinths and young daffodils showing ukrainian colours and the courage of the ukrainian people is something that we salute while our hearts in prayer are in huge pain for them at the moment and we don't forget them um hour by hour we pray for them the remarkable courage of marina of sianekova yesterday in terms of uh she was a or was i'll say now a worker a very skilled worker at the state television and when news was being read on channel 1 which is one of the most popular channels of all state television she suddenly stepped forward with an enormous placard behind the news reader saying no to war and then in russian but the words meant don't believe it they're lying to you and you have the ukrainian and russian flags [Music] [Music] foreign foreign what will have happened to her now uh is probably an imprisonment but we've yet to know but the whole thing went viral on social media and she had already made uh dressed in in very smart clothes because when she came on i think she was very aware that she would be taken away somewhere else so she had put casual clothes on but she she had already made a film uh and that was posted on social media by her to say why she was going to do this because she comes from both a russian and ukrainian background and she wanted everyone to remember that the two nations have always been the best of friends and can be again and it's heart-rending to see her courage in all of this we were talking yesterday about yulia and today we talk about marina and give thanks for the courage of people to step forward and put themselves in physical danger in order that people will know the truth so let's begin our morning prayers this morning again with ukraine in our minds but with many other things that you will want to pray about from across the world and we as we say undergird all those concerns with prayer as you bring them this morning o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your 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 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 on this 15th morning of the month is psalm 76 in judah god is known his name is great in israel at salem is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in zion they're brokey the flashing arrows of the bow the shield the sword and the weapons of war in the light of splendor you appeared glorious from the eternal mountains the boastful were plundered they have slept their sleep none of the warriors can lift their hand at your rebuke oh god of jacob both horse and chariot fell stunned terrible are you in majesty who can stand before your face when you are angry you caused your judgment to be heard from heaven the earth trembled and was still when god arose to judgment to save all the meek upon us you crushed the wrath of the peoples and bridled the rostful remnant make a vow to the lord your god and keep it let all who are round about him bring gifts to him that is worthy to be feared he breaks down the spirit of princes and strikes terror in the kings of the earth prophecies in the psalmist verses from well well back but speaking of the appearance of the anointed one whom the psalms are always prophesying and perhaps thus four is one we might think of in the light of splendor you appeared glorious from the eternal mountains that dimension which saint john's gospel leads us to in the words of jesus all the time the dimension of eternity and the sign of the mountain which as we saw is a sign in that gospel of jesus withdrawing into that eternal world of communion with the one whom he calls father the creator of all things and the signs all around him that jesus points to and says this can lead you to that eternal dimension in the light of splendor you appeared glorious from the eternal mountains and then also verse 11 make a vow to the lord your god and keep it as all who are round about him bring gifts to him that is worthy to be feared two images one of the way in which we feel called to make promises and intentions and then pray daily for grace to keep them but at the same time all who are around him bring gifts takes me straight to the magi and wisdom and power and all those earthly things kneeling before the manger of the one who has come glorious from the eternal mountains so we're going now to john's gospel and we are going to read again part of a really core passage in that gospel we're back in chapter six and today and tomorrow we shall complete that chapter in quite short sections but what is being said is at the depths of everything that the fourth gospel tells us about the way in which earthly things can be signs of that which is eternal and jesus always speaking on two different planes and quite often those listening getting them totally confused and yet gradually for the 12 those jigsaw pieces are building up to the picture that they will have given to them like the fragments where nothing was lost and as this gospel ends at chapter 21 then you see the 12 go off into the world to learn many more lessons or rather the 11 at that time though judas teaches us a different lesson chapter six and i'm starting today just where we left off verse 52 you remember that in verse 51 jesus has said i am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread they will live forever and the bread that i will give for the life of the world is my flesh so verse 52 the jews then disputed among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat so jesus said to them truly truly i say to you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise them up on the last day for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in them as the living father sent me and i live because of the father so whoever feeds on me will also live because of me this is the bread that came down from heaven not like the bread the fathers yet and died whoever feeds on this bread will live forever jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at capernaum well there's a a solid fact at the end all these words being spoken in the synagogue to the people of capernaum the synagogue in capernaum has been discovered by archaeologists and its patterns and even some of its fabric with the old stones built up again it's a wonderful thing to think that there on the site of the synagogue jesus at that time all those years ago uttered these words which are for us eucharistic sacramental words of intense importance they go to the very heart of the way in which jesus is using physical things of creation in order to not only teach but help the people listening to him to ingest those spiritual gifts which are being offered but they're being offered not only by the words of jesus coming from his mind nor even by his deep spirituality which has to be recharged on the mountain but the union with the father but also and most of all really by his physical presence and total giving of himself even to being lifted up on the cross and dying with his hands and feet pinned to the cross all of that is here in this sacramental passage but hardly surprisingly it gives great offence because they're not understanding and it as you'll see tomorrow is not just the people he's talking to it's also the outer band of the disciples who are scandalized by what jesus is saying so it seems to go too far and yet what we're seeing is jesus taking the sign of the bread which he broke at the beginning of this chapter and fed the multitude but at the same time to him that bread as with the water to the woman of samaria was a sign of much much more than just ordinary loaves of bread the bread which again is a generic word for nourishment and food the bread that was given in the desert the manna keeps coming up in this and the people are saying as the the jews listen to him how can this man give us his flesh to eat let's look at the word flesh it actually means for jesus every atom of his physical being is going to be offered up to death [Music] for the welfare and nourishment of humanity and the signs that will be left which are real signs are signs of a new covenant and later we shall see that both the bread and the wine of that last meal and the words spoken at the last meal with the twelve and then judas of course goes out but the words are spoken with the twelve take eat this is my body given for you and then later this as he takes the cup this is my blood of the new covenant shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins they are eucharistic words but here the whole import of them is being taught and i think probably the way we would see it best is in that word abide it's actually an old-fashioned word i don't think you or i will probably use it today in ordinary conversation if we're speaking english abide abide in me and i in them and we find it here uh so that in this little passage the word comes with the abiding and that means a sort of indwelling a physical indwelling jesus will use only um only images on the way through and very much that the image of the vine when we come to another eucharistic image because it is the cup of wine which becomes the blood of the new covenant uh the image of the vine has the abiding in jesus abiding in us and we abiding in him and the father coming to such who abide in that way as he abides with the father and it means much more than just a companionship sort of walking along with or a deep friendship it means a physical unity so that we can actually say we are the body of christ that is something that quite often we say at the beginning of giving the peace to each other at the eucharistic service we are the body of christ present tense and it means that physically because he abides in us through the sign of the bread he ingests but much much deeper than that then the whole of our being flesh and blood we talk about don't we uh the whole of our physical being has jesus abiding in us and this passage is setting that truth absolutely at the center of the fourth gospel and taking us on the two planes of the physical which is full of wonderful signs so that the moment you see them you are reminded of things but much more than wonderful signs but actions of every meal shared being in some way a unity with those around but this is much deeper than that much deeper still for jesus has come to show us what a human life can be in terms of the gifts of grace of the kingdom of heaven reaching out not just in this world but to eternity and that sense of his physical abiding in us is something that he wants us to take on board and those around him to do the same but they don't understand and they are scandalized by this sense of unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you can have no life in you and all of that becomes deep eucharistic teaching and from the moment of the giving of the holy spirit at the end of the beginning of the the life of the church that celebration of the new covenant the eucharist the communion the mass the lord's supper whatever you call it anchors itself in the fact that physically as well as mentally and spiritually jesus is abiding in us so that we like him can offer us yes in words as i'm doing with you this morning we can even hope in those words to share something of the dimension of spiritual learning and placing the various jigsaw pieces in our own lives but more than that and let's go back to marina offering oneself physically to physical dangers never mind that for the sake of others she wanted to come on and give that no to war and don't believe it they're lying to you and i'm sure that she was then hustled away and is now facing severe penalties but the message was given and it was given physically placing herself in danger as so many of you ukrainian citizens now are having uh so many of them also sent their families to safer places and we continue to pray for the people of mario paul and pray for yulia and all those longing for news but we're talking here of the way in which the infant church will need to put itself in danger physical danger of persecution looking round at those sharing the last supper with jesus it won't be long before the first of them is killed the first of those the original 12 to be killed is james the brother of john but it won't be long either before stephen uh is carried to the council and stoned to death these are physical facts and can only be done because the physicality of jesus's own offering of himself physically which is signed by bread and by wine the bread which is his body the wine which is the cup of the new covenant for the forgiveness of sins as jesus was prepared to give himself for us body mind and spirit so too abiding in us means that we might be asked to do exactly the same make a vow to the lord your god and keep it says the psalmist and we'll find tomorrow that those words in the synagogue at capernaum and notice that jesus was obviously given deep respect to be speaking in the synagogue in the first place but now these words have caused a grave scandal and we'll see tomorrow how even an outer rim of his disciples said no this is this teaching is too much for us and that's for tomorrow for us to think about but for the moment let's see how far jesus has gone in the sense of giving his humanity totally to danger and death and then by abiding in us causing us to have the gift the same gift of self-offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving which is physical for us as well as mental and spiritual the heartland of the new covenant and it's here in chapter six in those verses so that the eucharistic offering becomes an offering of much more than jesus himself it's an offering of us the body of christ we are the body of christ and that means that like him we're called to offer ourselves in welfare and physical danger as well as words and compassion and spiritual gifts to those around us every day it's the present tense we are the body of christ and he's saying this in the present tense at that time in the synagogue in capernaum well let's go on because this date at the beginning i said is the ides of march and the moment we say the ides of march um i perhaps many of you will be transported to shakespeare's play julius caesar and we remember the soothsayer in that play saying to caesar who has come back in triumph to rome and is expecting to take over uh leadership at that time is the year 44 bc and on the 74th day of the roman calendar the 15th of march according to our western calendar the ides of march was the day on which it was the deadline for the settling of all debts and was also a holy festival to the chief of all the gods jupiter at that time and julius caesar through the play earlier on is warned again and again by the soothsayer if you remember the where the eyes of march there's a prophecy about what's happening there and on the morning of the ides of march his wife calpurnia also is saying don't go don't go today you're in danger don't go nevertheless caesar does go as you know and is walking through the streets of rome on his way to his destiny and says to the soothsayer well suse the eyes of march has come and if you remember in the play the soothsayer replies aye caesar but not gone and caesar walks on and there he is surrounded by senators and those who come forward and they come forward with evil intent towards him and the assassination takes place there and shakespeare gives us that touching and tragic moment when before the knives have killed him he turns and looks into the eyes of one he thought was his friend one who younger than he clearly had always been like a a son to him brutus and he says in shakespeare in latin a terrible tragic moment when he realized he's been betrayed we're told by suetonius that probably the words were spoken in greek kaiser technon because aristocratic romans spoke in the greek language to show that they were educated and just as aristocratic russians in the time of the tsar spoke in french because it was a more elegant language you find that at the beginning of war and peace when at the in the opening chapter one of the um people are going to tell a joke and he says i i'm sorry to be vulgar in this assembly but i'll have to tell it in russian or it doesn't make any sense which means they're all talking in french at that point chapter one of of war and peace but here caesar kaiser technon is more moving for technon has a sense of my child about it and you my child doing this then fall caesar the play has always been one that has been um dramatic to me and uh i wouldn't say it's my favorite shakespeare play but it's one i know very very well indeed and many of you will too and there is that point when the ides of march 44 bc becomes a turning point in all european history as imperial rome takes over from republican rome and this the family of of caesar become great caesars octavian takes over and then wins all his battles and particularly against anthony and then becomes caesar augustus himself the one who right at the beginning of the gospels is sitting on the imperial throne in rome a turning point like 1066 here in this these islands but 44 bc julius caesar the eyes of march the fall of a leader and then everything changes a turning point in history he's not the only one on the ides of march on the 15th of march 1917 according to the western calendar remember russia works on two different calendars but according to the western calendar 15th of march the last of the tsars nicholas ii abdicated in the middle of the first world war uh and russia was losing its battles and in petrograd which is what the capital became called for a short while because petersburg sounded too german and so it was changed in the uh the great water petrograd and in the capital which we now know is in petersburg um the february revolution broke out and soldiers mutinied and nicholas was sent for from the front where he was commanding the armies and he on the way home abdicated so that that brought over 300 years of the romanov dynasty to an end he abdicated in in favor of another member of his family but that never happened he was the last tsar to be to be crowned and it had only been what um uh four years earlier in 1913 and there's black and white film of it that the romanovs had actually celebrated 300 years of their dynasty and we're no doubt looking to 300 more and all of those things that are going on on that day come to nothing on the this ides of march 1917 um when uh we remember that nicholas abdicated and stepped down we have here in the cathedral it was presented to my um predecessor as we called in the red dean hewlett johnson [Music] by the soviet authorities the pectoral cross which was worn by the patriarch and we remember the patriarch actually at the time of the the then patriarch at the time of the 1913 celebrations presiding over the celebrations for 300 years of that kind of stability so let's remember all of that this is a day when dynasties fall and uh at the same time it's a day when new beginnings have somehow to be cobbled sometimes out of tragic disasters and the the the whole sense of of creating a new russia after the abdication of nicholas ii and the whole sense of creating a new rome after the assassination of julius caesar causes us once again to look back at psalm 76 and uh if we remember let's get the line he breaks down the spirit of princes and strikes terror in the kings of the earth dynasties rise and denest is full but in the middle of all that people who have made vows to god are brave enough to keep them and people like marina offer themselves for the welfare of others at their own physical danger and being part of of the body of christ physically is is what the gospel today is telling us now one last date and it's a cheerful one and that's on the 15th of march it's not cheerful because it's a sign of a death but it's cheerful because of the person we're remembering uh 15th of march 2003 at the age of 91 the actress dame sora heard died and she was a beloved figure in all sorts of ways particularly on television and in films but she won three uh different bafta television awards as best actress one is lost for words when she shows someone who having had a stroke having been before that really really wonderful with words and she and her son are now trying to get into a completely different relationship because she's lost that capacity for words and and that tragedy is really moving me portrayed and then there are two of alan bennett's talking heads and for both she received best actress one is called waiting for the telegram and the other which is better known is called cream cracker under the city um and um she portrays uh an old lady who has in some way reaching for something and her leg not actually functioning very well falls off the settee and can't get back and there's no one there to help and she's talking you through this situation and then she actually struggles and struggles and gets to the front door and she's still talking you through but she can't get up high enough to open it and then a a policeman um a bit later on when she's becoming quite drowsy knocks and says are you all right and i automatically she says oh yeah don't worry about me and it said and then realizes as the policeman goes away of course she's not all right and as the thing ends it's quite clear that the what she's seen on the floor is one of her biscuits a cream cracker under the settee that she'd been sitting on and you're left with that image knowing that she's not going to survive the night and it it's a really tragic talking heads but you empathize so much with her and everything that she is saying and she was she was really good at causing you to empathize with people that needed your sympathy and empathy we remember her also religious broadcasting she had a deep face and for a while she um uh was the compound of the spin-off of songs of praise praise be introducing favorite hymns and speaking in a wonderful way about it and then maybe last of all because she did this between 1986 and 2003 and without a break on the way through she played ed pegdon in uh the the last of the summer wine which was a very popular series on the television and actually she she died at the time when she was still playing that part and they had to cause her in the series uh edie was was said to have died at that point but we give enormous thanks for her because she just threw herself into the parts of the people that she was playing and it's quite significant i think that in that cream cracker under the city uh she beat off two other uh really wonderful actresses who had done talking head patricia routeglides uh and and and who was best known in keeping up appearances and also maggie smith we were talking about her talking heads which is called bed among the lentils but it was damn saura heard who won the best actress bafta so we give thanks for her creativity as an actress in showing us the limitations of our human body and also the way in which words can be so important and describing things let's then say our prayers on this particular morning and it's a beautiful morning i'm actually looking beyond at a sun-lit garden the wall is shielding me with the wisteria above it totally leafless but coming into bed but i'm surrounded by such lovely spring flowers and the blue and the yellow remind us that first and foremost we're praying for ukraine and the people of ukraine in their desperate situation but also in our anglican communion we're praying for the diocese of king kiisi in the church of the province of uganda praying for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for emma bishop at lambeth and today in the diocese for the parish of all saints at luce and the clergy there steve price and chris tom and their ministry there so let's say the prayer for today this week following the second sunday of lent almighty god you show to those who are in error the light of your truth that they may return to the way of righteousness grant to all those who are admitted into the fellowship of christ's religion that they may reject those things that are contrary to their profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same through our lord jesus christ our men and the colic for lent itself almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we were the lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language and in our own way we say together 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 so we have a moment of reflection now as we make our own prayers and perhaps we in our prayers give thanks for all those particularly in the other nations of europe who are saying to ukrainian refugees abide with us which is a physical invitation to come and share life [Music] with me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] grace [Music] say [Music] my [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] that lovely and very popular hymn abide with me is probably the way in which we think of the word abide because it's so well known and so loved christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow him 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 are men i'm sitting here um amongst these blue and yellow flowers but the predominant color here is green and it causes us space to remember uh an occasion when uh cotton had taken over from cardinal casper as the uh vatican's ecumenical uh cardinal and he wanted to learn something about the church of england and came to canterbury to stay here for a while and was part of life here in many ways um but when we had the last and farewell dinner for him with his staff in the dining room uh cetera had gathered blue and white flowers and put them all around the room for canterbury and on the dining room table yellow and white flowers as the sign of the vatican and the unity of the two communions and we said nothing about it at all but the cardinal was sharp with the colors and and when he made his last speech he said i am very conscious that we are being embraced by the canterbury colors of blue and white and you have graced us also with our own colors on the dining room table of yellow and white my friends i am very conscious that if you mix yellow and blue we share white but if you mix yellow and blue together it becomes the color green and green is the color of hope and our hope today this was the cardinal speaking is of the growing unity of our two communions it was a lovely moment but our hope today with the mixing of yellow and blue into lovely green the color of hope is a hope for peace for ukraine and the gift of peace for our whole human world do so you